RAVENSWOOD — Sara McIntosh bears all the hallmarks of a Hippie Elder, one who’s kept the faith.
Her hair is grey but her eyes are bright. She’s distrustful of corporations, but has created a cottage industry of her own. And today, after more than 40 years of making shoes, she runs the Chicago School of Shoemaking and Leather Arts, where she passes on her “back-to-Earth” handicraft skills to a new generation of cobblers.
Her school, at 3717 N. Ravenswood Ave., has worked with thousands of students who wish to learn shoe craft and leatherworking. Most students “just want to do it so they can cross it off their bucket list,” McIntosh said. But a few “will be what takes shoemaking forward to its next step.”
In an era of mass produced footwear, there is a demand for luxury shoes, though it is a small slice of the footwear industry. In the Lincoln Square/Ravenswood area, small footwear businesses, such as Theodore’s Shoe Repair, Traipse Shoes and Athenian Shoe Imports, provide high-end footwear, including retailing handmade kicks.
McIntosh said hand-made footwear lasts much longer than a mass-produced counterpart. “I think my shoes last, in general, 10 to 15 years,” said McIntosh.
One doesn’t jump straight into making shoes. At the Chicago School of Shoemaking, there is basic leatherworking to learn first, plus sewing, tanning and crafting skills to learn. Class fees range between $85 and more than $1,000, including materials. McIntosh also offers private tutoring sessions for $95 an hour.
Attendance for the classes is good, McIntosh says, partly because of Ravenswood’s relatively affluent population, and partly because she believes the area attracts people who are themselves attracted to old world crafts.
“There is a lot of European influence in the area, a lot of old-work shops and crafts,” agrees Angela Aufegger, whose family’s shoe emporium, Salamander Shoes, had been in Lincoln Square since the early 70’s before it was forced to close its doors last May. Salamander continues on as an online-only shoe business.
"Also, I think just a lot of creative people are attracted to Lincoln Square,” Aufegger said.
Handmade shoes — especially custom ones — don’t come cheap. When McIntosh made shoes for retail, the average cost was $350 and "maybe $500 for a tall pair of boots.”
The most expensive part of any hand-made shoe is labor, said McIntosh, as any new shoe or repair job requires hours of work. One boot making class the school offers unfolds over four days. A moccasin class involves six hours in one day.
Margaret Jung, owner of the high-end shop Traipse, at 4341 N. Lincoln Ave., says retail price can scare away customers who may be used to buying shoes on Amazon or at Payless for as little as $30.
But, Jung says, “my store is an institution.”
“People come here from all over the country. They make that trip just for these shoes,” Jung said.
Salamander's Aufegger said the very quality of the footwear she sells may contribute to the economic challenge: “When you sell something that lasts a long time, customers don’t need to come in regularly. That’s part of the problem.”
McIntosh says she is content with teaching other people how to make shoes.
“I made shoes for over four decades. I accomplished everything I wanted to… My focus right now is the school, on teaching,” she said.
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