5 minutes with TOSIN DEKALU OLAIYA

tosin dekalu-olaiya is the new lady Cobbler a business she inherited from her mum over 10 years ago. a lawyer by training, tosin cut her teeth in shoe trade under the tutelage of her mother when she was a young teenager, attending exhibitions, workshops and more. she has since then grown the business to a level were she cannot be ignored as one of the driving forces in the nigerian Cobbler space. here she speaks to Funke Babs-Kufeji about reinventing lady Cobbler, the goods and services this ace business provides to its clientele and the vision she has for the company.

The cobbling business is such an untapped industry and it’s quite sad the Local Government and Federal Government don’t encourage more people not suited for white collar jobs to go into it (when I say encourage, I mean provide training programs, etc).

lady cobbler was your mum’s business, what prompted you to follow in her footsteps?

Shoe repairs and manufacturing is something I grew up with, as the youngest, my Mum tended to take me with her whenever she attended exhibitions and trade fairs. For me, going into this business wasn’t something ‘odd’ plus I never enjoyed working for other people though I must admit I garnered a lot of experience and skills from my ex-employers which I still implement into my business today.

in a profession dominated by men, what are the challenges you faced since inception till date?

Personally I feel this is more a cultural thing at home (in Nigeria) I say this because at shoe repair exhibitions and trade fairs I’ve attended, there are probably as many women as men doing this business. Here when male clients express their reservations because they’re dealing with a female, I put their mind at rest by explaining what repairs will be done to their items and how it will be done. Once your customers know you have a vast understanding and knowledge of your business, this usually gives them confidence in you/ your business, funny enough the women don’t seem to have reservations or not as much.

you started off with just shoe repairs and expanded into making shoes and bags, how receptive has this been?

We’ve had a very positive response thank goodness though we still intend to expand the manufacturing side of things, as at the moment shoes, bags, etc are made to order. Clients are always happy or should I say satisfied when you make them aware they are free to choose whether they prefer to use say a leather sole or rubber sole, choose their preferred style, colours, make changes to what they saw, say maybe in a magazine or online, etc.

Most people in nigeria associate cobblers with repairing or mending broken shoes, what are you doing to change this perspective?

Cobblers repair shoes, that’s our job but we also repair bags, belts, luggage and cut keys. Furthermore, your shoes or other accessories don’t have to be damaged for them to need repairs or adjustments for example we expand shoes if they are too tight, we reduce the size of shoes if they are too big, we reduce the length of your heels if the heels are too high for you to walk properly/comfortably in them, we dye and clean shoes, bags, we repair luggage and much more.

What kind of shoes or leather goods do you make and which are your best sellers?

Mostly open toe sandals, shoes for couples’ traditional weddings, shoes for fashion designers usually taking part in some sort of fashion show, orthopedic alterations/repairs for people with congenital, developmental or acquired issues, I would say couples’ shoes for their traditional weddings and the orthopeadic ‘repairs’ for professional and school children are our most popular in this category.

What kind of repairs do you do and which is your most popular?

Apart from the repairs I stated earlier we are able replace the soles of shoes, be they leather, rubber, synthetic leather or what so ever. If they are worn out, we replace broken heel caps (top heels) we repair broken locks on bags, suitcases, we put platforms on the soles of shoes if we’re unable to reduce the heel, we put straps on sandals, we replace the inner lining of your shoes if they’re falling apart, we add a few inches to your heel for say our male clients who would like to add some height to their shoes so they appear taller, another example of popular repairs are the Chanel tote bags, these tend to lose shape and ‘crumble’ with wear and tear we’re able to replace the inner panels and have your bags looking almost as good as new, we put rubber protectors on the soles when they’re worn out this not only elongates the life span of your shoes (soles) it provides for better traction when walking or dancing. We offer a vast variety of repairs and alterations that people aren’t aware we’re capable of doing.

Where do you source for your raw materials for repairs and production of your shoes and bags?

Our stock is bought locally, in England and Italy, though the (goat) leather we import from Italy is largely bought from Kano if I remember correctly, I found this last bit of information out the last time I went to an exhibition in Bolognia, Italy, a lot of leather hide wholesalers buy from the Northern Nigeria, take it to Europe, refine it, a process known as tanning then sell them in hides to manufacturers (people who make shoes, bags, luggage, furniture, etc. ) and cobblers.

What will you say is the advantage of wearing handmade shoes to ones, which are machine made?

Handmade leather shoes though generally more expensive are usually lightweight and pliable plus they tend to last longer as in they are generally more durable, they are considered to be more of a masterpiece due to their craftsmanship, they are more likely to have a perfect finish with every tiny detail taken care of compared to shoes that are mass produced though this does not mean mass made shoes are of poor quality but they may not have a ‘great finish’ and can wear out fairly quickly which is why a lot of people need to replace their shoes more often than people who buy handmade ones.

is being a cobbler a viable business in nigeria?

To put it this way, when I re-opened Lady Cobbler 10 years ago, I only had one competitor, today there are over six shoe repair companies and counting on the island and about eight that I’m aware of on the mainland. The cobbling business is such an untapped industry and it’s quite sad the Local Government and Federal Government don’t encourage more people not suited for white collar jobs to go into it (when I say encourage, I mean provide training programs, etc). As for buying made-in-Nigeria shoes, it’s important to buy Nigerian to encourage small business owners like myself to help us stay in business and give back to our communities in any way we can, be it financial or apprenticeship programmes.

Do intend to expand your business further?

Absolutely, as I stated earlier we’re already looking into partnering with some manufacturers and a few other sectors in the near future.