He made shoes for Trump and Schwarzenegger: how a shoemaker from Odessa conquered New York

In New York, there are more shoemakers than bars in which thin hairpins of graceful girls get stuck. Here shoemakers are girls' best friends. One of them is Sam, who flew to New York from Odessa at the age of 17. His story was told “Voice of America".

Sam has been living in New York for 40 years. When asked how he got to America, he jokes that he flew to by plane... All his life he has been making shoes. He did this in Odessa, having arrived in New York, he did not change his profession.

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At first he sewed shoes, then bought a shoe-making workshop from a Greek. By the way, his name was also Sam. Therefore, the Odessa resident did not have to change the sign.

The jeweler Misha works with Sam in the workshop. They have been working together for twenty years. By the way, his client was the musician Waters Rogers from Pink Floyd.

Sam proudly shows cash machine in the workshop, emphasizing that he is 150 years old. On the cash register there are many magnets brought from the countries where he traveled: Hungary, France, Italy, Slovenia, Kiev.

Sam lives with his wife in New Jersey. They have been married for 42 years. Sam jokes that during this time it was possible to serve time. He has his own house with a swimming pool and sauna. On the phone are photographs of his daughter, son and grandchildren, which he proudly shows to the correspondent.

Stars and celebrities among Sam's clients

According to Sam, his clients include the President of Israel and his ex-wife. Donald Trump, actress Marla Maples, Arnold Schwarzenegger. And for the singer Sting, Sam sewed cowboy boots.

Sam says that he has many Russian-speaking clients, for example, he sewed shoes for Lavrov.

Sam not only sews new shoes, but also repairs shoes. He works both with expensive shoes - Louis Vuitton, Prada, and with inexpensive products. According to him, they bring him old shoes, he pulls them over and makes them like new. People don't want to throw out old shoes because they are so comfortable. He compares shoes to gloves, saying that people prefer to fix an old pair for the sake of convenience.

"Eye, like X-ray and golden hands"

Sam says clients can be moody even if he does a great job. But over the years, I learned to identify their needs. He added that by hand and by shoe he can determine the nationality of the client. Because his eyes define the client like an x-ray.

Sam fixing broken heels stuck in the bars that are so common in New York. Most of all he loves when the shoes are bitten by dogs. He added that dogs are a shoemaker's best friend.

Among the various customer requests is adjusting the heel height for a client with one leg shorter than the other. Talking about this, Sam added "now you will see my golden hands."