Where I get my shoes repaired in Toronto

If you’ve invested in a pair of high-quality, full leather shoes I have some bad news for you. Well, bad news if you’re lazy because they are going to need work. And that doesn’t just mean the occasional polish. You need to put shoe trees in them when not being worn to minimize creases and help absorb moisture (the number one destroyer of shoes). You need to regularly brush them to keep dust and dirt from accumulating, which can wear away at seams and stitches. And you need to occasionally bring them in to a shoe repair shop if there’s any damage to the leather uppers or soles. But here’s the great news: do all this, and you have shoes that will not only last for years and years, but they will look and feel better as they age. And, I found the place in Toronto that will take care of most of your shoe repair needs.

As traditional crafts like shoe making disappear, it’s harder to find those skilled individuals who can properly do repairs. Thankfully, in Toronto, we have Nick’s Shoe Repair. Founded 60 years ago by Nick Marinos, the shop is now run by his son Spiros who started working as a teenager, over 35 years ago.

Owner and operator of Nick’s Shoe Repair, Spiros Marinos

I met Spiros after bringing in a pair of shoes in desperate need of help. I had bought a pair of Allen Edmonds tassel loafers on ebay. They arrived in excellent condition even though they had some age on them, enough that the soles had already been replaced. But by the end of summer, I noticed that one of the stitches around the front of the upper had come undone. I brought them to Nick’s unsure if this was even fixable. Spiros eyed my shoes with a look of deep concern. The trick, he explained, is that the other side of the stitching was hidden in the lining of the shoe, so he might have to stitch right through to the inside to make the repair. I asked him to use his best judgement and was not disappointed.

Allen Edmonds tassel loafers before and after repair.

Spiros and his team were able to add new stitches to the shoes in such a seamless way they can only be noticed if you are within a few inches. Thankfully, I wear my shoes on my feet, so I’m not concerned. Spiros also saw that the other shoe was showing signs of wear so they restitched it too. That level of care and attention won me over. So did the price – very, very reasonable for the work involved. That’s when Spiros told me that the reason they can do such tricky repairs is that he employs a team of shoe makers in his seldom seen basement studio. Like an alterations tailor who knows how to make a suit, being able to make a shoe means you have the skills necessary to repair one properly.

Work table in Nick’s basement shoe making studio.

Spiros’ team make all-leather dress shoes and boots, starting at around $475, with a 3 to 6 month turnaround, depending on the complexity of the shoe and their workload. They do not use the goodyear welt method of attaching a sole, but instead a McKay stitching machine (more often called Blake stitching). This is a tricky method that involves removing the last (the plastic or wood mold of your foot) from the shoe mid-construction, stitching on the sole, replacing the last and then building up the sole by fusing layers of leather to it. Spiros believes this method is superior because it is easier to repair (the McKay stitch rarely gets worn down) and the sole is solid, instead of the hollow goodyear method. Below is a video (not from Nick’s) showing a McKay stitching machine in action.

Custom shoe making is a small part of Spiros’ business, but an impressive one nonetheless. When I toured his basement studio it was in full force, with a number of shoe makers hard at work and the walls lined with hundreds of lasts.

Racks of shoe lasts cover the walls in Nick’s Shoe Repair basement. (Best to avoid those square-toed ones)

But what caught my eye was a line of substantial looking police boots. Spiros told me that they produce these boots for divisions all around southern Ontario, across Canada and even into the United States.

A row of police boots under construction at Nick’s Shoe Repair

These boots are proof of the level of expertise available at Nick’s. Spiros told me of one pair in particular, made 16 years ago, that is still in action after numerous rounds of repairing and patching. And that, fixing shoes, is the bulk of their work. The most common repairs are fixing heels, repairing favourite old pairs of shoes, and adding rubber caps to soles. Even though they don’t make goodyear welted shoes, then can repair them, if the damage to the stitch isn’t too substantial.

And that’s where I sought Spiros’ advice in terms of caring for my own shoes. He told me the most important things I can do is to regularly condition and polish my shoes, keep an eye on my soles to make sure that they don’t wear through too far before having them repaired and to rubberize the soles to insure they last longer.

You may have heard all that from other shoe makers or blogs. But Spiros had one piece of knowledge, passed down from his father, that I’d never encountered: “The heavier the shoe on the hand, the lighter the shoe on the foot.” In other words, don’t necessarily always go for light, thin-soled shoes. A heavy shoe, as those police boots prove, means more support for your foot, which will mean happier feet at the end of a long day of walking or standing.

Nick’s Shoe Repair is located at 167 Dupont Street

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