Leather Shoemaker

Fernando “Tito Tuts” Pineda

A former resident of Pampanga who makes leather shoes and repairs them as part of their services in their shoe shop located at General Luna road in Baguio city. Shoemaking is a part of the tradition of the region, especially about leather boots. Every design stitched on leather gives a certain style and uniqueness for the wearer since leather shoes and boots are heavily functional in the wearer’s everyday use. Vintage shoe wear is still a trend especially for the male natives of the region paired with denim and leather clothing fashion. It’s the way of the people who are fond of such statements to express themselves as influenced by the “cowboy” aesthetic and culture of the Americans since their settlement in Baguio. The city is also known for breeding and taming horses, a history left by the Chinese, Brazilian and other South American traders to the city and country during the 1700.

Fernando took an apprenticeship in shoe making in Manila when he was young then when he was 18, he migrated to Baguio during the year 1983. He’s been making leather shoes for 40 years. 

The materials he commonly use are rubber soles or “tapakan” and cow leather which comes from Kawayan Bulacan. As for his tools, he uses scissors, Hammer, Awls or “Pambutas” (a tool used to make holes in leather) and cutters or nippers. For the plans for creating a leather shoe or boots, he uses cut-out pattern templates from hard paper for the different parts. He then traces the outline of the templates into the leather before he cuts the different parts of it. He Stretches the leather parts into a mold to form its shape before stitching them together and applying rugby to fuse the leather together with the rubber sole. He stitches intricate designs while in the process of making the shoe then polishes it with shoe shine. Making a pair of leather boots or shoes takes up to 4 hours to accomplish.