Current text and photographs: Angélica Navarrete and José Antonio Sandoval EscámezWeb design: Miguel Ángel Garnica
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When we say "the last of your shoe has arrived" it is normally to express that it is about the person who is made just for another, this because, precisely, the lasts made to measure fit the foot of the person who requests them. And it is that each last is different depending on the shoe you want. The last for a shoe is not the same as for a huarache or a boot. The footwear that we usually buy in shoe stores is made on lasts with standard measurements, not tailored to each foot as the lasts do, the craftsmen who are dedicated to this trade.
One of them is Félix Báez de Luna. His business card has several visual elements: two logos of the Pumas soccer team on the ends and several colored lasts that resemble hard plastic shoes without holes to put the foot in; and it is that Félix has been dedicated since he was 25 years old to the repair, adaptation and sale of wooden or plastic lasts for wholesale and retail.
He says that the last is nothing more than the base mold on which the desired type of shoe will be sewn, from sandals or huaraches to boots, including the height of the heel. The first step is to take the measurements of each foot of your clients with a measuring tape, which will go from the plane of the paper to the real volume, that is, they will be translated into a polyethylene last that, in the end, will be able to give us a pair of shoes just right. to measure.
Regarding the advantages of having custom-made shoes, Félix affirms that by going with a shoe last you gain comfort and the security that the shoes that appear under the measurements of that last are not going to tighten and with this they will avoid chafing and annoying calluses, because you get exactly tailored footwear that will give more comfort; however, the price is higher. While the average cost of a pair of shoes in a shoe store is 300 pesos, a custom pair of shoes costs between 800 or 900 pesos, or more, depending on the model and size.
Félix is a cougar at heart, so much so that two years ago he got the emblem of the felines tattooed on his chest. His neighbors know him as "El Puma". He tells us that his father-in-law, the man who appears in our comparative image, taught him the trade and that he began to practice it for two years on weekends.
A last can be adapted to obtain any type of shoe, since the tip, the width of the foot of each client and the desired heel are calculated on it, based on the measurements taken of each foot.
One day his father-in-law got sick and he had to help him by placing an order for lasts that had to be delivered without fail, that's how he really learned in a week and by obligation. 22 years have passed and since then she has been dedicated to this activity.
Félix is visited by politicians and even wrestlers for whom he has made custom lasts; of the first he does not remember the names and of the second he does not want to share them.
“I'm in the 'Rebel' club. Cougars is a hobby as a child. My son did want to be a soccer player but he did not become a professional. I have two children, one 26 and the other 24 years old. I only made it as far as high school and went to work. I got a job in a publishing house because it was an association with my father, who is a singer-songwriter, Feliz Báez Saldate”, he tells us.
In his workshop located in the Emilio Carranza neighborhood, in the Cuauhtémoc delegation, there are also posters of his favorite team that he goes to watch train at the Olympic stadium every 15 days. Before starting the conversation, he asks us: How do you spell shoe? To which we reply: “With 'Z'”. “Well no – he replies - it is written with an “h” for last, because without last there is no shoe. And it is that Félix considers his work as making a craft because “with the last one never stops learning, you have to make adaptations, each last is different”.
In Félix Báez's workshop, in the Emilio Carranza neighborhood, there are several photographs and emblems of the Los Pumas team, his favorite.
Dressed in his Los Pumas shirt -every day he wears a different one from his team to go to work- he explains that he charges 50 pesos to adapt a last, 80 if he does it from start to finish, new ones cost 200 pesos or 300 if They have to adapt to the model and between 80 and 600 pesos it can cost a pair of lasts depending on the size and requirements.
He tells us that there are different types of lasts for slippers, men's, women's or children's shoes, boots, sandals, houndstooth, orthopedic and special; Some of these have a hinge or wedge, which are folded or disassembled to remove it from the shoe when it has already been sewn, glued and finished by the shoemaker on them.
Fifteen to twenty minutes is enough to take measurements of a client's foot. A pair of lasts can be delivered in a week, but depending on the urgency of the order, it can be in just four days, this if it is made to measure, but if it is standard - that is, a machine-made last - it can repair up to 25 stop in a couple of days. The number of their clients in a month is very varied: on average they are 10 or 12, although they can reach up to 50.
The important thing for the last maker, says Félix, is not the number of clients, rather it is the number of pairs of lasts that each one requests. "I can have 50 clients with a pair of lasts each, or five clients with a hundred pairs each." It takes one hour to make a last from scratch, while today's modern machines take only 10 minutes.
Shoe making area by tradition
In the tour carried out by EL UNIVERSAL in the Emilio Carranza neighborhood in search of hormeros, it was possible to observe that most of the streets in the area bear the name of trades such as Plumbers, Leatherworkers, Painters, etc., referring to the activities of its inhabitants, especially saddlery, a fundamental job in the manufacture of shoes and that is currently carried out in this part of the city.
