An Edmonton shoemaker’s story of success in an industry where competition is global and style is priority.
Julio Sanchez was born to a family of shoemakers in Chile. He brought his craft to Canada in 1977 but it didn’t become clear to Sanchez that his ancestral trade could fund his new life in Canada until he fell on hard times. In a conversation with Modern Luxuria Magazine, Sanchez recalled how whenever he was between jobs he would earn a living creating leather goods and even sandals for babies. “We were very successful. So when my son was born, I opened up my own store.”
Zapato Sanchez started out as a shoe repair store but when Sanchez’s son grew older the younger Sanchez went on to study shoe design at the Ars Sutoria School in Italy. “And we’ve been designing and making shoes ever since,” Sanchez said with a chuckle.
Zapato Sanchez is a small store in West Edmonton Mall but out of its doors walks many pairs of mens shoes that are specially designed for their owners and often end up on runways and in fashion shows. “There are many stores in the mall that you can see a beautiful shoe in the window but when you put them on, a custom made shoe is unlike any other shoe,” Sanchez said.
…out of its doors walks many pairs of mens shoes that are specially designed for their owners and often end up on runways and in fashion shows.
Sanchez goes into his store everyday to work on creating shoes for his clientele. The shoemaker says COVID-19 has slowed down his ability to take orders and bring in new clients but the social distancing has allowed him to catch up on orders. He tells us that it’s a six-month long process from design to completion and that the handcrafted custom made shoes that come out of his store are like none that you can find in Edmonton. “We compete with shoemakers in Italy and in Europe,” admits Sanchez.
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