Cairo Cobblers

CAIRO COBBLERS

The Egyptian Gazette
February 19, 2013 Tuesday

Most people know that you can get world-class tailoring done in Cairo,
and for a fraction of what you would pay in Western industrialized
nations.

Pete Willows

I’ve had several bespoke suits made by Cairene haberdashers – some
are better than others, and I would encourage you to try and get a
recommendation before you invest your time, hope and money.

But few people know you can also have shoes made-to-order.

The cobblers who provide this service are dwindling. I have been told
of an Armenian cobbler near Falaky, but never found him. And there is
another cobbler, near the synagogue in the bourse area. But I settled
on a cobbler behind Cafe Riche, near Midan Talaat Harb.

Shoe stores are seemingly everywhere in Cairo. However, many of the
styles are just too ostentatious for my office. So I brought a pair
of conservative-looking penny loafers to the cobbler, and asked them
to approximate the style, but in black. They were delighted.

At first, they told me it would be almost a fortnight, but the shoes
were ready within a week. Are they really that exceptional? It would be
hard to say so, persuasively. But they were custom made, to my specs,
and nobody else has a pair. And now I have them. But I still need to
find the elusive Armenian cobbler, if just out of curiosity.

From: Baghdasarian