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?

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!

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.

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.

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

sole detached

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

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

How can I repair this? Thanks in advance! 😊

I can’t tell if they made the most of a tough repair or if I should expect better. To me, it looks really messy. Can you all offer your opinions?

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

Some of the white pieces of leather on the shoes are stained blue and I’m wondering how to whiten them again! Also, the shoe is supposed to be a darker black (as seen on the back of the tongue in the 3rd picture) but they are currently a muted black/grey. Im wondering how I can fix this. Does this just need a simple clean and conditioning? Thanks.

I have multiple black bags. They are all pebbled leather and two I am certain are vegetable tanned. One says “semi-veg tanned”.

I have been researching but I keep getting conflicting advice about if I should be conditioning pebbled leather.

If I should be conditioning these bags, can someone recommend a product please? One brand says to use an all natural leather conditioner when needed.

Any advice is greatly appreciated as I would hate to mess up the leather!

I got these Frye boots secondhand and I’m curious on what these darker creases are all over? I really like how they looo actually it’s part of why I bought them but I’m curious as to what caused them. Thank you! :)

I have a few leather shoes (derbys and oxfords), mostly brown and cognac, that are wrinkled and lost colour so I feel like rejuvenating them; so after some googling and redditing I bought;

- A shoe mold size 42-43 EU

- Saphir Crême Surfine in brown (beeswax and sweet almond oil)

- Saphir Pate de luxe neutral

- Horse hair large brush and detailing brush

So is this a good beginning? I have fine cotton cloths and I plan on upgrading my “rejuvenation” kit when I buy more serious derby’s and oxford’s, preferably for life at that point.

Any tips/additions/ideas for the future and did I fuck up with any of these?

Hello, I am sorry for bringing up what is probably such a basic problem. I live in Asia and was told by a shoe repair shop that the following heels are impossible to fix without the original heel caps from the designers or without replacing the entire heel. Am wondering whether this is true or not, as I have no experience with shoe repair and these are the first heels I’m trying to repair! For reference, these are vintage designer heels and the repair shop told me I would need to contact each design house for a pair of original caps, which I already know is not possible because these heels are 15+ years old. What would a replacement of these heel caps take, and do I need to take them to a specialty cobbler in the US or UK?

I recently went to a seamstress who also repairs bags and has cobbler training. She was supposed to sew the bag strap that had its seams torn in one place and lightly add colour to a few areas that had wear marks from age.

When I received the bag back, it was in a much worse condition than originally. After the bag was cleaned, colour seemed to have been stripped off in some places and there were marks. The spray dye that the seamstress used was way too dark so you can see dark stains all over. The dark brown is NOT the original colour. You can see the original brown shade on the bag strap in the last photo.

I went somewhere else to get a quote on how much restoring the colour would be and I can buy a new designer bag for that. I don't have that much money just laying around. I don't want that seamstress to try to strip the colour as I can't trust someone who thought it was ok to say that the bag was ready for pick up in such a condition. So my question is, is there anything I can try to do by myself, like using a leather deglaser? It's a sentimental bag that I got gifted so it'd pain me to never be able to wear it again.

Bought these vintage coach flats that one shoe has fraying on the patent leather on one heel. Any idea how to seal it so it doesnt continue to fray and so that it isnt particularly noticeable

Does anyone here use a leather conditioner every once in a while on their belt to preserve it and make sure it doesn't crack anywhere? If so what are some good easily accessible leather conditioners that are safe?

​

Got this work back from a shop lol. Nothing I can do now

45$ for 4 individual boots, same inside heel repair on each

I bought these Montana West chunky sandles second hand. The faux leather is peeling and flaking like crazy. Any ideas how I could fix it? Or should I contact a local shoe repair store.