The economic downturn is obviously a serious matter.  Not helped by the constant, daily bombardment of negativity from the media, which seems specifically designed to grind us all down.  The stories of the impending financial horror are enough to make you stay in bed with the covers pulled over you.

The one shining light in the fiscal gloom appears to be the area of shoe repairing.  There have been numerous TV and newspaper reports of our industry bucking the gloomy trend.  Obviously offering an ecologically sound, money-saving service ticks the boxes of an industry perfectly positioned to weather this difficult time.  The oft-repeated mantra of ‘repair them, don’t throw them away’, is finding favour with the public at large.

At Standard we have been pleasantly surprised at the number of shoe repairers who have chosen this time to invest in their businesses.  New 710 finishers are leaving our factory every week destined for shoe repairers looking to invest the money they have made in recent years in new equipment.  In many ways this is the best time to invest the money made during good times.

Usually the repairer is replacing a very old finishing machine which has paid for itself many times over, and owes the business nothing.  He also achieves the double bonus of sidestepping one of the increasingly common visits by their Council’s Health and Safety inspector, and securing a handsome trade-in for a machine which is well past its best.  Often this time is also used to spruce up a tired shop, enticing more custom.

Once we pull clear of this economic slump the repairer who has invested in new machinery is perfectly placed to take advantage of the improved trading conditions.