Repairs

Looking After Shoes, Repairs and Faults

How to look after your shoes

Looking after your shoes and getting a long life out of them should be straight forward if you follow some simple rules.

  • Polish your shoes with a good polish regularly (working the polish into creases)
  • Use shoe-trees to help straighten out the shoes
  • Never force-dry the soles if they get wet - do not put them by a fire. Stuff them with newspaper and let dry slowly and naturally - otherwise the soles may crack.
  • Don't stick rubber soles on the bottom - it may help preserve the leather but it will make the shoe bend differently and may put stresses on the stitiching where it shouldn't. You can use a 'sole tonic' to help preserve the leather.
  • Replace the sole the moment a hole appears - don't wait for extensive damage.
  • Rotate wearing your shoes - avoid wearing them on consecutive days, we recommend no more than twice a week per pair. Feet sweat a lot and the leather needs to dry out naturally. Again we recommend cedar shoe trees to help this.

Faults

Occasionally a faulty pair of shoes may slip the quality control net.

If you believe that your shoes are faulty please return them to us for examination.

Please do not return them to us if the damage is obviously caused by wear and tear or neglect. (refer above to how to look after your shoes)
Also if they have been repaired by any cobbler other than the original factory they will be out of guarantee
If we agree there is a fault, we will repair or replace.

Please note: There are a few less obvious causes of disintegration worth checking for. 

  • Toe nails not being cut and wearing the lining from the inside
  • Taking big strides can over-bend the shoes and cause cracking - especially in under-polished shoes where the leather has dried.
  • Force-drying shoes that got wet - this can damage the stitching as well as the leather.
  • Twisting the foot as you stride can wear a sole very quickly - especially wet.
  • New soles must be "worn in" on dry pavements. If a new sole has the surface worn off and then soaked they should not be worn again other than in the dry to help seal them. Use a sole tonic to help preserve the leather. Repeated soakings will quickly finish the sole off if not worn in properly.

Faults

S&H Repairs Service

Only use a competent cobbler to repair good shoes.
Many a good shoe is ruined by sloppy workmanship in stitching on a new sole.
Goodyear welted shoes have a sacrificial welt which should allow for 2-3 resolings before the welt itself requires replacement.
Blake stitched shoes have the sole directly/indirectly attached to the upper - so the upper may not last as many resolings as a goodyear welted shoe. A good cobbler will minimise the damage to the upper when stitching on a new sole.

We can arrange repairs for you either with our cobbler, or a factory re-build on the last. 

EU Repairs

If you do not want the difficulty of returning shoes to the UK for repair and want to avoid the fees, customs documentation etc. after brexit, we recommend you use your own local trusted cobbler or, alternatively, we recommend our partner

Matthew Cookson
11 boulevard Raspail
75007 Paris
FRANCE

+33 1 45 48 57 26

If you do want a factory repair - please contact us prior to sending the shoes as we will need to supply all the original export documentation to avoid excess fees and charges.

 

Our UK Repair Service & Prices

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