Online shoe repair services: good or bad?

June 20, 2009 3:47 AM

I have come across a few online shoe repair services that seem to offer more bang for your buck than my local cobbler. Does anyone have good or bad experiences with sending off their shoes to be fixed (from a half-sole to a full recraft) that they can share? Assume I'm already aware that it's important to support local craftsmen when I can.
posted by Lentrohamsanin to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (4 answers total)

I have a pair of Ecco seawalkers that I sent to be resoled at NuShoe. It was around $85. The resoling failed after a few months. I e-mailed them, and they paid for the shoes to be sent back to be re-re-soled. This resoling failed after a few months, too. At that point I gave up and bought a new pair.

The caveat here is that the original sole of the Ecco seawalker is made with some sort of special process or osmething that can't be reproduced with re-soling, so I'm not sure a local guy could have done it any better.
posted by Comrade_robot at 4:51 AM on June 20, 2009

"Assume I'm already aware that it's important to support local craftsmen when I can."

Not to derail your question, but are you sure you local craftsman does all the work himself?

For work shoes I like Italian handmade, Montecatini loafers with leather soles. I live in Europe and find them great value for money, especially so I only purchase new shoes once every three or four years or so, and tend to buy four or five pairs at a time, negotiating a discount.

I live in London and walk to work. Even though I rotate shoes leather soles need replacing once every four to six months, depending upon weather and just how much walking I've done. I've used several local tradesmen, but have found that none do the work themselves.

And despite the name, these are standard, leather soled loafers. The only thing I've found local guys doing these days is work on heels, little jobs like that.

Seems like everything else they're sending out someplace. Maybe the same place you'd send your shoes to?
posted by Mutant at 5:21 AM on June 20, 2009

I can endorse Allen-Edmonds recrafting, but that's only for Allen-Edmonds shoes.

For other places, you might check on Style Forum or Ask Andy About Clothes for experiences with the repair places, or with the type of shoes you are seeking to have repaired. Often, for cheaper dress shoes, it's not worth it.
posted by raf at 8:31 AM on June 20, 2009

Response by poster: Mutant: smaller stuff (half soles, heels, etc.) is definitely done in-house by at least one of the shops here, but you raise a good point.

Comrade_Robot: that's good to know, as NuShoe was one of the places I was considering.

raf: wow, Allen-Edmonds recrafting looks like magic! I only have one pair of A-Es currently, but that looks like the place to get them fixed up when they start dying.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 6:36 AM on June 22, 2009