Félix tells us that the Tepito area, in the capital, was the place where shoe manufacturers originally settled when they came from León, Guanajuato; They established their furriers there, but when other foreign products (fayuca) entered in the 1970s, he says, they were displaced to nearby colonies such as Emilio Carranza and Morelos.
They also reached Ferrocarril de Cintura, in the section between Anillo de Circunvalación and Canal del Norte, as well as surrounding streets, which is why all the materials to make shoes are found in this area, from lasts, leather, heels, the ornaments, the buckles and even the cardboard boxes in which they are sold. "There are shoemakers around here, because this is a shoemaker's colony, there are houses that are small shoe workshops, although there are very few left," Félix narrates.
Today, the repair and repair of shoe lasts by hand in this neighborhood of a city with a shoemaking tradition, is currently done by a few master shoemakers, they themselves estimate that there are less than five left. With their hands they mold and shape the base on which the shoemaker will support the leather or fabric for the manufacture of the shoe as we know it. The lasts are the first step for the elaboration of a custom pair of shoes.
On Ferrocarril de Cintura avenue, in the section between Anillo de Circunvalación and Canal del Norte, as well as in nearby streets, it is common to see shops related to the manufacture of footwear.
It is no longer a business to make shoe lasts
In a small workshop located on the top floor of a building in the Emilio Carranza neighborhood, Eliseo Torres Cobián, a master laster, works. He is almost 75 years old, 60 of which he has dedicated to this trade.
In Plomeros street in this neighborhood it is less than a year old, "this is because I was sick for a year (2015) and I had to sell the accessory I had in Circunvalación." He had two heart operations but he came back because he likes the job of a hoarder.
—Who taught you the trade? she asked him.
—I learned by looking at the old masters, I started working in Tepito in a workshop that fixed lasts, before there was no plastic, only wood.
He remembers that when he came home from school he would go to work with them and that is where his interest in this activity arose.
—Is last repair still a business?
—It was a business, now it's not, because before there was a lot of work, there were clients who brought 100 to 200 pairs to fix, this was 10 years ago, they charged less, but there was a lot of work. At that time I made 100 pairs of lasts a week, you paid between 45 and 50 pesos a pair, now only between 5 and 20 pairs arrive. There are even times a week goes by and nothing arrives. I do it for pleasure, I had my workshop on Avenida Circunvalación —continue—, I was there for about 10 years, I have never left this area, I was in Ferrocarril de Cintura in the 60s, which was the best time, I had up to eight workers.
Master Eliseo Torres has been dedicated to this trade for 60 years. He says that it is no longer a business to make custom-made lasts, since the demand for these shapes has decreased for the last 10 years due to the entry of products from other countries.
For him, returning to work after two heart operations was not easy, since when looking for an accessory they asked him for a very expensive rent that he would not pay for with work, until he found a small place to set up his workshop.
While the teacher Eliseo Torres was being interviewed, a person came to pick up a pair of lasts that he had left for repair, when he asked what the cost was and the teacher answered that they were 75 pesos, the man was surprised, he said that He didn't think that was the price.
"I'm giving them to you at a good price - Don Eliseo told him - for a pair like this they charge 100 pesos." Despite the explanation, the man gave various excuses for not paying full price and left with the lasts. “It is because of this type of thing that many young people no longer want to learn the trade. To me because I like the job, otherwise I would have already left this”.
Advertisement for a homería published in August 1928 in EL UNIVERSAL ILUSTRADO.
He says that "the young people of today no longer want to dedicate themselves to this (repairing lasts), they don't like to get dirty... they don't want to learn anymore, they don't want to get into the dust," says teacher Eliseo Torres, who calculates that Currently there are only four or five master shoemakers left in this area of the capital with a shoemaking tradition, based on those he knows who are still active, in addition to the fact that it is a very small guild and that it is becoming more and more so.
For his part, teacher Juan Badillo, who has 54 years of experience making and repairing lasts, tells us that he started at the age of 12 with his brothers. "They taught me everything, I started by gluing the heel sheet to the lasts, which were previously made of wood." Now he works alone, his brothers have already retired and he is about to close his store at number 336 Calle de Imprenta in the Emilio Carranza neighborhood.
This was a family business, before they used pure wood, but now they only work with plastic, it's better than wood.
Unlike teacher Eliseo, who is supported by his children and now only works for pleasure, teacher Badillo still has to cover expenses that the trade of shoe lasts no longer covers. "I have to pay the rent for the premises, as well as transportation, since I live to Ecatepec," he tells us that he used to live in this area, on Avenida del Trabajo, but when lasting repair was a good business he had the opportunity to buy some land in the State of Mexico and went to live there.
A few days after closing his last repair shop, one of the few that remain in this neighborhood, the teacher Badillo tells us why he thinks the last trade is disappearing: “For me, since the Treaty entered of Free Trade put us in the whole tower, perhaps for many it was good, or it is good, but this business of shoes and lasts went down, until a very difficult moment arrived, it is no longer possible ”.
