The Istanbul shoemaker Öncel Kalkan has been making extra-large shoes for over thirty years. He himself has the normal shoe size 39.
Istanbul (AP) – He himself only wears shoe size 39, but his customers mostly literally live on big feet: Öncel Kalkan is a shoemaker in Istanbul, but is known for his work far beyond the borders of Turkey.
He makes shoes for people with particularly large feet and has customers all over the world. “Hardly anyone does something like me,” says the trained shoemaker.
Kalkan has had his shop Adim (in German: step) in a narrow passage right on the famous Istanbul shopping street Istiklal – since 1988. A golden sign in the window of the shop, which is quite inconspicuous from the outside, shows that big ones are sold here, shoes from size 45 The shoemaker doesn’t need any advertising: “Customers come one way or another. That goes through word of mouth. ”The 57-year-old carries out his trade traditionally, he makes shoes in a nearby basement workshop, mostly to order. He does not have an online shop.
With a mischievous smile, he pulls the largest shoe he has ever made off the shelf: It is made of brown leather and is the stately size 57. Some said he was “ready-made shoes for giants”. Basketball players and other athletes in particular now shop with him, says Kalkan.
He came across his job and specializing in big feet by chance: “My father was a farmer in Konya, that wasn’t my thing.” At the age of 15, he left for Istanbul, “because I really wanted to see a Besiktas game.” says the bald-headed Kalkan and smiles behind his mask. He calls himself a “fanatical” supporter of the Istanbul football club. When he arrived in Istanbul, he met acquaintances from Konya while looking for a job. “You said you were learning to shoemaker. Ok, I’ll do that too, I said. ”His apprenticeship began one day later.
Shortly after the store opened, two American basketball players came into his store and asked for size 52 shoes. One of them was Marcus Webb, says Kalkan. The shoemaker went to work – and Webb drove home with 32 new pairs of shoes. Since then, Kalkan has only produced shoes in popular sizes in exceptional cases. Women are also customers, a volleyball player with shoe size 46, for example. He takes a maximum of 600 Turkish lira for a pair – the equivalent of just under 60 euros.
He enjoys his work, but after over thirty years in the business he is slowly getting tired. He wants to keep the shop for two or three years, then move to the village “and relax”. By the way, he gives very little thought to his own footwear. “I buy what I come across.”
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210530-99-793070 / 2
