Meet George Vlagos, the Man Behind Oak Street Bootmakers

When George Vlagos was a teenager growing up in suburban Chicago, his father John summoned him to be his apprentice during weekends and times off from school. John, a cobbler who immigrated from Greece at 18, made his son toil with his hands to clean, polish, and service shoe after shoe after shoe. It was an experience meant to sear into George the strenuousness of working with one's hands and the importance of pursuing an education so he could one day find a different type of work outside of the family business. Well, the plan didn't work out exactly as John had planned. His son, of course, did go on to graduate college and receive a master's degree. But those days...