Vancouver cobbler two steps behind father, wins prestigious cobbling award

Patrick Nijdam, 31, has been cobbling shoes in Vancouver since he was a teenager. For a few years before he got into the craft, he was helping out in what was then his father, Ronald Nijdam's, shop sweeping floors and doing odd jobs.

Patrick has since taken over the business, with his father as one of his employees, but he's continued to follow in Ronald's footsteps. The pair have been submitting their work for North America's most prestigious cobbling prize, the Grand Silver Cup, which is awarded by the Shoe Service Institute of America.

In 2019, Ronald won the Grand Silver Cup. This year, it was Patrick's turn to take home the top prize.

"It was obviously an honour, but a huge surprise that I won," he said, adding that he submits his work every two years when the competition is held, not just because he wants to win but because the diligent scoring by master cobblers helps him improve his craft.

"I've always been trying to catch up to where my dad's been, and finally, I've been able to get there," said Patrick.

For the competition, cobblers submit two pairs of well-worn shoes, one men's and one women'sand fully repair and restore one of each pair, leaving its mate in original, worn condition as a reference.

For Ronald, the prestigious prize wasn't career-changing, but like Patrick, he said the process of having his work thoroughly reviewed every two years was. He got second place (which is somewhat confusingly called the gold award) three times before winning the Grand Silver Cup. Patrick said the careful, detailed judging contributed to a constant improvement in his work.

4th generation cobbler

Patrick is thefourth generation of his familyto get into the shoe repair business. Ronald's father and grandfather were both cobblers in the Netherlands. He moved to Canada in 1984 and still has a hint of a Dutch accent.

Though he's handed Patrick the reins, Ronald continues to enjoy working in the shop.

"I could retire if I wanted to, but I like to do it still, and as long as I'm useful to Pat and he could use my help, then I'll be around to help him out and do some shoes," he said.

According to Patrick, the industry is far from being in decline, but for younger cobblers like him, it's considered a somewhat obscure career.

"We can be looked at as a hipster occupation, for sure," he said.

The stacks of shoes, neatly organized in plastic boxes on rolling racks, confirm the high demand for shoe repairs. Patrick estimated about 350 pairs were filling the racks, all in need of the cobblers' attention. He said the wait time is about four weeks somewhat ironically, as the business is named Quick Cobbler.

Patrick said they do a lot of nicer dress shoes, but a massive part of the business is repairing Blundstones and Birkenstocks, something he acknowledges may have a lot to do with being based in Vancouver.

On Wednesday, Patrick was rebuilding a pair of baby shoes vintage Nike sneakers that a customer's daughter had worn roughly thirty years ago. Now, she was expecting a baby, and the customer wanted to get the shoes ready to be worn once again.

WATCH | Award-winning cobbler explains the story behind vintage baby shoes:

4th generation B.C. cobbler wins same prestigious award as father

12 months ago

Duration 2:46

A Vancouver cobbler has won this year's Grand Silver Cup North America's most prestigious prize for shoe repair. CBC reporter Rafferty Baker spoke to this year's winner, and his father who won the honour four years ago.

It was an unusual job, laden with sentiment, and somehow fitting for a cobbler filling his father's figurative shoes both in his career and as the winner of the Grand Silver Cup.

Patrick has an eight-month-old son who would probably fit the vintage Nikes. He said it's obviously far too soon to say whether there would be a fifth-generation cobbler in the family, but it would be great to get him sweeping the shop in a few years.

Ronald was ambivalent about the prospect of yet another generation of Nijdam cobblers.

"It sounds weird, but it doesn't really matter to me. As long as they enjoy their job," he said. "It would be a good marketing thing to say, 'I'm fifth generation.'"