Located in the Saint-Aubin district, the Solana house, specializing in the manufacture of orthopedic shoes, has been offering its shoemaking services since September. The recent closure of the last shoemaker in Saint-Aubin and growing demand from people in the neighborhood decided Patrick Solana. This 64-year-old pedorthist, heir to the Solana house founded in 1867 by his great-grandfather, added the words “shoemaking” to its storefront in September. “Many customers suggested me for a long time, I had the know-how and the equipment so I started repairing”. Established for more than thirty years on rue Maury, Patrick Solana is the fourth of the name to perpetuate a know-how as a bootmaker that he now dedicates exclusively to orthopedic shoes. In his boutique workshop, he keeps the inventory books and payrolls duly completed by his predecessors and four generations of numbered forms and moldings of feet.

Pumps in 43

For so many anecdotes and life stories. He remembers his grandfather Isidore, telling him the story of this transvestite who had ordered a pair of pumps from him in 1943 and who was found in the Garonne, murdered before having paid his bill. From his father Odon, he kept miniature hand-sewn shoes and a men’s crocodile pair brought back by his widow who no longer had any use for them. “When he finished best apprentice in France, the Practical School of Romans-sur-Isère placed an order with him for shoes for the president at the time. My father did not like to tell this story because the president at the time was Pétain”.

Three pairs in 64

Patrick Solana has also experienced significant events in his career, notably in 2003, when the tallest man in the world at the time, an Algerian of 2.44 m, pushed the door of his studio. He made three pairs for him in size 64! Today, the pedorthist and shoemaker describes more difficult times and says he has difficulty recruiting. “A few years ago, eleven people worked here. There are currently three of us, including a part-time worker who I had a hard time finding.