JR COMPETITION

[x minit uk]

Come on then, lets be havin ya, who is going to take part this year.

 

Lets all show Timpsons us independents are far better than them.

We are all quick enough to slag them off, yet they wipe the floor with the competition and take all the plaudits.

Surely as we are all experts on here, one of us can break into the top three.

The publicity you will get for coming in the top three would be priceless, especially as we are heading for a tough period with the economy nose diving and all the doom and gloom merchants getting active.

So come on, force yourself to go for it, you never know it could be YOU.

[Lee]

I “was” going to get involved again this year, be it helping to promote the competition or entering myself.

 

I discussed this with the organisers & “was” awaiting a reply which I never received as to what I could or couldn’t do!

 

Secondly I was in a meeting where one of the previous judges (un-minuted) made reference to the competition in a negative way, yet is involved again this year.

 

To this end, despite my best efforts I will not be involved this year

 

But as Minit says the publicity for gaining a respected place is absolutely priceless & I would well recommend taking part.

 

Lee

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

Come on then, lets be havin ya, who is going to take part this year.

 

Lets all show Timpsons us independents are far better than them.

We are all quick enough to slag them off, yet they wipe the floor with the competition and take all the plaudits.

Surely as we are all experts on here, one of us can break into the top three.

The publicity you will get for coming in the top three would be priceless, especially as we are heading for a tough period with the economy nose diving and all the doom and gloom merchants getting active.

So come on, force yourself to go for it, you never know it could be YOU.

 

Very well put X minit uk, now if everyone could get the same motivation and positive thinking the whole trade would benefit.

[k4mrc]

by Lee on Sat Jun 21, 2008 7:59 am

 

I “was” going to get involved again this year, be it helping to promote the competition or entering myself.

 

I discussed this with the organisers & “was” awaiting a reply which I never received as to what I could or couldn’t do!

 

not being funny lee, surely you can enter,

isn't the judging annonamous? therefore even if you work for them in any capacity (other than being the judge of course) you can still have a go.

they need as many entrants as they can get - last year wasn't the total figure entered about 18?

[bkb]

in the states we have our competition sponsored by SSIA. Shoe Service Institute of America, open to members of ssia. Peter Holmer of stockholm sweden won this years grand silver cup. 1rst place. congrats Peter. ive seen you share on this forum and ours. your a dedicated leather worker

bkb =D>

[petercoulson]

welll done peter, can we have another forum winner in the uk this year?

 

=D>

[x minit uk]

Great, well done peter, I never realised Sweden was one of the states Though,

[bkb]

no boundaries, daddy-o

bkb

[Guest sarsden_boy]

Hey guys, im new on here. Im entering the jr comp for 1st time this year already sent my shoes i spent one day on them because we dont really get time where i work, some mistakes but the not to bad. You all seem to hate timpson on here but you shouldnt hate the timpson staff or whoever may win the comp as they are individuals and could do the same standard of work inside your shop.

[kobblers]

i don't hate timmos i don't agree with them on some things but that's not the same

 

good luck with the comp, try to do something different than everyone else though!!

 

rick.

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

Well put Sarsden boy but, you would not have the time that your company allows. Each 5 minutes spent on competition work for an Independant means a lot of profit down the drain. They do not have the luxury of having a backer who is paying their wages while they mess about polishing shoes.

An Indepenent could do that work as good if they came to a timpson branch and were paid for the week on their rates and given free access to everything that you have access to. You are fortunate in having the expertise and machinery plus materials to hand every step of the way.

These guys on here are attemping to circumnavigate all your advantages to beat you, many can if they can only get their heads around the eventual benefits to their business.

[Guest sarsden_boy]

I understand that, and your very right. The equipment part i dont agree but the time i totally agree. Independents have more prioritys than Timpson branch staff and anyone who can get in the top 10 deserves to be there more so for the independents, never the less the craftmanship still needs to be there.

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

As far as equipment goes you as a mamber of a large organisation have access to machinery and specialist tooling that are sometimes not available to an Independant.

There is a concern at the present time over the edge trimming. Many lonestar operators only have a tungsten cutter that will produce a flat edge. You on the other hand may or may not have within a 20 mile radius trimmers that an individual may not be able to have access to. In this respect it tips the scales more into your favour.

You may also share the many unique characteristics of the repair that go towards the winning job with your colleagues for the benefit of the company that you work for, this is evident by the mass copying of a format that has been going around for some time now.

It's time someone did something different as it is now getting very boring seeing the majority of winning entries following the same format.

My opinion on the subject is thus.... "To the Victor go the spoils of War". Let the batle commence.

