DIY shoe repair

[Austin Allegro]

I'm pretty sure I recall my grandfather saying that back in the day he repaired all his family's shoes rather than pay a cobbler to do it.

Now I know a good cobbler is a valuable resource, and I do use them for things like putting new leather soles on, but you can do a fair few shoe repairs yourself:

Resoling and heeling - these can be done with kits from Woolworth's that cost about £3-4 including glue. I have even fixed shoes that cobblers said were beyond repair using these kits. They are also great for putting on new leather soles to make them last longer. Make sure you wear the shoes for a few days first however to sufficiently roughen up the soles.

Internal repairs. Keep odd bits of leather from things like old wallets, purses, that you're throwing out. You can glue these to patch up worn areas inside the shoes, esp the bit of lining at the heel that always seems to go.

Make polish go a long way. You can get polish cheaply from pound shops and you only need to use a TINY amount for a good shine - I learned this at school in the army cadet corps. If you use more than about the diameter of a five pence piece then most of it gets wasted on the duster.

[culpepper]

they are good tips Austin
My dad used to buy 2 pairs exactly the same and get them both soled.He said 2 pairs lasted for longer when bought together and worn every other day , than 2 pairs bought one after the other is worn out.

[Austin Allegro]

Thanks Culpeper. Your dad is right - I have three pairs of black shoes for work which I wear in rotation, as shoes need at least 24 hours between wearings to dry out and rest. They last MUCH longer this way - I can usually make a pair of £70 shoes last about 4-5 years.

[Quackers]

Originally Posted by Austin Allegro

Thanks Culpeper. Your dad is right - I have three pairs of black shoes for work which I wear in rotation, as shoes need at least 24 hours between wearings to dry out and rest. They last MUCH longer this way - I can usually make a pair of £70 shoes last about 4-5 years.

LOL - will you come and tell all the customers that come in to my shoe shop that? They dont believe me when I tell them. Some of them get really disgusted when I wont change their rotting shoes. They have rotted away inside from sweat etc and its obviously all MY fault

[Austin Allegro]

Quackers - I can't do that but what I normally do is start sniffing the air obviously when people (usually men) sit next to me on buses, trains etc with stinking rotting shoes.

The British male attitude seems to be to buy one pair of fashionable shoes, wear them till they rot, then buy another in whatever the latest daft fashion is!

[Queenie]

Those are great tips! Thank you - just goes to show, you learn something new every day - putting Woolies down on my shopping list

[Austin Allegro]

Woolies is brilliant, a must for frugal people. They don't cost much more than pound shops but the quality is usually a lot better.

[Mori]

Originally Posted by Quackers

LOL - will you come and tell all the customers that come in to my shoe shop that? They dont believe me when I tell them. Some of them get really disgusted when I wont change their rotting shoes. They have rotted away inside from sweat etc and its obviously all MY fault

I have five pairs of goodyear welted shoes on the go. All worn once a week, and all with added rubber stick on soles. One pair about to go - welt has gone - but I have been wearing them since 1994! Tell that to your customers. They're Cheney by the way. Cost £89.

[Skint Lynne]

I bought the 3.99 rubber soles from Woolies for my boots that I was going to chuck out. They are still going strong. The boots themselves were still fine (good leather ones), but there was a hole in the sole.

So, I think I've saved myself £50.00.

That's a good tip about rotating shoes, next time I am buying, I will get 2 pairs.

To finish, I think that buying expensive shoes, boots is a good investment in the long run. My DH paid £100 for a pair of boots from Shelleys 12 years ago and they still look brand new. He has had them heeled once. Not bad going I think!!

SL x

[kittykat500]

Originally Posted by Austin Allegro

Resoling and heeling - these can be done with kits from Woolworth's that cost about £3-4 including glue. I have even fixed shoes that cobblers said were beyond repair using these kits. They are also great for putting on new leather soles to make them last longer. Make sure you wear the shoes for a few days first however to sufficiently roughen up the soles.

I have resoled my son's shoes and also a pair or two of mine, however I have yet to find proper heels to redo those. Woolies sell those half moon bits but what about when the entire heel has worn down - I'm damned if I'm going to spend £7.00 or £8.00 to have them reheeled but what to do?:rolleyes:

[shammyjack]

Have a look at this site for all shoe repair items plus much more

http://www.algeos.com/acatalog/index.html

Scroll down for soles and heels


shammy

[kittykat500]

Cheers Shammy

You might just have saved me a fortune! I presume with heels you have to stick and pin with nails/tacks?

[kittykat500]

I've looked at the site quoted above for heel supplies, but I'm not sure what to buy for re-heeling ladies shoes! If I buy heels that are a bit bigger by mistake can I trim them down to fit? For rubber heels what sort of tacks should I use? I have loads of shoes that I wear in rotation and a lot of them could do with new heels so I want to be sure that I buy a size that can be used for the majority. Can anyone help please?

[MRCLEAN]

Ok, so woolies is gone, so where can I get these shoe things now, I have been looking everywhere on line for shoe repair kits, and I can not find anyone else that does them,
does anyone know who makes them ?

[kittykat500]

I'm sure that Wilkos sell sole repair kits.

[MRCLEAN]

Are they the same though ?
I can not find any online, seems odd to me, they must have sold thousands, of them
they should get an onlone store

[MRCLEAN]

wilkos are not going to stock them anymore according to a staff member

[MoneyMart]

See http://www.timpson.co.uk/online-stor...id=46&cat_id=9

[Catwoman Kent]

Lots of stuff on ebay

http://clothes.shop.ebay.co.uk/items...Q_sacatZ106124

[Just a Mum]

Originally Posted by kittykat500

I've looked at the site quoted above for heel supplies, but I'm not sure what to buy for re-heeling ladies shoes! If I buy heels that are a bit bigger by mistake can I trim them down to fit? For rubber heels what sort of tacks should I use? I have loads of shoes that I wear in rotation and a lot of them could do with new heels so I want to be sure that I buy a size that can be used for the majority. Can anyone help please?

HI Kittykat500, I have bought my shoe heel tips (for ladies shoes) from a site I found through Google. I typed in shoe heel tips and found the "stiletto-heel-tips.co.uk" site
They delivered them very quickly and they offer instruction on how to reheel your shoes.
They are A LOT cheeper than the shoe repair shop!
Good luck. I hope you find what you are looking for