To sole or not to sole?

October 24, 2023 5:25 PM

The soles of my trusty Keen boots died while I'm away from home. I bought replacement boots already, is there any point in packing the old ones home? Can a cobbler replace this style of sole? Or should I ditch them here?
posted by dorey_oh to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (11 answers total)

Anything can be resoled... to an extent. What your cobbler will do is probably just fix the structure first, then sand off the bottom and attach a new flat sole via shoe glue.
posted by kschang at 5:34 PM on October 24, 2023

I would try to repair them, assuming you like the fit and style etc.

Not only bc it should work fine and cost less than another comparable pair, but because if we don't use repair services, they go extinct, so I like to use them when I can.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:40 PM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: A picture of the destroyed sole. There are also cracks across both soles, at the ball of the foot.
posted by dorey_oh at 5:40 PM on October 24, 2023

Best answer: Yeah, he'll use a sanding wheel to sand off the damaged parts, solidify the structure, create a smooth surface to attach the new sole.
posted by kschang at 5:43 PM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ok, excellent, thank you for the explanations! I'll take them home, they've been excellent winter everyday wear for several years, still comfortable and all. Now I need to find a good cobbler, this makes the 3rd pair that needs work!
posted by dorey_oh at 5:47 PM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

I tried to get shoes with a vibram sole that was less destroyed than that resoled and they sent them back to me saying there was too much damage to repair so might not be able to have repaired.
posted by leslies at 6:36 PM on October 24, 2023

Best answer: If you're still in Portland, I can recommend Alex at Hollywood Shoe Repair. I have taken multiple things to him over the years and he does a fine job. Possibly you could email or text him that photo to see if he thinks he can do the repair.
posted by happy_cat at 7:00 PM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: I am in Portland, thanks for the recommendation, happy_cat! I have another pair that lost a heel, just the rubber cap, figure that is a definite fix. I'll just take that one, and the 2 maybes, and see what he thinks.
posted by dorey_oh at 7:15 PM on October 24, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'm not sure that you can get that style of sole repaired unless the cobbler can get an exact replacement sole - the material the sole is made of has little structure and I doubt they can glue anything to it in a way it will last. I would still bring them home and try, though, because comfortable boots deserve saving.
posted by dg at 8:36 PM on October 24, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It can't hurt to bring the boots home and take them to a shoe repair shop. The worst things that can happen are that they are unable to replace/repair the sole to any degree of quality or that the replacement/repair cost would approach or exceed the cost of a new pair of boots. I have had both things happen in the past, and I'll be surprised if that is not the case here. That is a huge, deep chunk missing from the middle of the sole and I don't see a repair shop being able to sand that away and affix a new sole. Moreover, if--and it's a big if--such a thing is possible I can see it costing at least a hundred bucks to wind up with something that's not all that great. This is unfortunately the deal with that sort of molded rubbery sole: they're not designed to be serviced and once the sole goes bad that's the end of those boots. Still, can't hurt to find out what a repair shop might say.
posted by slkinsey at 8:55 AM on October 25, 2023

Response by poster: Well, in case the follow up is useful to anyone, I took the boots to 2 different cobblers, they both said there was no fix to be had. So I guess I'm shopping for new winter boots now!

I did learn a thing, though. Apparently there are strict rules in Germany about how new products will eventually decompose. Shoe brands from there, including my Ecco boots, are made so that the rubber soles will hydrolyze and crumble with insufficient wear. It's meant to happen once they hit the garbage landfill, but apparently can happen too early with only seasonal wear. Should've been wearing my winter boots occasionally through the summer, who knew!
posted by dorey_oh at 9:29 PM on November 10, 2023 [2 favorites]