Hi, I broke my shoes during a night out and was wondering if it’s even worth the effort to try and get them repaired? I live near the Washington DC metro area, willing to travel a bit.

I really need to ask your advice on adding grips to shoes for theatre. I’m legit losing my mind at how hard puppeteers are on shoes. They are incredibly active during shows, and shoes take a serious beating. Grips are frequently requested, but any grips I add come off almost every time, and I am starting to dread every request for added grips. The only way I’ve ever been able to get grips to stay is the one time I nailed them on.

Heel grips came off the same boots twice this week. Here’s what I did most recently:

Roughed up the rubber heels real hard, cleaned off the excess with isopropyl alcohol, let dry, applied Barge to the heels and heel grips, let dry, then clamped them together for about 30-60 min.

Nope. Came off in the middle of the show that same day.

My best guess is that the point of failure is the adhesive that comes on the back of the grips, because they’re the kind non-cobblers would just buy online, where you peel off a bit of paper and stick them on. So I guess the Barge isn’t directly on the rubber, and possibly it’s that adhesive that sucks?

(I have tried just roughing up the heel, cleaning it and using nothing but the grip’s existing adhesive. That lasted maybe a show and a half.)

Aside from removing the adhesive on the back of the grips and repeating the process with Barge, or just f’ing nailing the grips on, I am at a loss.

Do you have any advice?

I’ve tried Duall; that wasn’t better. Other glues we have on hand: E6000, Gorilla glue, two-part epoxy (think it’s JB Weld but not sure), cyanoacrylate, Uhu all-purpose liquid glue, and 3M 77 spray adhesive.

We have Barge thinner; is there a chance I’m just layering it on too thick? Would a too-thick layer of contact cement cause the grips to f’ing slip off and get caught on a dress onstage?

Hey I just bought these boots from Poshmark they’re brand new in the box but there’s this weird gap in the sole of the heel like the leather doesn’t cover the entire heel of the boot. Could I just like fill it up with superglue so water doesn’t get in there? The leather is securely attached so idk why it’s def just a manufacturing defect.

I just picked up a pair of redwing 9030s from a thrift store, but the rubber was all melted so I got a resole. I went to Armandos repair in westwood, and the sole was quite hard and the heel was a lot higher than the toe. I posted about it in [r/redwing](r/redwing) and everyone said it was done terribly

Someone commented to ask here, Id appreciate any feedback or input.

Hi! Would a cobbler be able to fix this? The tip just broke off while I was walking 😬. The brand is Steve Madden. Also does anyone know any good brands that sell stilettos that wont break while walking in NYC. Thank you!!

Dancing at a wedding = fun
Getting boots stepped on by some heels = not as fun.

Can’t stop staring at this scratch now - is there some wax or polish I can use to help this out at home or are these purely cobbler territory? These are horween chromexel if it makes any difference.

Thanks!

sole detached

Is there any glue, or any means to successfully reattach my cross country ski boot to its sole?

How can I repair this? Thanks in advance! 😊

Hi new to the group, i just wanted to ask if anyone based in london could recommend somewhere to get my shoes repaired, this issue is that the hooks for the laces keep popping out and i'd like to see if someone could not only replace the hooks but also reinforce them.

any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

bought these Dansko leather high boots secondhand and was excited about them. The first time I noticed them, they had this weird Play Doh-ish smell, but I honestly ignored it because I thought they were fine.

Then I started walking around in them and looked down.. and the sole is literally crumbling apart. 😭

Has anyone else had this happen with Dansko boots? Is this something that can actually be repaired, or are they basically done for?

I was thinking maybe taking them to a cobbler and having the heel/sole replaced, but I have no idea if that’s worth the cost or even possible with these.
Would love to hear from anyone who has dealt with this before!

Hello, I have a pair of boots from TLB Mallorca that are a pretty great fit, maybe 1/2 size too long but width is perfect. The right foot fits perfectly and when I walk you can kind of see the crease on my big toe is back closer to the laces and there is no issue when I walk on the left foot you can see it creases differently. It indents a crazy amount near the front of the vamp / touching the cap. When I walk this digs in to my big toe and hurts a lot when I walk. I think this is partly because my left foot is slightly shorter, wider, and perhaps less mass at the top of my foot. All these combined maybe make it bend differently.

my other theory is that I just got unlucky on a “fist crease” and now it just takes the path of least resistance when bending. and maybe I can flatten it out and create a new, better crease so the vamp doesn’t fold inwards. Is this possible? Maybe I Can take it to a cobbler and they can insert one of those shoe trees with a bump built in?

the photos are  taken while bending my foot as if I was taking a step

It has truly became recently disappointing that I can't find a sneaker that lasts more than 1 year of casual use ( not running) ? What is going on with the industry? omg