Shoemaker specializing in shoe uppers: sewing a zipper into the shoe

The sound of sewing a zipper into the shoe. The recording was realized in Adam Cieślak’s Shoe Uppers Repair Shop at 3 Dąbrowskiego Street in Warsaw (Poland).
The shoemaker specializing in shoe uppers has replaced broken zipper and is sewing a new one into the boot. The zipper is edged twice on the Singer shoe upper sewing machine. It is a pedal-powered machine. It was manufactured during the interwar period; the production was not resumed after 1945. However, spare parts manufactured by Singer are still available. Shoe upper sewing machines are adapted to sewing with a thinner needle and thread than in shoemaking machines.

Services provided in the shoe uppers repair shop include the narrowing, widening and shortening of boots, stretching of shoes, replacement of zippers in shoes, sewing straps on too loose shoes, replacing buckles and elastic bands in shoes, sewing in shoe counters and replacing shoe padding. The shoemaker specializing in shoe uppers prepares also the uppers for shoes made to measure but nowadays, he much more frequently performs shoe repair works.

Sound recordist: Monika Widzicka
Photographer: Iwo Wachowicz
Video recordist: Iwo Wachowicz