Fourth-generation cobbler latest addition to Old Town

The Desert Sun • September 15, 2009

A fourth-generation cobbler - or "shoe technician" in modern-day lingo - opened shop in Old Town La Quinta on Monday.

Ian Platt, 39, who's owned shoe repair businesses in other valley locations, including on El Paseo in Palm Desert, opened True to Time Shoe Repair in La Quinta because he said he liked the "vibe" of Old Town.

"This is the time for La Quinta," Platt said. "They offered a great deal. I like the people, and I like the area."

In addition to shoe repair, Platt will also cut keys; repair luggage, leather belts and furniture; refinish ladies' handbags, including replacing or repairing hardware; rebuild, custom design, dye or lower shoes; and repair and refurbish leather saddles and tack.

"Anything to do with shoes or leather, I do," he said. "There isn't a shoe I can't repair."

Platt's great-grandfather opened the family's first shoe repair business in Manchester, England, in the early 1900s and repaired boots and belts for the Army during World War I, he said.

Platt got his first taste of the trade as an 8-year-old in Manchester, working on weekends and after school for his father.

"Sweeping up was my first job," Platt said. "Then I was pulling heels off of ladies' shoes for a year and then he taught me everything."

At 15, he left school and worked in the trade full time.

Platt moved to the U.S. in 1996 and opened his first shop on Washington Street in Palm Desert in 1997.

Repeat customers from Platt's other shops came to the new store early Monday morning.

Tom Di Mare stopped by with two items: a brown alligator belt and a pair of gold-colored, open-toed shoes belonging to his wife.

"He rescues everything," Di Mare said. "He's an excellent technician."

Platt, who said he's soled about 20 shoes a day for the past 30 years, said he enjoys what he does because every day is a different challenge.

The most unusual job he said he's done is design and build an artificial limb for a three-legged dog.

Platt said he wrapped a Pringles potato chip can in leather and put a wheel on the bottom so the dog could walk.

Platt opened Indio Shoe Repair on Jackson Street in Indio about a month ago.

The man who runs that store, Aaron Terry, 32 - who's been trained by and has worked for Platt for years - said they've repaired shoes for locals including Arnold Palmer and Johnny Bench.

They've also changed street shoes - and even a pair of cowboy boots - into golf shoes.

Platt also specializes in the repair of high-end shoes.

The most expensive item Platt has worked on - the $250,000 Stewart Weitzman diamond-encrusted shoes worn by Jennifer Hudson in "Dream Girls" - were brought to him for a small repair requiring the gluing of an insole, he said.

Other than Terry, Platt is a one-man show.

Platt has tried hiring other employees, but he said he never got to the point where he was confident they could perform the work to his standards.

"It's hard to get good help," Platt said, adding there aren't many people in the U.S. who are trained in the craft. "It's a trade in England. It makes it difficult here because it's not a trade."