Franco
Crawford (pictured right: proudly displays the variety
of his handwork) claims he can tell everything about a
person by their shoes.
Franco's venture is in London Road, Croydon where he
sells his own hand-
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made footwear, moulded from the
finest cow leather and painstakingly sewn by hand.
The shoes designed around moulds he makes of a customers
feet take up to two weeks to create and can cost from
£500 a pair.
According to Franco they are worth every penny.
Franco was introduced to his trade during leather craft
lessons at school in Guyana and has been making shoes
since the age of 10.
When the local tanning factory closed down and leather
had to be imported from Brazil making shoes became too
expensive for many shoe makers.
Moving to Croydon in 1992 where Franco says: "It is what
I love doing. I look forward to making shoes for people.
Sometimes when I am working I think I was born to be a
shoemaker."
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"A good pair of well-made shoes created specifically for
an individual
should last up to 20 years."
"Young people haven't got the faintest idea about how to
look after
their feet until they get old and then it's too late.
"Then they have surgery for painful bunions.
"I believe it is ill-fitting mass produced cheap shoes
that are
responsible for this. I am determined to put the old
fashioned trade of cobbling back on the
map."
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