What’s it like to be a Pittsburgh shoe cobbler in 2026?

In an age of throwaways, Rex Streno still fixes shoes. In February, the 67-year-old self-published “ Cobbled: The [mostly] True Tales of the Shoe Guy of Pittsburgh, ” ghostwritten by Michelle Donahue and issued by InsideOut Media. The book celebrates his Ullrich Shoe Repair , once a hub of Downtown Pittsburgh , now a storefront in Bethel Park.