{"id":2511,"date":"2021-08-18T02:41:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T02:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/tourism\/the-joys-and-sorrows-of-repairing-old-shoes-and-sandals"},"modified":"2026-01-20T03:30:29","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T03:30:29","slug":"the-joys-and-sorrows-of-repairing-old-shoes-and-sandals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/news\/the-joys-and-sorrows-of-repairing-old-shoes-and-sandals","title":{"rendered":"The joys and sorrows of repairing old shoes and sandals."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With just a few awls and a pair of scissors, these craftsmen can \u201cpatch up a life\u201d for old shoes and sandals\u2014and sometimes, patch up their own lives as well. This humble shoe-repair trade has seen artisans remain devoted to it for nearly 30 years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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A Family\u2019s Traditional Trade<\/strong>
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At an intersection in M\u1ef9 Tho City (Ti\u1ec1n Giang Province), sisters Ms. Ng\u1ecdc and Ms. \u0110\u00e0o have spent nearly 30 years devoted to repairing old shoes and sandals. Thanks to this trade, they were able to raise their children to adulthood. Now, in their later years, they can still support themselves without depending on their children.
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With deft hands threading needle after needle to mend a torn shoe for a customer, Ms. Ng\u1ecdc shared that repairing a worn heel is fairly simple. First, she places a piece of cloth across her thigh, trims the heel to fit, then applies a rubber patch with adhesive to the more worn side to restore balance. Using a small knife, she cuts, trims, and shapes the newly attached section, carefully checks it, then adds another piece of rubber firmly bonded to the entire heel and glues the sole tightly to the shoe upper.
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Thus, a shoe with a worn, uneven heel is restored to its original, level shape after just a few simple steps by Ms. Ng\u1ecdc.
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The investment required for sidewalk shoe repair is modest: a few plastic chairs, a small rack holding various old shoes, pieces of leather, knives, scissors, glue, pliers, needles, and thread\u2014all costing around VND 500,000\u2014along with a permitted, visible spot to sit and work.
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Although it is merely a livelihood earned on sidewalks and streets, shoe and sandal repair provides a relatively stable income, averaging about VND 100,000\u2013200,000 per day. It is not a path to wealth, but it is enough to cover daily living expenses.
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Nearly all shoe repairers in M\u1ef9 Tho share one thing in common: they earn a living through a traditional family trade. However, while earlier generations could prosper from making shoes, today their descendants can only make ends meet through repairing and mending.
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The Trade of Patching Up a Life<\/strong>
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After many ups and downs in life, Mr. D\u01b0\u01a1ng in Bi\u00ean H\u00f2a City (\u0110\u1ed3ng Nai Province) chose a corner of Tam H\u00f2a Market as the place to rebuild his life through the trade of repairing old shoes and sandals.
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In 2010, Mr. Ba D\u01b0\u01a1ng (56 years old) was granted amnesty and released from prison three years early. At the time, he had no wife or children, and his parents had passed away. Thinking that his life was over, he was unexpectedly helped by a kind-hearted person who gave him VND 1 million. With this modest capital, Mr. Ba D\u01b0\u01a1ng gradually \u201cpatched up his life\u201d using needlework skills he had learned informally from fellow inmates. Although the income was not high, he felt his life had become more meaningful, gradually leaving behind his criminal past by being able to support himself.
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Like Mr. Ba D\u01b0\u01a1ng, many years of repairing shoes and sandals for women at a corner of D\u1ea7u Gi\u00e2y Market (Th\u1ed1ng Nh\u1ea5t District, \u0110\u1ed3ng Nai Province) have helped S\u00e1u Thanh find purpose and fulfillment in life.
To repair a pair of shoes or sandals so they fit comfortably, the craftsman must be meticulous and skillful. The most important thing is ensuring a proper fit so customers are satisfied. The clientele of this trade is mostly working-class people and low-income laborers.
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Whether business is brisk or slow, whether it rains or shines, the repairer still opens the stall each day. This work demands perseverance and patience\u2014and the joy comes from caring for the feet of women, children, and hardworking laborers, which is its own kind of happiness.
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Compiled by Bang Tam<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With just a few awls and a pair of scissors, these craftsmen can \u201cpatch up a life\u201d for old shoes and sandals\u2014and sometimes, patch up their own lives as well. This humble shoe-repair trade has seen artisans remain devoted to it for nearly 30 years. A Family\u2019s Traditional Trade At an intersection in M\u1ef9 Tho…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":941,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[653],"tags":[923,924,921,922],"location":[666],"class_list":["post-2511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-livelihood","tag-shoe-repair","tag-shoes","tag-used-shoes","location-tien-giang"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2511"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2531,"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511\/revisions\/2531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2511"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanhoamientay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=2511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}