Last cobbler in Sudbury, Ont., comes home with a gold medal from Germany

The last cobbler in Sudbury, Ont., has just returned from Germany with some new hardwareand recognition from his peers.

Dan Frappier, a cobbler for 34 years,owns Heels 'n' Soles.

When he started in the late 1980s, there were 13 cobbler shops in Sudbury and the surrounding area, but now his is the last business standing.

Frappier credits a loyal customer base for his longevity, but his reputation has also helped.

Earlier in June, he won a gold medal at the Inter-Schuh-Service ISS 2023 international cobblers conference and competition in Germany, the only Canadian to receive the honour.

"Turning it around and making it look new again and giving it to the client, that's really what I like ...to see the satisfaction on their faces, and that's what keeps me going," Frappier said about his craft, repairing shoes.

For the competition in Germany, he had torebuild a tattered old pair of shoes.

"Everything is stitched back together using proper materials, old school techniques as well," Frappier said.

"So everything is done the way it was 100 years ago."

Customers around the world

Frappier said not a lot of cobblers use the "old-school techniques"now, but he learned to do things the old way, and still has a few 900-pound sewing machines called Goodyear welting machines in his shop.

His gold medal in Germany also wasn't his first. He won gold at the same conference in 2019.

Frappier said that successand his presence on social mediahavewon him customers outside northern Ontario.

"I have a lot of clients from Toronto and Ottawa," he said. "They send stuff in, we fix them, send them back out."

But Frappier said he even has a few clients in France.

"They ship internationally," he said.

"The box shows up. There's four, five, six different pairs in there, and it's like free range. They let me be an artist for them and I send everything back, no questions asked."

Frappier said he currently has three employees at his shopand business continues to do well.

"We went through a transition where it was a throwaway society, so people would buy cheap [shoes], wear them for six months and throw them out," he said.

"But now I find that people, they're searching for quality. So they're going to spend a little more on their shoes, which makes them repairable. It makes money sense, is what I keep telling everybody."