Shane Barr: cobbler and TikTok star

They look like a medieval torture instrument, but a pair of humble bunion pliers have helped turn a Tauranga cobbler into a social media star (and given his business a boost along the way).

Shoe repairer Shane Barr is an expert in repairing and breathing new life into shoes, boots and bags. While his is a dying art - many cobblers in New Zealand have shut up shop in recent years - there's plenty of life in Barr's business.

He told Kathryn Ryan that he's long been fascinated by fixing things.

"When I was really little, like four, I just loved playing on the old treadle sewing machines. I just thought it was great fun. And my parents actually didn't have thread on it, and I was only allowed to stitch paper, but I still thought it was good because of that little noise it makes when it goes through the paper."

By the time he was at high school, Barr was fixing leather horse gear and thinking about becoming a saddler, but realised the market was tiny. Shoe repair was the next logical step. It didn't take long for him to make the jump from working for a commercial cobbler business to taking over another one.

"But we didn't know too much about branding, and so I painted it my favourite colour, blue, and put massive, big brown boots up on the roof. Funnily enough, we got lots of work boots in [to repair], which are really hard to fix and it's not very cost-effective."

While Barr soon learned all the technical skills - how to grind and glue - he says the key lesson was figuring out how to operate efficiently.

"When you're a one-man band, you're going to have to get the shoe from the customer and get stuck in and fix it like you've got a big pile of work on. Because if you don't take that attitude, you'll soon get behind."

While cobbling is an artform, with an experienced practitioner able to use the bunion pliers to soften and widen parts of a shoe that rub painfully on parts of the feet, Barr says cheap modern shoes are hard to fix.

"Then because it's hard and takes longer, the cost is dearer. So then people just buy another pair instead."

Even some expensive brands are less durable than they used to be, due to manufacturing and materials changes. Much-loved Doc Martens are a prime example, Barr says.

"Now they're making them in Vietnam and China and lots of different random places, not in England anymore. We're getting all sorts of problems, with lots of bad stitching, sharp bits of leather… and they always need stretching across the front, which is a bit of a pain.

"We're also getting a few sole joins where it sort of de-laminates and needs to be glued back, but they are very tricky to glue. Quite a few of the shops just don't even want to glue them up."

For his own footwear, Barr favours Danish brand Ecco.

"The problem with Eccos is they generally go rotten, and the soles fall off after about 10 years. I just trash them for those 10 years and get really nice shoes for that time. I think they're about $400, so if you get 10 years out of them it's only $40 a year for really good shoes. That's good value, I think."

Barr dipped a toe into social media during the Covid-19 lockdowns when his business was closed and he was trying to figure out a way to sell shoe polish and other accessories online. When the store reopened, but Tauranga's central city was still quiet, he continued to think about how to "take advantage of the modern ways".

He jumped on TikTok and started making videos in a reasonably haphazard way. Joining MBIE's Digital Skills programme, where he got advice from social media experts, was a huge help. Feedback from social media users also came in handy, with one person telling him off for making a thinly disguised advert and telling him he should be making "helpful" videos instead.

"I was a bit shocked by how harsh it was at the start. I was a bit thin-skinned, but then I thought, 'okay, well, I'll try a couple of helpful ones'. And I put a boot one up I think, where I show people how to superglue the toe of a boot at home, and I got a totally different response. You know, people were like, 'thank you very much' and heaps of pleasant comments. I thought, 'okay, I'll do another few of those'. And then I've just stuck to doing those ones ever since."

Since then, Barr's videos - like ones in which he wields a pair of bunion pliers, or explains how revitalise worn-out Birkenstock sandals - have been viewed more than 5.9 million times. Via his website, people can access his shoe repair services from all around the country, and he's increased his staffing numbers to cope with demand from places where there are no longer any cobblers.

"We try to do stuff in two to three days, and we always try and keep that our goal."

Shoe wisdom

Cobbler Shane Barr responds to some common shoe repair questions.

What makes the footbeds of Birkenstocks so gross - and can they be cleaned?

