90 Years old Shoemaker

A 90-years-old Trin Ngoc has mastered shoemaking for more than 70 years. He is one of the oldest and one of the last few people making handmade shoes.

He got into shoemaking by accident in 1947. When his family moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia they opened a shoe repair shop. He grew interested after finding out the shoes in Vietnam were far lower in quality and design than European-made shoes.

After few customers encouraged him that they would buy from him if he can make shoes similar to their European designs, he started to learn from the shoes that came for repair.

He became skilled enough to attract large french customers as they said they can buy 5 pairs from him than buy 1 pair in France. His quality is not at par with the western ones but up to 90 percentage. Soon, his name became well known and he even started making shoes for the Cambodian royal family and King Norodom Sihanouk.

But the 1970's Cambodian civil war forced him to flee to Vietnam and he settled down in his hometown Saigon. He lost everything, but he quickly regained his will and strength. After a few research, he started making high-quality shoes for the Vietnamese market.

1974-1975 again it was a hard time for Trin's family. He then worked in a state-owned Bata company to teach shoemaking to workers until he retired at the age of 61.

He then rekindled his spirit and then on he makes handmade special shoes.

Music: Epidemic Sound

[issabankole]

This man is an educated man, an artist. He is no ordinary shoemaker, in the middle of this bustling Saigon. Next time I go there, would try to remember to order him a bespoke pair of oxfords.

[maisajbin]

This is my first time i have known these is a bespoke shoemaker in Vietnam