We get inside the mind of Paul Kaniuk, the visionary behind the ShoeSpa and the BagSpa, discovering how the business is going from strength to strength one step at a time.
Those of us who have a closet full of beautiful shoes are probably far more emotionally attached to them than we would dare to admit.
These shoes are, at some point, going to wear out: broken heels, scuffed suede, worn-out soles; it happens to the best of them and then what? Do you leave them to gather dust on a shelf, or do you throw them away?
We live in an age of fast, throwaway fashion, which might be good for business, but it’s also helping to destroy the environment.
Billions of pairs of shoes are thrown away every year. In the UK alone, 2 million pairs of shoes are thrown in to landfill each week. This creates an enormous amount of post-consumer shoe waste and is filling landfill sites around the world.
Serial entrepreneur Paul Kaniuk (who incidentally loves his shoes) spent many years replacing his own shoes, worn out from walking between business meetings in the London city centre.
He decided to take matters into his own hands and founded what can only be described as the poshest cobblers in town – ShoeSpa London.
Paul has completely re-invented the traditional cobblers, from customer journey through to operations and technology, with a very clear goal to disrupt the aftercare fashion market both in the UK and across Europe.
ShoeSpa London is growing 20% month on month through both new and repeat business and is deemed one of London’s ‘hidden gems. It has recently expanded into the restoration of designer handbags through the launch of a new sister brand, ‘BagSpa’.
Customers can drop into the state-of-the-art London Store at Kings Cross for free consultation and advice, while customers from all over the UK and Europe can easily send in their shoes and have them delivered back as good as new.
In this interview, we catch up with Paul Kaniuk to talk about ShoeSpa and his applaudable determination to make a difference in the luxury fashion market:
Luxurious Magazine: The restoration you do is exquisite. Do you have an army of elves in the background making this happen?
Paul Kaniuk: No, not quite! But I choose my staff very carefully as we need to find the finest craftsmen and artists who can turn a pair of shoes from a mess into a piece of art and breathe life back into them.
We look for those experienced with leather and stitching but also teach what we do as we train them. But it’s not all about the skills they have.
We are big on mindset at ShoeSpa, and it is vital to ensure that the staff genuinely believe in what they do and why. I want them to feel good about coming to work and that they believe they stand for something.
They are dedicated and enthusiastic, and the team bonds over wanting to help the environment through what they are doing daily. Feeling they have a purpose manifests in them, working hard to help grow what they are a part of.
Without a highly motivated and happy team, there is no business.
LM: Do you think that people are genuinely attached to their shoes?
Paul Kaniuk: Yes, definitely.
People get emotional about their shoes, and this is why more and more are coming to us so that we can restore and upcycle some of their favourites that they can’t bear to part with.
Because we are aware of this, we make the restoration service very personal. We put in hours of focus and attention to detail and do the best job we can.
We add a little tag to the restored shoes which will say, for example, ‘restored by Michael’, and then the customer feels as if the shoes have been well treated!
LM: Do you feel that there is a move to being more sustainable in the luxury fashion market?
Paul Kaniuk: Absolutely! There have been huge changes in the fashion industry, but there is still so much more we could do. Fashion is a huge waste stream in the UK, and statistics show that the average garment is thrown away after just eight wears.
This ‘fast-fashion’ trend, which is currently rife in the UK, needs to slow down. It might be good for business, but it’s so damaging to the environment. ShoeSpa can help to give much-loved shoes and bags a second life!
Huge progress is being made in the UK in terms of awareness and best practices, and MPs are urging the UK government to end the era of throwaway clothes, shoes and bags in the fashion supply chain as this has such devastating effects on the environment.
LM: Why do you think ShoeSpa/BagSpa can help to ring the changes?
Paul Kaniuk: We are a rich nation, but I feel we are really behind in our environmental awareness compared to other countries.
We need to show how we can catch up, and businesses need to offer more solutions, but it’s tricky to find solutions which are good for the environment as well as convenient.
At ShoeSpa, we can show customers that even at the luxury end of the fashion market, there are options available to be more sustainable.
