Shoe Repairs - Are they Worth It?

Mistral001

Siebrie wrote: »

I have just picked up my hiking boots, they have completely new deep profile soles for €80. New hiking boots would cost me around €200. The boots are 17 years old, and have been on many hiking trips.

That is just €16.47 per year.


Good shoes will save you money in the long term. When I got my dog a few years ago someone suggested that I should buy a cheap pair of trainers just for when I walk the dog to save on shoes. I bought a pair for £12 and they fell to pieces in two months. That is £72 per year! Not such good advice from my friend especially since trainers cannot be easily repaired.

Topher

I think, in terms of attitude to quality, use and wear, yes they are worth it. I say that from the lucky position of having access to an old-style cobbler on a conveniently near high street, who's reputation I've known about for the past 40 years of my own use of them, and dates back another generation before I started going there. I also think having such a service, that can be relied on, means it's worth making well thought out choices (rather than disposable impulse buys) of what I buy. Someone on the subject of white goods going to landfill suggested we went back to spending more on a well well researched good quality, but initially more expensive item, expecting a longer life (of it), and ditching the attitude of the life expectancy of say a cheap imported washing machine, being only 3 years after which we don't bother with repair, but delight in buying shiny new novel short lived replacements. I come from a community where the "washing machine repair man" has just retired, his son didn't take up the business he'd trained in, as fewer and fewer people needed them. I say this to indicate attitude we seem to have drifted/sleep-walked into, and to point out what we're losing .... as well as to answer the original poster's point about the value or not of shoe repairs.

SimesR

As a traditional Shoe Repair, I am dismayed at how the oldest form of recyling has declined since the 1970's forcing shoe repairers to add other services to subsidise their income.

We well know the damage we are doing to the planet, yet we continue to make quick cheap purchases sacrificing quality, the environment and a traditional traditional trade.

Cheap shoes are far from cheap. Yes they may be relatively lower cost than a good quality of shoes, but who made them and in what conditions and for what wage? What about the environment cost of transporting them across the world? What about the environmental cost of disposing of them probably just a few months later? Did you know there is a suggestion when you research the internet that approximately 330 million pairs of shoes go to landfill each year? ...In the UK!!

So rant over. Think about the shoes you want, how repairable are they, how long do you want them to last, who is making them and where. Is cheap really cheap? Invest (and there is an initial cost) in a great quality pair of shoes and you will feel good in them, have a clean environmental and social conscience and and put food on my table into the bargain

Don't forget that Northampton is the Shoe Making capital of the world, so buy local! Not sure where? I'm shoe your local shoe repair/cobbler will advise

maman

I'd have thought one of the main reasons for decline was that so many people wear trainers or plimsoll type shoes these days rather than traditional shoes that can be repaired.

JJ_Egan

<Don't forget that Northampton is the Shoe Making capital of the world>


Doubt if thats remotely true as far east turns out billions of shoes .
My preference is for Edward Green of Northampton .

Pollycat

maman wrote: »

I'd have thought one of the main reasons for decline was that so many people wear trainers or plimsoll type shoes these days rather than traditional shoes that can be repaired.

And the fact that Primark sells shoes for £10 which seems to suit today's throw-away society.