A local shoemaker in the eastern Turkish city of Gaziantep has supplied 250 pairs of shoes to the Harry Potter film studios at Warner Brothers. Seventy or eighty pairs of shoes were sent as samples and approved by Warner Brothers to be used in the series of films. Follow-up orders have also been discussed.
Gaziantep has a long history of handicraft skills and the production of light, functional, flat leather shoes has continued there after dying out in other places. Locally, these shoes are known as yemenci or kosger and are still hand stitched. Sheep, goat, cow, calf and lamb leathers all go into various parts of the shoe and a horse-hair layer between the sole and inner lining is deemed healthy for feet as it discourages corns and fungi.
The shoemaker, Orhan, does not want to jump on the Harry brand-wagon, however. It is sufficient recognition for him that his Turkish-made shoes feature in the Harry Potter films.
