Ten years ago, Steve Doudaklian looked at a camera, said “good morning shoe repair family”, fixed up some shoes, and put a grainy video on YouTube as a service to cobblers around the world.
A decade later, Steve’s videos still don’t look all that different from his first—but now they’re often watched by millions, and stand as perhaps the measuring stick of high-end shoe repair and restoration worldwide.
In as lively as Shoecast episode as they get, Ben chatted with Steve about the three generations of shoemakers that preceded him; growing up in a legit war zone in Lebanon before emigrating to Falls Church, Virginia; how the shop his dad started—Bedo’s Leatherworks—has grown and shrank and otherwise shifted over time; and forming the Shoe Repair International group which now includes over 1500 cobblers around the globe.
We also get into Steve's favorite shoes to repair, Alden Indys (of course), how YouTube changed Steve’s business and cobbling in general, what a craftsman sees that the customer might not, and—with intentionally zero succession plan, meaning one of America’s iconic shoe repair businesses will end with him—how long he’s planning on keeping it up.
Oh and why all cobblers should wear a shirt and tie on Saturdays.
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This episode was sponsored by Grant Stone
Theme song: The Road by Punk Rock Opera