Stepping Into The Life of a Master Cobbler

By Anne W. Semmes

Enter that Greenwich Shoe Repair shop down “cobbler’s alley” as it’s affectionally called, off East Elm near Greenwich Avenue, and you step into another world, of craft and caring of designer shoes, of long lived and loved shoes, and leather goods of all kinds. Hammering away will be owner and craftsman George Togridis, whose family hails from the land of Alexander the Great, Macedonia, in Greece.

Cobbler George Togridis lays on a red sole guard on a pair of high heeled shoes. Photo by Anne W. Semmes.

George is laying on a bright red sole guard on the bottom of a pair of stylish high heels that have worn off their original surface. He then trims round the shoe, and hammers, hammers, hammers. He does the same with a pair of Valentino shoes. “Sole guards are made of rubber,” he says, “They protect the leather on the bottom of the shoes.”

George counts as many as 20 to 30 pairs he repairs in a day. Certainly, enough to know how we should be taking care of our shoes! “It’s much cheaper to repair the $800 pair of shoes than buy new ones,” he notes. “The first thing that people should do when they get them brand new is to put these protective sole guards on immediately. That prolongs the life of the heel and soles. Shoes today are expensive. They are an investment, so you want to keep them for many years.”

The most challenging repairs he says are the shoes that, “when its worn down more than it should have been, and we have to build it back to its form. And then there are those riding boots, when he has “to change the zippers, patching them up because they take a lot of beating.”

But it’s the varied custom work that excites George, like that giant leather pig poised near the counter ready to be picked up. “It belongs to an adult,” he says, “Usually when they come in it’s because the grandkids enjoy them more than the other people. They don’t know better because it’s an expensive antique. Especially when they’re brand new. Some of the old ones are footrests. So, people used to sit on the couch, pull it up as a leather footrest. When the grandkids ride them, they break the feet, or they pull the ears.”

Cobbler apprentice Mario Velez exhibits a repaired leather pig ready for pickup. Photo by Anne W. Semmes.

George moves to the expansive bank of shoe shining machinery to shine up a fine pair of men’s leather loafers, and in the doing shares his path as a cobbler, beginning age 11, shining shoes, he tells.  He was serving as a guild master apprentice to help father Sokratis who opened his New Canaan Shoe Repair shop in 1985. By 1990 George and his brother were working in the family’s new Greenwich Shoe Repair shop (thus establishing “cobbler’s alley.”)

Busy young George, while helping out his dad in his New Canaan and Greenwich shoe stores, earns an auto mechanics degree developing the skills of building and repairing mechanical equipment, along with skills of sewing, polishing, and stitching machinery required in the boot and shoe repair business.

“So, I would do a half a day with my brother in Greenwich and half a day with my father,” shares George. “But after my father had to get a triple bypass, I quit my job as a mechanic, and I just started working full time for my dad and my brother here.” Long story short,

George buys the Greenwich store in 2003 from his brother Damien who takes over the New Canaan store upon their dad’s retirement.  Add on George’s 2018 purchase of the Ridgefield Shoe Repair! Busy George, the devoted father of three and husband of an empathetic wife who seems to know too well the challenges and frustrations of the life of a cobbler, as shared by George.

What’s cool for cobbler George Togridis? “Bringing shoes back to life.” Photo by Anne W. Semmes.

When he’s asked what is the coolest thing about cobblering, he says, “Just bringing them [the shoes] back to life from what they looked like. That’s the coolest, at the end after you’re done.” But, he adds, “I might get upset. I’m looking like, how did they do this? Why would they do this to their shoes?” To share that frustration he says, “I’d send a picture sometimes to my wife and I’d say look at these before and after. She’s like, oh my god!”

There’s no question that George’s cobblering ability to bring old, battered and even new shoes to new life has earned him praise. He’s listed online as one of the 10 best cobblers in Fairfield County and is said to have been cited by Town & Country magazine as “one of the top 10 Cobblers around the World”!

When asked if shoe repair and cobbling has become a lost art, George responds, “It is a dying trade. The younger generation does not want to do the labor work that you have to do. Each shoe has its own unique personality. The other one is the same job, but that one needs more attention. They don’t want to go through that training process anymore. So, the majority of the cobblers are an older generation.”

Shining shoes was a craft George Togridis learned age 11. Photo by Anne W. Semmes.

But, thankfully, as of this February George has a new apprentice, Mario Velez. “Mario’s learning, and he’s doing great and every day’s a plus having him.” “Thank you,” says Velez responding, “I have to tell you that I’ve learned a lot. And it’s very interesting. The whole process – in the very beginning to the very end.”

George also has a longtime friend and recent Greenwich resident-entrepreneur Peter Quigley, who is now advising him on the digitizing of his business, helping him to set up a business website and social networking presence. “So, more people in the community,” says Quigley, “will know about his excellence in shoe repair, anything in leather.”

But be careful not to bring in those beloved shoes exhibiting dry rot – “when the sole breaks apart as it bends, and you see cracks on the sole on the bottom”- that George is reluctant to repair. And what gets his goat more than anything is when people forget to pick up their repaired shoes after his good work (such as this reporter, mea culpa).

George Togridis’ good work – shoes made new waiting (some for years) to be picked up by customers. Photo by Anne W. Semmes.

“I don’t mind as soon as I finish fixing them, they can go back to their home,” he says. “That’s what I want. But I have to wait and wait that sometimes we call them so many times, so we still wait.”

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