Rebecca Smith, vegetarian turned leather shoemaker, accidentally fell into the world of shoe repair after growing up on a farm in Alberta.
Smith had been gifted a moose hide from her grandfather, a hunter, but didn’t know what to do with it. That’s when she decided to make a pair of slip-ons out of the hide and began pulling apart shoes bought from thrift shops to see how they were constructed. Next Smith looked for materials to sole the shoes and, when wholesalers declined to sell her theirs, she used pieces of welcome mats she cut up.
Then Smith visited Ronald Nijdam, a third generation Dutch cobbler based in Vancouver, and asked to buy some sole material. Nijdam also refused to sell his materials, but instead offered her something much more valuable — an apprenticeship.
“He saw something in me and offered me a job,” says Smith. “I never really thought about shoe repairs until that moment. I would repair shoes as my job and then every Saturday we’d meet at 7 a.m. to have shoe school and make shoes together.”
It was in 2013, when Smith branched out on her own to open East Van Shoe Repair on East Hastings Street. That original store was located inside a historic building built in 1908, complete with exposed brick and a counter she made out of wood rounds.
She then went to work refurbishing machines that hadn’t been cleaned in 30 years.
Smith’s machines span various eras — from her 1960s patcher to 30-year-old Dutch sewing machines operated by foot on a pedal — that still operate like new.
“The main thing that’s changed in these [new] sewing machines is that they’ve put a motor in,” says Smith. “I’ve had the power go out here and had no excuse because I can still use the machines and it’s kind of neat to have a job where the power goes out and you can still do your job if you have a little bit of light.”
Smith adds she enjoys repairing items that would normally be headed for the landfill.
“I also like the idea of taking something that other people see as garbage and turning it into something that looks new again.”
Smith enjoys teaching customers how to make conscious consumer choices and has seen a resurgence in younger people investing in high-quality footwear. She advises shoppers to look for leather or rubber materials (never plastic as it can’t be repaired easily) and to be aware of fake stitching even on expensive shoes.
This month, Smith moved her shop from the Downtown Eastside into a much larger space on East Sixth Avenue at Scotia Street, which allows her to explore her artistic side.
“I’ve gone from one of the oldest buildings in Vancouver to a brand new one. I like the idea of starting from scratch. I consider myself an industrial artist and like doing large-scale art,” says Smith. “Most people’s lives don’t let them do that unless it’s part of their job, so for me this is an opportunity to take this bare space and make it my own.”
Cobbling, the art of shoe repair, has been a way for Smith to unite people from all sectors of the city. “I like the idea of having a store and doing a ‘while-you-wait’ service so two people from totally different walks of life end up sitting across from one another and having a conversation,” says Smith. “When people come in here everyone becomes the same because they are all a customer getting shoe repairs. It doesn’t matter where you are from or how much money you have. Everybody’s shoes are just as important.”
East Van Shoe Repair is scheduled to reopen at 269 East Sixth Ave., this Friday, Aug. 26.
