Steve Mellor

If you've watched many shoe restoration videos on YouTube, you've probably come across Mark, better known as Cobbler G. What started as a way of showing friends and family what he did at work has grown into one of the biggest shoe repair channels on YouTube, introducing thousands of people to the craft of traditional cobbling.

Over the last few months I've been lucky enough to meet some really interesting people in the leather industry, and one of them is Andy Bates. Andy first got in touch with George Barnsley a while ago. During one of our first phone calls we got talking about education, and I mentioned that we offer educational discounts on our tools. That conversation eventually led to us supplying tools and stitching clams to the Leather Conservation Centre in Leicester. Andy also invited us to become part of...

One of the perks of working for George Barnsley is the opportunity to learn from people like Nigel Armitage. For those who don't know Nigel, he's one of the best-known leathercraft instructors in the UK and has helped thousands of people learn the craft through his workshops and online videos. We make tools for leatherworkers every day, but I'd never actually made a belt myself. It seemed like a good opportunity to see what our customers do with the tools we make, and there's nobody better to...