Good morning sneaker pipo (shoutout BBC News Pidgin).

As we know, the world functions thanks to the many people who call planet Earth their home. The footwear industry is much of the same. It’s natural for our minds to give credit to the big-name designers and marketing powerhouses, but we must not forget the smaller cogs who keep the machine going!

Why do we often neglect the smaller cogs in this bigger shoe machine? I can think of several reasons, but regardless of those, it is clear that brands do not allocate budget for such tales.

That’s where wearshoeswritepoems comes in, to highlight the niche shoe stories you wish you could read about!

Much like the Solar system, we know the bigger planets have a larger gravitational pull, but how come people still prefer my boy Pluto? Sure, it’s partly due to the Disney character (he was a rascal), but it’s mainly down to our love for the underdog.

The Shoe People series will champion lesser-known footwear people, those who exist around the world, toiling away under the shadow of the bigger brands.

After all, it wasn’t until the last 100 years that your local shoe makers had a much bigger role to play. Think of the number of bustling factories in Northampton and the cobblers who were busy making shoes before the 1950s. They were the rockstars of their time.

I realise that the number of people who care about these types of stories are few and far between, but if you do care, be sure to stick around!

Since making a conscious effort to travel more, I have encountered more fellow footwear fiends, all adopting their own patch of earth in their own unique way.

These are the people that I’m interested in. These are the shoe stories that I love. Ones that you won’t find plastered on brand apps or newsletters, yet ones that need championing more than ever.

Why should we learn about a gentleman selling second-hand shoes on the corner of the old colonial part of Rio? Why should you know about a local Zapatero from the Dominican Republic? I couldn’t tell you the exact reason why. What I do know is that this person has sold shoes for the last two decades, which tells me they have a pure love for footwear.

People with decades of experience, in a concentrated market, running a domestic industry? Brand recruiters would be foaming at the mouth!

Expect real footwear stories about real people. Keep it real? Yeah, that’s what I thought.