“It is totally impossible to be well-dressed in cheap shoes.”- Hardy Amies
Ever since I can remember, I have always had a passion for beautiful shoes. Even as a student in the USSR (at that time), I preferred classic shoes to sneakers. One day, against their better just I’d assume, I convinced my parents to buy me a nice pair of gray loafers instead of rubber boots. When classes resumed in the fall, we had to do social labor– picking up potatoes. I had to put on my beloved gray loafers with a triple nylon bag to protect them. Maybe that was the origin of my vocation in shoe care.I’ve always liked to stand out. Luckily, I was good with my hands. So I learned to paint, do wood and metal works, to paint silk ties and to make clothes. Making shoes and other things regarding color and shoe care was just the natural progression. I wanted to cover the whole gamut. My grandfather was a soldier and he taught me the discipline of caring for clothing and especially footwear . He used to say to me that the boots of a good soldier should always be shiny as parade boots. He showed me the basic techniques for perfect polishing. Since then, I have always tried to keep my shoes beautiful and well-maintained.
Of course, there are the inevitable elements to make everything work well. In my case, they are:
- The raw materials. We use only the finest ingredients to create our “Magic Potions” for shoe care.
- The time. We do not have time limits. Only when a pair of shoes really becomes a work of art do we consider our mission accomplished. I do not have to work as a factory, trying to crank out as much as possible.
We want to do a few things, at the necessary pace, and execute them really well.