[keithm]

Whilst I like to see quality footwear, ie, welted, leather work being repaired to a very high standard, I believe that we should always be mindful of the fact that their are many repairers out there who are not the best with leather work, but are quite masterful with 'other' forms of footwear, ie, plastic and rubber.

 

It takes a true craftsmen to produce the works of art that we have seen over many years of competition in our trade. But, the trade has changed and so has the type of footwear that the public buy. Should we not make reference to this in our competitions?

 

I wish to take nothing away from the 'Craftsmen' among us, but merely open a debate on the way forward that may be more representative of the 'modern' footwear repairer.

 

I shall now don my suit of armour and await a barrage

[petercoulson]

Keith in a suit of armour, I can see it now the family motto:

 

He Came, He Saw, He Concurred

 

[keithm]

lol

[Guest sarsden_boy]

Very good point keith, 50% of the work i do these days seems to be rubber/plastic etc. Some welted, some moulded, some mock welt some single unit and the list goes on. But anybody who does a job that pleases the judges eye cant be called boring, if you see a shoe that wins a comp you work on that design and try to get it a bit neater hear and there which in my eyes is whats happend, theres no point in trying something new when you know what sort of "Format" the shoe needs to be to win. You would need to maybe blame the judges and not the competitor for this. I dont blame either, i hope i get my point of view across without upsetting anybody.

 

Oh and ive read some stuff posted from hugh can do... and you seem very knoledgable. I have taken some pics with my phone at work just some randoms of jobs ive been doing today. Where would be the best place to put them and how would i do it. Thanks

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

I have taken some pics with my phone at work just some randoms of jobs ive been doing today. Where would be the best place to put them and how would i do it. Thanks

 

Just put them on your computer and upload them as small files pressing the "Upload attachment button on the bottom of your post. You will need to press the "Browse" button for it to take you to where the pic is stored.

I am sure that we are all awaiting to be enlightened by your methods and finished job.

Nice to see someone so young taking this work seriously enough to engage in productivity to prove their crat ability.

The proof of the pudding as they say!!!!!!

 

One aspect of your previous post is not quite correct, as you say, why try a different forat when the winners all do the same (or words to that effect).

Look at it this way, 50 entries all done the same way and all top class, how do you differentiate between them when they are all the same standard as seems to be the case nowadays?

The way to the winners podium is by doing something different that gets the points that no-one has bothered with.

Writing Luton Town for the Cup in felt tip pen wont get you any marks but,(unless Peter is a Judge )it will get marks for artistic interpretation if there are such marks. Get the jist of my way of thinking!!!

[Guest sarsden_boy]

i see waht your saying, but il try and get the list of info sent out with the materials that specifys the points system, i think then your veiw will change. No points for being artistic.

[Guest sarsden_boy]

just testing so see if i can do it lol

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

OK here is an artistic marking..... Look at the heel nailing pattern, very boring but neet, apart from the over zealous use of a Hammer.

Look at previous winners over the last ten years by getting pics from back issues of the Cutting edge mag or the excellent forum archive pics on ramdom images in the left view pane.

(or ask Lee if he could have copies posted under tutorials etc.).

[Guest sarsden_boy]

i know that but thats my everyday job i cant spend as much time on a customer pair like i wud on a comp pair. i do about 25 pair per day of jobs like in that pic, so standards drop only slightly but not noticable to a customer???

[Guest sarsden_boy]

ps ther reason i hit them in so far with the hammer is to give the nail heads longer before they wear off with the friction of the floor. Which means the top peice is held on strong for longer. Not that the top peice would fall off if i didnt nail at all, but you can never be too carefull lol

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

One thing you should understand about nailing....

It is not the head wearing off that would cause a problem, it's the nail itself, as the heel wears down so does the head to an extent that it wears off quite quickly. The iron that the nail is made from is soft enough for the nail to spread upon each contact with a hard surface, thereby creating a continuous new head. A case hardened nail would not have this effect as the iron/steel is too hard.

If you hammer the nails down in a competition job make sure that they are all of the same depth.

Your everyday jobs though are a credit to you.Most competition entries are not up to that standard. Now be prepared for the nit picking to begin, (when we've got time of course)

[Guest sarsden_boy]

Well thankyou for the compliment hugh, thats very interesting information about the nails i didnt know that i never looked that far into the nail material. As for nailing my comp shoes which i already sent off, the nails are flat although i did make a mistake, but il not say what the mistake was incase somebody on here has also done who when reads this would rectify it, this comp really is dog eat dog aint it lol.