{"id":270048,"date":"2020-09-27T07:23:54","date_gmt":"2020-09-27T11:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=270048"},"modified":"2020-09-27T07:23:54","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T11:23:54","slug":"buying-godfather-shoes-helps-marikina-cobblers-thrive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/09\/27\/buying-godfather-shoes-helps-marikina-cobblers-thrive\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying \u2018Godfather\u2019 shoes helps Marikina cobblers thrive"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Godfather, known for their semi-bespoke leather footwear, takes pride in giving credit to the skill of their shoemakers who make every shoe by hand based on client\u2019s preferences. (File photo<\/a>: Godfather Shoes\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The Marikina shoe industry, which has been the biggest part of the city\u2019s economy, is struggling to sustain operations amid the prevailing coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.<\/p>\n

Hoping to keep business afloat in challenging times, this Marikina-based shoe brand has stepped up to the plate by making sure that their local shoemakers are well-paid.<\/p>\n

Godfather, known for their semi-bespoke leather footwear, takes pride in giving credit to the skill of their shoemakers who make every shoe by hand based on client\u2019s preferences.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we\u2019re very proud of is we pay our shoemakers well. While our products may be quite expensive, a huge portion of our earnings go to the\u00a0sapateros<\/em>\u00a0(shoemakers),\u201d Matt Lester Matel, head of Godfather’s Metro South branch, said in an interview.<\/p>\n

The shoemakers as well as customers, he said, deserve to know that the company values their craftsmanship over profitability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really want to put value in these shoes. We don\u2019t want to treat them as just a commodity.\u00a0Ang sukli sa amin<\/em>\u00a0(Our reward is), we get high quality products,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2016 by Aaron Angeles, Matel said Godfather began as an idea that shoes can be personalized to a tee — customers can choose their preferred length, width, color for the shoe\u2019s leather, sole, and midsole and also have their names engraved on the shoe\u2019s undersides.<\/p>\n

He said the goal is to produce shoes that are not just comfy and durable but also \u201cfinely-crafted\u201d and “personalized.” The shoes’ wooden box can also be engraved with a name, a logo, or a message.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe craftsmanship and the artisan spirit is really there. No one shoe is like the others. It\u2019s like buying an artwork. It\u2019s really high-quality and you will really be proud of what you\u2019ve seen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With these qualities, Matel said Godfather helps play a role in restoring faith in the once thriving Marikina shoe industry.<\/p>\n

Private fittings, virtual meetings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite temporarily ceasing operations due to coronavirus-related lockdowns, Matel said their showroom employees and marketing teams have been pretty busy.<\/p>\n

He said they had shift to the digital platform and reconfigure the work areas as safe spaces during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to change how we operate. We needed to do private fittings. When you get to our store, you\u2019re the client in the showroom,\u201d he said, adding that their employees disinfect the showroom after customers leave.<\/p>\n

Their showroom employees, he said, are also equipped with personal protective equipment to ensure everyone\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

Customers, he said, may also have virtual meetings where they are assisted by employees in measuring their shoe size.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of an actual visit to our showroom, we do zoom calls, Facebook Messenger calls where we show them our products and give them instructions on how to measure their feet properly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Godfather also launched a two-month sale last July to August to cater to the pre-wedding season market.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing clients come back. Mostly, our clients are grooms-to-be and executives who normally wear dress shoes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Matel admitted that the company had experienced a dip in sales, but remains optimistic about strategizing around a new normal while taking advantage of opportunities that may arise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this pandemic is something we cannot discount but\u00a0matatapos din naman<\/em>\u00a0to (this will eventually stop). It somehow slowed the growth but in a years\u2019 time, things will get back to normal. There would still be a demand for high-quality Filipino products. We hope to further expand and be known outside of the Philippines. There\u2019s no way to go but up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Godfather has four showrooms across the country — Marikina (main), Metro South (Para\u00f1aque), Pampanga, and Cebu.<\/p>\n

Their premium-quality leather shoes take least six weeks to be completed while prices start at PHP5,900 for rubber soles and PHP6,900 for leather soles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The Marikina shoe industry, which has been the biggest part of the city\u2019s economy, is struggling to sustain operations …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":270049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-270048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fashion-and-beauty","category-lifestyle","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270048"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270051,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270048\/revisions\/270051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}