Today we’d like to introduce you to Margarett Duran.
Margarett, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Our father, Gonzalo Duran Sr. learned his cobbler craft from his father, Francisco Duran back in Northern Mexico.
In the early 50’s, my father came to the United States and worked as a fruit picker in Northern California, outside of San Francisco. He later traveled to downtown L.A. with some friends and found a job at a shoe factory.
Because he knew English, he was promoted to foreman and supervised his crew of men at this shoe factory owned by Greek immigrant named Henry. That man was the nicest many I had ever met.
Every day after work, my dad would go in the garage and tinker with leather and shoe making.
He soon opened up a shoe repair shop in our garage.
One day, someone asked him if he knew how to make Folklorico shoes, and he answered “yes”. Well, word of mouth brought him so much business that he was soon making drill team boots for the neighboring high schools. My dad branched off to Flamenco Shoes, Mariachi Boots, Tap Dancing Shoes, and Super Hero Footwear.
He passed away in 2002, but his loyal wife kept the business alive. Mom passed away in 2016, and now the daughters, Isabel and Margarett Duran do their best to keep the business alive, still running it like a ‘mom & pop’ shop.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There were many struggles.
One of them was when everyone decided to purchase items online from China, where you can get a dance shoe for $20.00.
When our dad died, we lost a lot of clients.
When the recession hit, we lost a lot of clients as no one wanted to pay our prices.
Still today, a lot of people do not understand that our shoes are handmade, as in hand-made…. Only 2 men are left from the original employee base of 7. It takes 4 weeks to make the shoe and we do not carry inventory.
People want shoes immediately, within the family, there are struggles about advertising methods, customer services, etc.
But we are overcoming our obstacles and continue to produce footwear that lasts a long time
Please tell us about Duran’s Dance Shoes.
I’m proud of the fact that we have the most loyal shoe makers who NEVER take short cuts. Each shoe is made with love, and you can see that they are passionate while they are hunched over cutting, sewing and placing leather. We buy only quality materials and products.
My sister manages the business and I, margarett, am in charge of advertising and sales and handle all the online orders.
It’s a lost art, and I would like to teach it to someone who has the same passion for beautiful footwear
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Learn from my father, the master cobbler and designer.
I would cancel my life and just go to his shop daily and absorb and learn all that I could.
No one can design and create a shoe like my dad.
I get so emotional just thinking about it.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2719 East 4th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90033
STREET PARKING ONLY - Website: www.duranscustomdanceshoes.com
- Phone: 818-854-1955
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DuransDanceShoes
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/durans-dance-shoes-los-angeles
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