|
Baltimore Convention a Success
by
Dana Huval, Huval's Boot and Shoe Repair,
Crowley, LA
See more photos from SSIA's Baltimore convention.
SSIA
held its annual convention in Baltimore in mid-July. What a great
show! More than 165 shoe repair shops attended
the seminars and suppliers displayed their goods to show us how to improve our businesses.
Saturday morning started off with a seminar from Blase
Knabl, with Shoe Systems Plus, giving us tips on machinery. He
provided simple suggestions to keep
our machinery in great shape for many years.
Blase Knabl
educates repairers on machinery maintenance.
In
another room 1987 Grand Silver Cup winner Robert DiRinaldo was giving us great suggestion on how to repair
shoes and boots that we would have thought were not
repairable. Later Mitch Lebovic, from the Baltimore
area, gave a great presentation on
how to create and maintain a website so customers can
find us and use our services even though they do not
live in our area.
Lenny Gershater, with Point of Sale
System Computer Company, showed how a point-of-sale
system can
improve the way we run our shops. It can make
customer transactions quicker and help us keep track of
the repairs in our shop, either unfinished or finished.
Finishing the seminar section was a very interesting
presentation from Silver Cup winner and C-Ped, Jim McFarland. He explained the different kinds of Renia glues
and how they can be used on different soling materials.
He made it easy to realize what glues are best to use
with the different types of shoes.
Sunday
also had seminars starting with Blase of Shoe Systems
Plus. He went into great detail on keeping finishers problem-free with a little upkeep.
Next we had
the Excellence in Shoe Repair with the Silver Cup
seminar. Past Silver Cup winners, Robert DiRinaldo, Jim McFarland, Chuck Bolinger and Gino Genitle gave
tips on how they prepared their shoes to win the
wonderful Silver Cup showing their perfection in
repairing shoes in our trade.
The final seminar of the
show was Tauer and Johnson Shoe Company telling about
how custom-made shoes can be a profit center in your
business.
Right
in the middle of our Saturday Seminars we had a brunch
meeting. We are thankful to the Brunch sponsors:
Gold
Sponsors – Vibram / Quabaug
Kiwi / Sara Lee
Silver
Sponsor – Foam Tex Solutions
Bronze
Sponsor – Surefoot Corporation
Now to
the favorite part of the show. The suppliers were
plentiful and had lots of goodies to offer us. They
were:
Angelus Shoe Polish,
Santa Fe Springs,
CA,
Paul Angelus.
At his booth, customers were interested
in the leather paint and his white-ace products. New
items included Roll-Call for military edge, All Purpose Cleaner
and Blue Gel Cleaner. Samples were provided. Angelus also has a full line of
shoe care products, cleaners and dyes for our shops to
use as well as sell. If you would like to view more
information on Angelus, check out their website -
www.angelusshoepolish.com.
Roberta
Diamond and Paul Angelos talking to a shoe repairer
about Angelus products,
ArbelSoft Inc–
Long Island City, NY, John Parker, Chong Johnson &
William Kang.
Arbelsoft is an old pro when it comes to
their dry cleaners software system. That is
what their computer system was created for, but they
were approached by one of the busiest shoe repair shops
in New York in hopes of adjusting their system for shoe
repair. They have created the “Shoemax” shoe repair system
for our shops to have a easy and professional way to
take in and track the work we do. This system can text or e-mail your customers
to let them know their repair work is ready. For
more information, check out
their website
www.ishoemax.com.
Cobblestone's Jeff and Randy Lipson watch John Parker demonstrate
how their computer system works.
Boris Shoe Components Supply, Inc.
- San Francisco CA, Boris Zhitnitsky, Tatiana
Zhitnitsky & Nina Zhitnitsky. Boris was very pleased
with the turnout in Baltimore! He was a wholesaler in
the Baltimore/DC area for 12 years, so I am sure he saw
quite a few familiar faces during the show. Knowing that
repairers are looking for good quality heels, soles and
soling sheets, he has a great selection for us to choose
from when ordering from our wholesaler. One of his new
items is the MAGNA super quality dowel lift and the
really interesting EVA rubber that is two-ply, which will
make a perfect bottom for soles and leg-length
discrepancy build-ups. The magna dowels are made from
one of the best materials used in the shoe repair
industry. I am so excited that he gave me a sample of
the two-ply EVA-rubber soling sheet that he will be able
to make in any thickness or color for any job we run
across. These sheets are very light in weight along with
being very durable for our customers to achieve long
wear. This would be a “must have” item for any shoe
repair shop doing a lot of orthopedic work. You
may see these items on Boris’s website
www.borisshoecomponents.com
Cadillac Shoe Products
–
Brighton MI, Steve Shoop.
