Our History

Warkov-Safeer Leathers Ltd. has a proud record of over 90 yearsof service in the shoe care and shoe findings industry in Canada.

Founded in Winkler, Manitoba in 1930 by Warkov brothers Jacob, Mendel, and Morris, as well as their brother-in-law, Barney Safeer, the company began as a leather and findings supplier to the harness and shoe repair trade.

After moving to Winnipeg in 1935, the business relocated to Selkirk Avenue in Winnipeg's North End. In 1939, Larry Usiskin became an employee. During the war, the company moved to King Street and Bannatyne Avenue where Warkov-Safeer developed a devoted clientele and expanded to meet the needs of growing industry.


In 1969, Larry Usiskin took over the ownership of the company. Larry's son,
Mike Usiskin joined the firm in 1984 and became a partner upon Larry's
retirement in 1995. In 1998, Arnie Usiskin joined his brother Mike as
co-partners.

Currently centered in Winnipeg's historic Exchange District at 462 Hargrave Street, Warkov-Safeer has expanded to a prominent position in
the industry by becoming a full-service distributor and a wholesaler to all of Canada. The company maintains an inventory of over 5000 items, which includes an extensive range of quality shoe care & shoe repair supplies, shoe-related prosthetic & orthotic materials, and a large diversity of high quality leathers.

We are proud of Warkov's past record of service to the industry and want to assure our customers that we will continue to maintain these high standards in the future.

We are pleased to give you the second edition of our full colour catalogue. We believe our customers will find this to be a useful source of information and will help in promoting the continued expansion of our industry.