Tim Noonan creates custom footwear at the shop he opened at the 30 Cutler Street Mill
By Denise Kinney dkinney@eastbaynewspapers.com
On the one hand, custom shoemaker Tim Noonan's workspace resembles that of Gepetto, of Pinocchio fame, containing tables covered with hand tools and swathes of tanned hides that give off the unmistakable and expensive aroma of first-rate leather.
On the other hand, the 1,500 square-foot room that features a sign entreating visitors to "Eat, Drink and Buy Shoes" and is dominated by more than 20 pieces of primitive appearing machinery, looks somewhat like a factory in an industrial town at the turn of the century.
Actually, it's a bit of both. Although much of his work is done by hand, he relies on machines for many tasks.
"Some is newer equipment, some is old -although it's not considered old in the shoe business," said Mr. Noonan, 44, with a sweep of the hand around the home of T. D. Noonan Inc., Custom Footwear -the shop he recently opened in the 30 Cutler Street Mill.
Nevertheless, some of the machines, which he considers "state-of-the-art" would fit right in at the Brockton (Mass.) Shoe Museum, like the 1917 United Shoe Bed Laster and "the Leveler", a complicated-looking contraption that's a mass of foot presses, levers and pulleys, he said.
These shoes are made the old-fashioned way
Even footwear associated with this country comes from Asia. Although developed and designed in the states, Nikes and Reeboks, among others are manufactured in Asia. Despite the lack of "Made in the USA" label however, the Chinese-produced footwear is anything but shoddy, he said.
"The Chinese are skilled. They were trained by the United States," said Mr. Noonan.
A few well known brands still assembled in the states are Sebago and L. L. Bean, manufactured in Maine, and New Balance, produced in Lawrence, Mass. But they're just about the last holdouts, he said.
A painstaking process
Mr. Noonan's training came early at his father's knee. His grandfather, David Noonan, founded "Noonan Shoe Patterns."
"He enjoyed a successful business. My father and two uncles went into the business and it was he number one shoe pattern business in the country," he said.
He worked there, too, but left for a career as a pattern engineer for well-known companies like Reebok in Randolph, Mass., where he built prototypes and made specialty shoes for athletes like tennis star Venus Williams and kings of the basketball court, Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson.
He worked for other major shoe and accessories manufacturers as well, including Talbot's and continues that professional relationship today. But he wanted his own shop to build shoes from scratch, something he'd never had.
His search for space at a reasonable price brought him to Warren, which he knew and already liked. The mill was perfect.
"As soon as I walked in, I knew it was a positive place to be."
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He acquired equipment at auctions and negotiated for machinery with companies that were going out of business. It wasn't always easy.
"Some were almost impossible to find," he said of the 20-plus iron workhorses that line the room.
In the "good old days" (before owning his own company) Mr. Noonan specialized in design and shoe engineering. Those days are gone. From measuring feet and making patterns to stitching and stretching – the turf is all his.
"Now I do it all," he says
A pair per week
It takes about a week to make one pair of hand crafted, all leather shoes, about 35 steps from start to finish.During the process, considerable time is lost waiting for materials to dry and set. To make a profit, an independent shoemaker like himself must plan ahead. While on shoe dries or rests, he backtracks to another shoe, beginning a new operation or continuing one already in progress.
"There are no shortcuts," he said. "You have to organize your time properly," he said.
He uses only top-notch leathers from around the globe, most stored in rolls on large racks in the center of the room.
Hauling down a roll or two to give visitors a feel, Mr. Noonan rhapsodizes over a length of fine kid (for which the customer pays dearly) as soft as a baby's bottom.
As he explains the footwear making procedure, it's fairly obvious to the unschooled that shoes are taken for granted.
Terms like counters (a stiffener for the back of the heel) innersoles, uppersoles, lipsetters, tacking, pre-pull, box toe, Goodyear welt, shanks, side lasts and bed lasts make up the shoemaker's vocabulary.
In fact, it's those lasts, molds of the foot made of wood like maple, or plastic that
A third generation shoemaker, Mr. Noonan, who now lives in Fall River but grew up in Manchester, N.H., has a foothold, so to speak, in the old world, and a toehold - and expertise- in the new. His painstakingly crafted shoes are created primarily for folks who need specialty footwear either because of an orthopedic condition or because their feet don't match in size. Occasionally he takes on a job for a customer who just wants his or her shoes custom made.
However, he is also a consultant to Talbot's, retailers of women's clothes and accessories, based in Hingham, Mass. As such, Mr. Noonan advises the company on the fitting, design and technical correctness of the footwear they sell.
In essence, there's more to feet and footwear than meets the eye. For example, while it's generally recognized that no two fingerprints are alike, the same could be said for feet. No two are the same, he said.
At one time, the region between Brockton and his home town of Manchester constituted the hub of the nation's shoe industry, he said. Not so today. In fact, the shoes of even the most stylishly shod are produced overseas.
"Imports – that's what's killed the industry in America. Today, China is the biggest shoe producer in the world," Mr. Noonan said
are the first things one sees when entering his shop – racks and racks, shelves and shelves filled with pseudo feet. He has more at home, he says with a laugh. "You know, there's a saying in the business, 'The last is always first'. It's true, without it, you can't build a shoe," he said.
A pair of Tim Noonan-made shoes, properly maintained will still be wearable and walkable after 15 years, he said. Prices vary but range from $475 to $1,200, depending on th the amount of work and materials used. Most of today's mass-produced footwear won't last a fraction of that time, basically because of the shortcuts and inferior materials, he said.
As he talks , he works, moving from a workbench to a machine then back to a workbench, and so forth – just for one shoe.
Besides a passion for the craft, any shoemaker worth his salt needs strong hands, he said, tugging leather over a last.
Demonstrating the technique on the 1917 bed laster, he fits the shoe, fiddles with the mechanism and works a lever. It's not always easy wedging the shoe properly into the grip, he said. He tries again, straining his 200 pound frame into the machine while maneuvering a lever with his left hand.
Success
"This is the toughest part," he says with a grimace. "That's why they call this machine the 'herniator'".
