Mohammad Hafiz

Hafiz, from Islamabad in Pakistan, has been working in this field for the last 10 years. He operates from a small partitioned kiosk at Al Baraka keymaker’s shop, handling over 10-15 customers in a day.

From resoling old shoes, repairing buckles, sewing zips on leather bags, gluing velcros on sandal straps to punching new holes in old leather belts, sewing old slippers and sandals, Hafiz is deft with all kinds of repairs. “I make new shoes too as I was a trained shoemaker in Islamabad. But the repair work is big here. I charge between Dh10-Dh50.

“People trust me with their designer bags and shoes. I am able to repair it to make it look as good as new,” says Hafiz, who starts his day at 9am and works until 10.30pm with a lunch break. “I like meeting people. We have so many kinds of people in our shop and the day just slips by,” he says.

Tailor