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Thursday, November 3, 2005
Heeling, saving soles is his calling
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sam Shlimak learned how to save soles in Russia.
And in Gwinnett, he has turned those skills into a bustling business. Just don’t call him a shoe repair man.
“I can draw a design on paper, trace the pattern to leather, make the heels and do the soles,” Shlimak said. “I have the skills of a shoemaker and a shoe designer. I’m not just a shoe repair person.”
Vino Wong/AJC
Russian immigrant Sam Shlimak, 47, was taught his craft by a family friend who was a showmaker when he was 14.
A burnt-like smell from sanded leather engulfs you as soon as you walk into Shoes by Sam. The shop in Lilburn doubles as a men’s clothing store. Sams sells urban and Italian-style gear, along with Bostonian, Georgio Brutini and other high-end shoes.
On Wednesday, several customers browsed through the merchandise. Some even bought something. Most, though, wanted their boots stretched, and their shoes resoled or reheeled.
“See that?” asked Bruce Person, showing Shlimak spots where the leather on his new dress shoes had separated from the sole.
“You don’t walk so perfect,” Shlimak said. “I can glue this, no problem, but the best thing is to solder it and add a protector to the thin sole.”
Sam keeps Person’s collection of shoes in mint condition. He owns 60 pairs. Expensive ones. He buys the best footwear because he’s diabetic, and it’s important that blood flows freely to his legs and toes. Shoes are more than leather and soles to Person.
Vino Wong/AJC
Kim Sy of Norcross brings in a pair of leather motorcycle pants to Sam Shlimak (left) for some alteration work at his store, Shoes by Sam.
“When you start doing business with him, it’s not difficult to come back,” Person, of Lawrenceville, said. “He’s good at what he does, has a fair price and always has a good story.”
Shlimak was part of the great exodus of Russian immigrants who fled the region in 1991 under Perestroika. Remember, Mikhail Gorbachev’s program of economic, political, and social restructuring which led to the end of the Soviet Union and the establishment of independent republics?
Shlimak resettled in El Paso, Texas, where he managed a Western Wear store for several years. He contacted compatriots in Atlanta and asked them to be on the look out for single Russian females.
Sure enough, they found someone who spoke the same language and ate the same foods. Photographs were exchanged. Shlimak paid a visit. He married after dating less than a year. Now, he and his wife have 6-year-old twins.
Shlimack would like to pass the art of shoe repair on to his kids. But he doesn’t forsee them making a career out of a craft he learned when he was 14 years old. He was taught by a family friend who happened to be a shoemaker.
“I’d like to teach people in the community what I know,” said Shlimack, 47. “But this is old-school.”
And these are disposable times. Saving soles is a dying art.
Extending the life of a favorite pair of shoes is not the specialty of the shoe repair boutiques in malls.
“I wanted the heels taken off my boots and they told me it couldn’t be done,” said Kathi Poole of Norcross, a customer of Sam’s since 2002. “Sam did it, and they are wonderful.”
I believe her. I plan to take my favorite 15-year-old burgundy Oxfords to him.
I can’t wait to get them back.
In these days of disposable everything, what do you tend to hang on to? Drop me a line.
