A cordwainer (or cordovan) is a shoemaker/cobbler who makes fine soft leather shoes and other luxury footwear articles. The word is derived from "cordwain", or "cordovan", the leather produced in Córdoba, Spain. The term cordwainer was used as early as 1100 in England. Historically, there was a distinction between a cordwainer, who made luxury shoes and boots out of the finest leathers, and a cobbler, who repaired them. This distinction gradually weakened, particularly during the twentieth century, when there was a predominance of shoe retailers who neither made nor repaired shoes.

In London, the occupation of cordwainers was historically controlled by the guild of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers. There is a Cordwainer ward of the City of London, which is historically where most cordwainers lived and worked.

Until 2000, there had been a Cordwainer's Technical College in London. For over a hundred years the college has been recognised as one of the world's leading colleges for training cobblers and leather workers. The college produced some of the worlds' leading fashion designers, such as Jimmy Choo and Patrick Cox. Cordwainer's College was absorbed into the London College of Fashion in 2000. The shoe design and accessories departments are still titled "Cordwainer's at London College of Fashion".

Cordwainer Smith – pronounced CORDwainer – was the pseudonym used by American author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger (July 11, 1913–August 6, 1966) for his science fiction works. Linebarger was a noted East Asia scholar and expert in psychological warfare. ("Cordwainer" is an archaic word for "A worker in cordwain or cordovan leather; a shoemaker", and a "smith" is "One who works in iron or other metals; esp. a blacksmith or farrier": two kinds of skilled workers with traditional materials.)

Linebarger also employed the literary pseudonyms "Carmichael Smith" (for his political thriller Atomsk), "Anthony Bearden" (for his poetry) and "Felix C. Forrest" (for the novels Ria and Carola).

Linebarger was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His father was Paul M. W. Linebarger, a lawyer and political activist with close ties to the leaders of the Chinese revolution of 1911. As a result of those connections, Linebarger's godfather was Sun Yat-sen, considered the father of Chinese nationalism.

As a child, Linebarger was blinded in his right eye; the vision in his remaining eye was impaired by infection. His father moved his family to France and then Germany while Sun Yat-sen was struggling against contentious warlords in China. As a result, Linebarger was familiar with six languages by adulthood.

Jimmy Choo, OBE, born Choo Yeang Keat, (Chinese: 周仰杰; pinyin: Zhōu Yǎngjié) is a Malaysian fashion designer based in London, United Kingdom. He is best known for founding Jimmy Choo Ltd that became known for its handmade women's shoes.

Choo was born in Penang, Malaysia, into a family of shoemakers, who are of Chinese Hakka descent. His family name is Chow but was misspelled on his birth certificate as Choo. He made his first shoe when he was 11 years old. He is perhaps the most notable of students of Cordwainers Technical College in Hackney, England, from which he graduated in 1983. (The college is now part of the London College of Fashion at University of the Arts London.) Choo has divulged that he worked part time at restaurants and as a cleaner at a shoe factory to help fund his college education.

Jimmy Choo traced his beginnings back to his workshop in Hackney, North London, which he opened in 1986 by renting an old hospital building. His craftsmanship and designs were soon noticed and he came to the verge of international notability when his creations were featured in a record eight pages in a 1988 issue of Vogue. Patronage from Diana, Princess of Wales, from 1990 further boosted his image.

Patrick Cox is a Canadian–British fashion designer and an eponymous fashion label specializing in the creation of shoes, leather goods and accessories. Cox is most noted for the use of unusual materials and a mixture of Avant-garde and traditional styles.

Born 19 March 1963, in Edmonton, Canada, to a ballerina mother and linguist father, Cox was educated locally, except for periods when his father's work led the family to postings in Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon. Cox eventually graduated from school in Edmonton Canada and moved to Toronto on his own when he was 17.

At the age of 19, Cox produced his first pair of shoes, for the Toronto-based designer Loucas Kleanthous, who suggested Cox consider a career as a designer. An interest in British fashion led Cox to study at Cordwainer's Technical College, London, a design school that was absorbed into the London College of Fashion in 2000. Cox studied at Cordwainer's from 1983 to 1985.

During his time as a student in London Cox spent as much time in nightclubs as he did studying. Through his partying Cox became friends with several well known designers, such as Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano who, at that time, were emerging stars. As a result, in 1984, Westwood asked Cox to design shoes to go with her "Clint Eastwood" collection. One of the shoes that Cox created incorporated a 6 inch platform that would become the prototype of a 9 inch pair later worn by supermodel Naomi Campbell, when she famously fell during a Westwood fashion show in Paris, France in 1993.