Steve showed his products at the SSIA show for the first
time this year. He was pleased to see all the attendance
from the manufacturing side of the business.
He felt
most repairers and finders were looking for promotional
items that they can "add" on to their sale and provide a
better value to the consumer. We've all talked about
maintaining pricing in this economy and when we can't,
we have to provide better service to our customers. If
you’re not selling Cadillac products in your shop now,
you should look in to their cleaners, conditioners,
Esquire Instant Leather Colors, suede and nubuck
cleaners and water sealers. They also offer boot
scrubbers, if you have cowboys or hikers who do not want
to track mud in their houses, along with shine brushes,
cream and wax polishes, insoles and shoe laces. For more
information, check out their website
www.cadillacshoe.com.
Del Toro Suelas -
León, Guanajuato, México, Marco Flores &
Fernando Villegas.
This was the first time Del Toro Suelas
showed their leather items at a SSIA show. They offer a
great selection of double shoulder leather, bends,
straps of leather, leather welt, leather heels,
combination heels, boots counters, sole leather and
leather hat ribbon. We welcome them to our association
and hope to see them at future shows.
Del
Toro Suelas Company shows the leather welts, soles and
heel bases they offer.
Fix-A-Zipper
- Downers Grove, IL - Boy
Bischot.
This innovative discovery of the ZlideOn
gives you’re the possibility of adding a slide to a
zipper in three seconds rather than changing the entire
zipper. I saw it. It is one of the neatest things I have
ever seen. If you have this product and a customer
brings in a broken slide, all you do is remove the old
slide with a pair of cutting pliers, open the ZlideOn
that will be the replacement, click it together and
you’re finished. They offer a Zlide On display kit or a
Zlide on toolbox for the complete set of items they
offer. If you see a lot of zipper work, this would be a
huge time saver for you. You can go to their website to see this product
for yourself
www.ZlideOn.com
Foam Tex Solutions Corp.
–
SILVER Sponsor of SSIA Brunch
Cleveland OH, Alan, Don, Maggie, & Marcie
Abshire.
Their motto is; “Let our solution be your solution.”
Foam Tex offers a blue foam cleaner that magically
cleans any suede, leather, vinyl, nubuck or canvas items
whether it is needed for shoes, boots, purses or even
your favorite chair. I highly recommend their foam
bottle. It is easy to use and works very well. The
Abshires can be reached at 216-889-2702
The
Foam Tex guys filling in products to show how good their
products are to repairers.
Guard Industries
–St
Louis MO, Neil Dotzenrod & Jim Barnes.
When it comes to shoe repair, Guard products are your
best friend! A “must have” for every shop is their OLFA shears. They come in two sizes. I highly recommend
the large shears which will make all of your
patch leather cuttings clean without fuzz. Guard is famously known for
the heel
plates they have manufactured in the USA since 1965.
Mostly their business is focused on the shoe repair and
retail trade while also offering orthotic and prosthetic
supplies. Another highly popular item is their AVANTI premium dowel
tip. Neil and Jim gave a sample pack of
an assortment of sizes and colors they offer. Guard is
always happy to see all the attendees who want to see
what is available so they can demonstrate all of the JT
Foote accessories, heel and toe plate, metatarsal pads,
level walkers, tongue pads, tassels, leather bag
strapping, Trail Creek long-lasting hiking laces, cabin
insoles. (If you do not stock the orange pack of
athletic insoles, you are missing a great insole. They
not only add comfort but also take up room in a loose
fitting shoe.) Along with offering leather hides, they
also make the pre-cut heel pads for us to use. You can
see all of their products on their website
www.guardmfg.com
Guard’s
Neil Dotzenrod and Jim Barnes ready to show all of the
products they offer whether we are in need of retail or
repair items.
Next
Month, I will continue to tell you the remainder of the
suppliers who showed us their goods in Baltimore.
See more photos from SSIA's Baltimore convention. |
