Life in the Regions: The Story of a Shoemaker from Kadamzhai Who Transitioned from Handcraft to Mass Production

Анна Федорова Social Portal
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A resident of the village of Chauvai in the Kadamjai district of the Batken region, Talaybek Sadykov has been sewing shoes by hand for 3 years, taking orders.

He makes shoes for both children and adults—summer and winter. Orders often come from ulakchy (players in kok-boru). There are also regular clients who prefer shoes made from pure leather.

“My children help me. A year ago, I bought a machine, but I only started using it a month ago. Before, I worked only by hand; now I have also involved the machine. Recently, a family approached me: their daughter has one leg 7 cm shorter than the other—I made her special shoes. We have many people with flat feet who also place orders. Ulakchy often reach out. I sew exclusively from natural leather. I am actually a carpenter. I used to think: why not make shoes for children myself? It’s hard to find shoes made from pure leather at the market. Now this dream has come true. I order materials from Uzbekistan and China. Previously, it took a day to make one pair; now, with the machine, I can make 10–15 a day. If I fully set up the work and hire employees, I could produce 50–60 pairs. In the city of Kyzyl-Kiya, we even opened a store for our shoes,” Sadykov shared.
Cost: sports shoes start from 2500 soms, boots from 4000 to 8000 soms. He is also currently sewing winter boots and traditional Kyrgyz maasy.

“Our goal is to produce exclusively natural shoes, without synthetics. This has been my long-standing dream since my youth. We are looking for a space for large-scale production. There is a problem with staffing—we need 4 workers. Training can be done on the job. If all the machines start working, the production will reach a full cycle,” noted Talaybek myrza.

He plans to produce “Kokand boots.” The first samples are already ready.

According to the master, such shoes would appeal to the residents of the region.

T. Sadykov is currently 46 years old. He is the father of five sons and a daughter.

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