Brett Gundlock for The New York Times
It took José Luis Rivera 22 years to fully learn how to make a pair of handmade soccer cleats. He was taught by his father-in-law, who once made a pair for Pelé.
His wife’s family has made custom soccer cleats in Mexico City for generations. Rivera began as an apprentice to his father-in-law, David Rivas, who for more than four decades dedicated himself to making shoes that rose to fame in the 1970s on the amateur and professional soccer fields of Mexico. They were called Colmenero.
When Rivera married Rivas’s daughter, he was 20 years old and the 1986 World Cup in Mexico was approaching.