“For me it was that, the TLC, before there was a lot of work, I earned very well, I always brought money even though I only put the heel plate on the last, today it is no longer possible”.
At the time of publishing this Mochilazo, the workshop of maestro Juan Badillo will have closed. Here is an image from days before. He says that the Free Trade Agreement - signed in the early 1990s - affected the business of handmade shoes and lasts.
He has already dismantled a large part of his workshop, there are only a few jobs left to deliver to clients, there is a mechanical saw and a lathe, even so, Juan Badillo tells us that thanks to the work of the last, his brothers and he managed to get to buy houses and land. "Now there is no work, you can no longer support yourself from this."
Whereas Félix Báez de Luna “El Puma” says that the demand for work for the last makers depends directly on the demand that the shoemakers have and that it is not that the work of the last makers has decreased, but rather it has gone down in general, the sale of shoes made in Mexico due to the entry of Chinese companies.
Before, I made 25 pairs of lasts per model and today only six. He considers that in general, Mexican shoe production has fallen due to the entry of Chinese companies. "Before (the Mexican shoe) was made of leather," he recalls.
He explains that today a shoe made in Mexico can cost 300 pesos, but Chinese ones cost 100 and “as the economy is, families prefer to buy three pairs of 100 for three of their children than only fit one of them with a pair of 300”.
The last of your shoe, the process in detail
While Félix measures the feet of one of his clients, he tells us that it is common to have one foot slightly larger than the other. His job is to give the lasts the exact shape and measurements of each client's feet.
The first thing to do is take the measurements of the feet: the main ones are the length and shape of the foot, since the lasts are governed by various “recios” or foot widths and it is measured from the heel to the toe. the upper part of the instep, the part under the toes is also measured -the widest part of the foot- although a little more width is left so that the finished shoe does not tighten. It must be taken into account that throughout the day due to walking or the heat, the feet swell a little naturally.
To obtain a pair of lasts you have to take the measurements of each foot, which will be translated from the paper to the last. All with a simple tape measure.
The “heel” is a metal part of the last, factory-integrated, that just acts as a heel for when the shoe is “dressed” with the leather and is used when the nails are inserted that will hold the leather while it glues and prevents these from staying in the shoe. It is the moment in which the shoe is shaped with the skin.
Félix explains that to check how the last turned out, he takes a piece of cloth and covers it to see the shape of the shoe. That way is how it will be. It is called "dressing" the shoe. Once the last is finished, the work is continued by the shoemaker, who in another process works with modelers, cutters, machinists and trimmers.
Another of the few last makers in this area, the master Eliseo Torres Cobián shows us in his workshop how to fix a last, he takes a plastic one to which he will fix the tip of a man's design, changes it from a pointed one to a more rounded and more modern model. He first cuts into pieces a matchless plastic last, which he glues with heat to the last that he will modify.
It is necessary to heat add more plastic material, usually pieces of other lasts, to enlarge or modify the lasts as necessary to achieve the requested shape.
He says that in the 50s and 60s of the 20th century there was a union that included all the last makers of the “Luis Torres” and “Hormas Manuel Villegas” factories where he worked, he says that the work was divided there, that is , each one of the people made a part of the last.
Now, while he keeps remembering, he continues with the arrangement of the last, he puts it in a bucket with water to cool it and thus continue with the adjustment, he dries it and with a cardboard template number six marks the type of toe that carry. Subsequently, with a saw, cut the excess and mark it again with the template.
The requested tip is marked on the plastic inserts depending on whether it is a men's or women's shoe.
The last that he continues to fix now goes to the lathe, where with a “mill”, or emery, he removes the excess that the saw could not remove. The point gradually takes the shape desired by the client of the master Eliseo, who, when finishing with the "bur", marks the type of point again with the template and passes, in the same lathe, to a thick sandpaper and then to a thin one.
The last is almost ready, all that remains is for it to go through a brush on the lathe, to which the master Eliseo applies a special wax to make the tip of the last completely smooth. It is finished. Master Eliseo takes the last and covers it, or “dresses” it (as they say) with his own shirt to show us how the shoe will look. Now it will pass into the hands of a master shoemaker for the manufacture of footwear.
In the emery, the last is shaped, that is, the excess is removed, and it is also polished. In the second image and in the final part of the process, the master Eliseo shows us how the last is "dressed" to check how the toe turned out and how it will look with the skin.
Today on the street of Ferrocarril de Cintura in the Emilio Carranza neighborhood there are many "hormerías"; however, they are only for sale or purchase with models of standard size and shape, not made to measure. The three interviewees agree that young people no longer want to pursue this profession, because "they don't want to get dirty" or "because they no longer want to learn" and because it is no longer the business it was in previous decades.
Old photos and illustrations: Courtesy of Mr. Félix Báez and advertisements from EL UNIVERSAL ILUSTRADO.Source: Interviews with master last-smiths from the Emilio Carranza neighborhood: Félix Báez de Luna; Eliseo Torres Cobián and Juan Badillo.
