Art of traditional shoe making is dying.

 

Dera Ismail Khan is famous for traditional handmade sandals, known locally as bund and kheri chappal, but this art of shoe-making is fast dying.

However, some shoemakers, who inherited the art from ancestors, are trying to keep it alive.

According to them, the Derawal chappal is made in four stages, the first and most difficult being the preparation of the upper part by cutting a piece of leather according to the design.

In the next stage, the sole of the shoe is made.

Follow first the adjustment of the foam with the upper part of the chappal and then its manual stitching with the sole.

A shoe passes through the hands of many artisans and is prepared in about three days.

Cow and buffalo leather is used to make the chappal. The upper part of the sandal is made of cowhide, while buffalo leather is used for the sole.

The chappal has a small strip of leather loaded with gold embroidered threads.

These tillay wali sandals, as they are called in local lingo, are shipped to Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, and even Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

Ustad Abdul Bashir, who has been making Derawal chappal for 50 years, told Dawn that popular nylon and rexine footwear had seriously affected his work.

He also said that the closure of many leather factories in Lahore and Karachi had triggered leather prices and thus caused chappal rates to rise.

The shoemaker said Derawal chappal's lawsuit had reduced what was forcing workers to look for another job.

He said Derawal chappal stayed warm in the winter and cool in the summer, did not harm its wearers' skin, and was long-lasting.

"Today, our city has a handful of creators of this chappal," he said.

Bashir said the art of traditional shoemaking was dying due to rising prices and government indifference.

"For the revival of this art, the government should establish leather factories in Dera Ismail Khan to supply high-quality leather to artisans at low prices," he said.