“The new three years, the old three years, sewing and mending for another three years.”
Shoes are tools for walking, but they are the carrier for the survival of shoemakers;
Shoemaker is an ordinary profession, but it is an indispensable existence in life.
Do you know where the shoe repairmen in Suzhou are?
If the shoes are broken, ask along Guanqian Street. Everyone knows that Master Tang’s shoe repair shop is under the five-star electric appliance behind the people’s mall.
At the corner of the street, two large umbrellas surround an area of about four square meters. The signs with red and yellow characters say repair shoes, zippers, and bags, which simply and directly convey the business of the small shop to the guests.
The history of this garage can be traced back to the 1960s. At that time, master Tang’s father was very popular as a famous shoemaker in this area. After his son inherited his father’s business, master Tang made his reputation more and more famous in the rapid development of the 21st century by virtue of his continuous craftsmanship.
Master Tang is 59 years old this year, but he has lived as a shoemaker for more than 40 years. He has studied shoemaking with his father since high school. His craftsmanship has become more and more proficient and sophisticated, making it a well-known shoemaker’s shop, and some people come here with admiration.
The narrow space is full of all kinds of things. The first thing you see is either shoes or repair tools. There is no floor. At first glance, it’s hard for you to find the boss.
The first striking thing is the hand-operated shoe mending machine at the door. It is a familiar tool like a scale, which is mainly used to sew the edge of shoes.
Hammer and iron pile are used to reinforce the re-glued sole to make it firmer; There are also shoe awl, peach beard pliers, screwdriver, file, 502 glue, and other tools, each of which has different uses.
This shop is 365 days a year. Master Tang is hardly idle all day. He is always buried in repairing his shoes.
Good craftsmanship makes a good reputation. In addition to exquisite craftsmanship, the professional attitude is also the reason why everyone likes to come here to repair shoes.
The location of the shoe repair shop has not changed, nor have the guests here. The guests who came decades ago still came on a rainy day decades later.
When my aunt returned to Suzhou from Shanghai to work, the first important thing was to come here to repair her shoes.
“I found several in Shanghai, but they didn’t repair well as him!”
As for the skill of repairing shoes, my aunt only recognized this family and couldn’t help praising Master Tang. She said frankly that his skill was better than his father’s.
When she was 23 years old, she worked in a nearby bank. The Tang family’s stall was already here. Therefore, her aunt often came to repair shoes. She has experienced two generations of craftsmanship and is very familiar with master Tang and his father.
A pair of shoes had their glue opened and a pair of shoes had their thread dropped. Master Tang took ten minutes to mend the shoes on his aunt’s feet and could wear them immediately. The other pair took longer, and my aunt said that she was not in a hurry.
They haven’t seen each other for a long time. They talked about the current situation while repairing shoes.
After a while, familiar guests came again. My little sister used to live nearby. Later, she moved to Yuexi, but she was used to coming here to repair something.
This time, the zipper of the canvas bag was broken. Under the skillful hand of the master, the new zipper was replaced in a few minutes.
“He’s a good craftsman!” she said as she left.
One morning, master Tang, it was really like what was written on the publicity sign. It was really crowded.
Those who came to repair shoes, mend decorations falling from shoes, and punch holes in belts… Some just passed by, some came specially and finally left with satisfaction.
And there is a lot to deal with. It is written in the business hours that the door will open at 6:00 and close at 10:30 p.m. in fact, the working time is longer than this. Master Tang is worried about the shoes that have not been repaired and sleep restlessly.
At the same time, because of the perennial manual labor, the fingers can no longer be straightened, and the shoe repair oil also penetrates into the nail seam to form a black circle. Sometimes there are wounds of different sizes, and a pair of handwriting is full of the vicissitudes of the years.
But master Tang doesn’t care much. In his world, dealing with shoes every day is a happy thing.
Although repairing shoes is dirty and tiring, it is also life.
When I was young, I also faced a dilemma: whether to work and live step by step or be limited to a shoe repair shop of several square meters.
The decision was not very difficult, because master Tang preferred such a free life to be controlled.
Immersing yourself in your own world doesn’t mean loneliness. Master Tang said that you’ve never had such a negative feeling.
Because it’s what I like to do, I’m happy every day.
Repairing shoes look simple, but it requires a profound accumulation of basic skills and can stand loneliness. Few people can stick to it.
Fame is made by his parents. As a generation of inheritance, master Tang did a good job. The guest said, “he is better than his father”.
Master Tang has strict self requirements and good intentions for the craft of shoe repair. It is precise because of this that his reputation can be passed on from mouth to mouth.
In the cold machine age, the craft of repairing shoes is rare and irreplaceable.
Comprehensive details, targeted techniques, and exquisite workmanship, as well as low prices, whether it is a few yuan of floor goods or a famous brand of tens of thousands of yuan, shoe repairers treat them equally.
Repairing shoes requires care and ability; Keeping a small shop for decades requires patience and willpower. It is not only the inheritance of technology but also the spread of spirit.