“Apparently the bit that makes it go black is the fat and oil that comes out of your feet. That sinks into that suede layer and it gets pretty nasty looking. We have tried so many different shampoos and cleaners, but what we've found works best is to get in there with some sandpaper first and just get as much of that grunge off there before you move on to the shampoos and things, otherwise you're basically washing the shampoo in further and just moving it around and doesn't really improve it too much."

Help! The buckles on my Birkenstocks are rusting. What should I do?

"Either we replace them and that's a good way of getting new ones, but often you'll have that problem again. Painting them seems to work quite well; give them a light sand with some 200 or 300 grit sandpaper, and then give them a coat of paint. Especially with the black ones, they come up looking real good, real fast.

"Otherwise, replace them with the original Birkenstock copper-looking ones. They seem to resist rust best."

Can I DIY glue the sole back onto a shoe or boot, or should I get an expert to do it?

"We only see the stuffed-up ones that people bring in. If it’s a builder, it’s got No More Nails, if it’s a schoolteacher it's got PVA and staples. The ones that work, we don't see. I think, have a go. A good trick if you’re not sure what glue to use is to just glue 2-3cm and then see what it's like the next day, before you go and spread glue everywhere, test that you’ve got the right glue for the job.

"I reckon for home users, Super Glue is a great idea to try. Once again, just try a small area and see if you can actually get it to glue really well before you go and spread Super Glue everywhere around, because once we get hold of it, we don't really want to grind all that Super Glue off everything first."

How can I use a broomstick and a kettle to stretch my shoes?

"Steam from a kettle softens the leather, a broom handle helps you to stretch out the leather. One or two minutes, you’ll be surprised how much you can stretch it. Leather will stay stretched, vinyl or any of the other synthetic products will stretch back unfortunately."

What’s the right way to tie shoelaces?

"A lot of people are trying to tie a granny knot. You can tell it's a granny knot once you've tied it that bow sets up and down the chute and often jiggles loose quite quickly. Whereas what you're aiming for as a reef knot or a square knot, which sort of sits nice and tightly across the shoe and stays done up a lot better."

How do I clean my white sneakers?

"Just getting a white or a neutral shoe cream and getting stuck into it often removes a lot of marks. If it doesn't, just get something like Easy Dye, which is like more of a paint. Get the white one of those and give them a real light coat of white paint and they’ll be nice and bright-looking again."

For business-y shoes, I just buy Ecco ones. I trash them for 10 years….

How can I help my tramping boots last another season?

"Store them a bit better, so they're clean and dry, and maybe somewhere where it's airy so they’re not going to go mouldy. A lot of them are made of a product called polyurethane foam for the middle of the sole. It's very comfortable and modern and quick and easy to make, but over time it absorbs a bit of moisture and then rots and then they go tramping and the whole sole falls off. You can avoid buying those ones by asking for EVA midsoles which is the same as what a running shoe would have and then you won't have that problem. But otherwise, you just got to accept after about 10 years it'll go rotten and you'll need to resole them."

Ouch, my new Doc Martens are really tight and painful across the top of my foot. What can I do?

"For some reason, the Doc Marten staff apparently tell people to go a size smaller, whereas I would generally say to go a size bigger, with all the problems we see.

"If you can find something that's the right shape and not too sharp, like the bottom of a jam jar or something you could jam in that space that would push that area out, just leave it overnight and you'll find that’ll stretch that bit of the shoe out quite nicely."

Can vegan Doc Martens be resoled?

"Yes, because basically the uppers are made of vinyl, not leather. Sometimes it's much harder to stretch if the uppers are too tight because it seems to stretch back. But the soles are still made of PVC, and they can just be resoled.”

What should you use to glue the cloth lining back onto the inner sole of a Red Band gumboot?

"I'd suggest using ADOS F2 or something like that. It's a contact adhesive. Just put a light coat on the back of the cloth so it doesn’t soak all the way through. Let it dry while it's apart for 10 minutes, then push it back together."