People Shoes Penang's cobblers

Shoes by Jacob
Dancing Shoes	Boot	Moccasin

BEFORE THE ONSLAUGHT of Bata shoes Penang's shoemaking was a thriving industry. The "rubber shoes" of the large mass production factories of Tan Kah Kee and Fung Keong did not present a threat. Best known was Central Shoe Shop in Chulia Street with branches at Campbell Street and High Street, Kuala Lumpur. In 1932, Penang cricketers could have their cricket shoes made to measure at Central for $3.   Penang bought local despite the snobbish attractions of such London made shoes as John White, Barrett,  and Clark, sold at Robinsons, John Little, Naina Mohamed at Beach Street and M A Pitchay Gunny, maker of boy scout and cadet uniforms and purveyor of military cock hats.  The moneyed ones flaunted white buckskin.

 
 

Shoes by Hong Kong Store
Beaded shoe	Platform shoe

After the war the shoemakers were to be found at Argyll Road, Carnarvon Street, Chulia Street and Muntri Street, the last being the location of 11 of them. Barrett shoes were selling at $5 or $6 when houses at Nagore road were only fetching $6 a month. But the locals continued to make anything from elegant dancing shoes for cabaret girls to rugged polo boots for members of the Polo Club. Today only Jacob, and Hong Kong Shoes and Ah Bok an itinerant cobbler frequently found in Pulau Tikus survive.  Jacob and Bok are self taught; Jacob having been in the trade since the young age of 14. Wong of Hong Kong Shoes is a second generation and learnt the trade from his father. They survive because even mass produced imported shoes such as Scholl are costing RM200 a pair compared with RM80 if locally made. And no one can surpass them when it comes to making the Nyonya beaded shoe, now gaining popularity. And of course there are shoes to be repaired, a swelling demand with long queues in the waiting.
 
 
 
 

Bok's repair job

Shoe repaired by Bok

It is not surprising that these relatively cheap shoe makers are getting popular abroad. Buyers come from Australia and England and some Germans have entered the lists as customers. With their support and the non-snobbish ones who do not go for fancy shoes like Church or Aetna which can make holes in your pocket the size of RM700 these cobblers will survive. But the cobblers have one common complaint: no one wants to be a cobbler. #  Ltb, Tyc, Lkc

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___________________ The Penang File Issue 19