OCR Text |
Show 2D Lakeside Review, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 1981 Shoes Never Wear Outf They Just Fade A Little same, too. The sole stitcher looking very much like a sewing Review Staff Someone machine, except with a very long BOUNTIFUL has been in constant use brought in an old, dusty pair of needle boots. The leather was scuffed off for 31 years, Hansen says, and it the toes, with the steel from the still runs like new. The finisher (which sands down inside sticking out through the the edges of the soles) and the edge leather. trimmer are all about 30 years old The soles were worn through, and the soft weathered leather was also. The machines havent changed wrinkled with age. Most shoe repairmen would have much since Hansen started. And taken one look at this pair of boots the methods of repairing shoes reand said, Sorry, we dont work on ally havent changed that much either. shoes that are worn that badly. Hansen started repairing shoes But not Malvern Hansen. Hansen took the boots back to his when he was about 15 years old, year after the shop opened. p Department one shop at the He has worked in between as a Store and used a liquid material called shoe patch to patch up the wholesaler, a representative for toe. And although the shoes didnt Sears and in the shoe department look like new after he finished, they of the store selling shoes. But most did look much better than when of his time has been spent in giving old, worn shoes and boots new life. they came in. Clyde Gustafson started the shoe Hansens shop is small. Boxes repair shop and Hansen worked as and boxes of shoes line shelves his apprentice soon after the store covering an entire wall as you enopened. A behind stands ter the shop. clerk Back in those days, if you had a a wooden counter talking with custo work, you went to work chance is while in Hansen the back tomers, because money was pretty tight in of the shop, standing over a black machine that trims the edges off those days, Hansen says. The main changes Hansen says the soles on a pair of cowboy boots. Hansen turns and rubs the edges he has seen since he started in the of the sole of one boot against a business ate in the quality of matesander. Then sands it on another rials used on shoes and the adhesander. And then finally moves to sive materials used to hold the another sander to give it a finishing shoes together. The adhesive used today is a touch. contact type, Hansen explains. The three sanders each have a It is coated on both surfaces (on the different grade of sandpaper attached. And each is necessary to sole and bottom of the shoe) and are give the sole on the boot its final left to dry. Thento both ends pressed together form a permapolished finish, he explains. He places the two boots on a shelf nent bond. In the past a celluloid cement and reaches into a large box stacked high with shoes and pulls out a was used and the two ends (the sole and bottom of the shoe) were left in pair of dress shoes. Hansen has five more of these a press until the glue dried. No plastic was used in the old boxes waiting in the comer of his either, Hansen. But a lot of days box about Each represents shop. one days work and contains from paper was used in the construction of shoes, which hasnt changed too ' 30 to 50 pairs of shoes. Hansen manages the shop. And much today. The plastic has caused some real several clerks take orders and arat times for Hansen. He problems on shoe the The shelves. shop range has been there as long as the store says, for one thing, its harder to about 33 years (the store opened work on than leather and involves more time to repair. Also, the in 1938 at its present location). Much of the machinery is the adhesives often dont bond to the By RON KNOWLTON Co-O- MALVERN HANSEN sands down the plastic like they do to leather. Hansen said the quality of shoes in general has also gone down, especially in the medium to lower priced shoes. In the more expensive shoes, the quality is still up, he says. And thats where the real savings comes, Hansen notes, in the more expensive, higher quality shoe. Its easier to repair and the repair cost : edges of a pair of cowboy boots, to give them a smooth sole. is less. the sole. But the higher quality boot has little else wrong with it. The cheaper boot, on the other hand, has the sole separating from the parts are plastic and the foot lining shoe, and the leather looks scuffed, is cloth. Paper is also used in the worn. boots construction. The cheaper boot probably cost It costs more money to rebuild about $70 and the more expensive this boot because you do more work boots probably around $200. But to put it back together. Hansen notes that the $200 boots Both sets of boots have holes in will outlast the cheaper boots and To make his point, Hansen pulls out two pairs of boots. In one boot, he notes, many of the , are much easier to fix. They cane also be easily repaired, whereas' the cheaper boots will probably fall" apart more quickly and require much more repair work. -- Ml The best advice would be to buy the best quality of shoe you can" afford, Hansen says, and when it-needs repairs, get it fixed before it "" really needs it bad. -- " srtl ir. ' r .. t4 V V 4JA W it' JO IS u 1 11 K i I U BOOTS in poor condition often come into the shop. Hansen says he will repair them if they look this good, but not I if they're too bad. VIRGINIA ROBERTS, a clerk at the Co-O- p Department Store in Bountiful, checks pairs of - shoes that have just been repaired. |