We can offer ‘slow fashion‘! By having your shoes restored with us, customers can extend their life cycle by 20-30 years.
The majority of shoes at this end of the market are so well made and designed that they don’t really go out of fashion, and some can even become heirlooms for children to inherit.
LM: Is your business unique, or are you just a ‘posh cobbler’?
Paul Kaniuk: Of course, we are a posh cobbler, but we are a lot more besides. The cobbler industry conjures an old-fashioned image of a small, grimy shop in a side street and definitely not the place you would think to take your £1500 Dior heels to be mended.
ShoeSpa is disruptive to the aesthetics and disruptive to the customer mindset. We have an online channel, and you don’t need to come near our ‘shop’ as we have such an efficient pick-up and return system in place, not only in the UK but globally.
Customers can interact with us in a very different way from the high-street cobbler as we have a very advanced customer service team in place.
LM: Is there anything you can do that sets you apart from other shoe restorers?
Paul Kaniuk: Innovation is a keyword at ShoeSpa. We are here to disrupt a very traditional industry, so we have looked at all aspects of the business and have worked hard to innovate in all areas—for example, our customer-focused services, our simplified ordering process and courier services.
Innovation with our technical solutions is vital. We have focused on value creation for customers for efficient restoration of heavily damaged items.
We have also developed new technologies such as patent leather restoration and are currently one of the very few places in the UK to offer this service.
LM: Can you restore everything?
Paul Kaniuk: That is an interesting question, and honestly, I have to say no. Why? Well as an example and a general observation, puppies love to chew on heels and can actually ruin a pair of even the best-made shoes.
If parts of your shoe are missing, we can do our best to restore it, but there will, of course, be limitations; if 20% of that shoe is in your puppy’s tummy, then we won’t be able to work miracles!
LM: So, how long does it take to restore a pair of shoes?
Paul Kaniuk: Professional and high-quality shoe restoration is a very advanced service, and it requires time.
Some high-street cobblers, just like fast-food restaurants, may provide a short turnaround time, but we don’t work this way. We work with luxury and premium brands which require much more attention to detail and care, more advanced equipment and very skilled technicians.
The restoration process often requires ten or more different steps and should not be done in a rush; hence, 3-4 weeks are required for a high-standard restoration job.
LM: What are the most interesting projects you have been given?
Paul Kaniuk: The most interesting project I have worked on to date is a pair of walking boots from the first world war, which were over 100 years old. Handling them and reflecting on everything they had been through was humbling.
I was blown away by how beautifully they’d been made and with such a high standard of craftsmanship. I was thrilled to be able to restore them to just as new, like a work of art and a little piece of history.
We do get a number of old vintage items in, and it proves that shoes can be used again and again if they are looked after
LM: I have to ask, but do some of these shoes smell when they arrive, and how do you combat this?
Paul Kaniuk: Oh, yes, some of them really do! But we are prepared; we have a special machine which generates ozone gas, and once the shoes have been through this process, there is no odour left. It kills germs and bacteria, and then we can get to work on them without having to hold our noses!
People ask if this process is damaging to the environment, but this would go against what we stand for. The ozone gas is neutral to the environment.
LM: Do you have any collaborations in the pipeline?
Paul Kaniuk: We are currently working on a collaboration with the fast-growing charity Shoe Aid. This charity is liaising with some of the largest organisations in the UK to reduce shoe poverty and reduce footwear waste and its impact on the environment.
We have recently agreed to promote Shoe Aid on our website, collect shoes on their behalf and clean and repair some of the donated shoes they receive on a regular basis.
I think it is important to align ourselves with a relevant charity incentive. Collaborating with a like-minded brand/charity can only work to enforce our efforts to be more effective in our mission to be sustainable.
LM: Finally, what is your ultimate ambition for ShoeSpa/BagSpa?
Paul Kaniuk: Our ambition is to become global leaders in our field, but our ethos remains the same; no matter how big we become, we will always keep our customers at our heart and will continue to help the environment by encouraging and promoting sustainability by giving your much-loved shoes and bags a new lease of life!
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