How do I glue a sole back onto a shoe?

A sole comes away because the adhesive between two flexing surfaces has failed, usually at the toe where the shoe bends most. A repair works only if it deals with all three things that caused it: contamination on the faces, a smooth surface with nothing to grip, and an adhesive that cannot bend as often as a shoe does.

Safety

What you'll need

• Flexible shoe repair adhesive or contact cement
• Coarse abrasive paper, about 80 grit
• Acetone or isopropyl alcohol
• Clamps, or strong tape and something heavy
• Disposable gloves (optional)

Step by step

1. Open the gap fully and look inside.You need to see how far the separation goes and whether there is old adhesive, stitching, or a plastic shank in the way. Repairing only the visible edge leaves a void that reopens.
2. Remove every trace of the old adhesive.Pick and scrape it off both faces. New adhesive bonds to old adhesive, and old adhesive is exactly what has already failed.
3. Degrease both surfaces.Acetone or isopropyl alcohol on a cloth. Shoe soles pick up oils, silicone from protector sprays, and mould release from manufacture, all of which stop a bond forming.
4. Key both faces with abrasive paper.Roughen the whole area to be bonded until it is uniformly dull. This is the step people skip and it is the one that most often decides whether the repair holds.
5. Blow or brush the dust off and let the solvent flash off.Bonding onto abrasive dust is bonding onto powder. Give the degreaser a few minutes to evaporate.
6. Choose a flexible adhesive.A polyurethane shoe repair adhesive or a neoprene contact cement. Both stay flexible. Cyanoacrylate and rigid epoxy set hard, and a shoe flexes thousands of times a day until the rigid line cracks.
7. Follow the contact adhesive method if that is what you have.A thin coat on both faces, left until touch-dry — usually 10 to 20 minutes — then pressed together. Contact adhesive grabs instantly and cannot be repositioned, so line it up before touching the faces together.
8. Press hard and clamp everything.Real pressure over the whole area. Wrap the shoe tightly with tape or cling film, add clamps at the toe, and stuff the shoe so it holds its shape. Pressure matters as much as the adhesive.
9. Leave it far longer than it feels necessary.At least 24 hours before wearing, and preferably 48 in a cool house. Handling strength arrives long before full cure strength, and walking on a half-cured bond destroys it.
10. Trim the squeeze-out when cured.A sharp knife along the edge. Trying to wipe it while wet spreads it onto the upper.
11. Be realistic about the result.A home-glued sole is weaker than the factory bond and much weaker than a stitched sole. On a shoe worth keeping, a cobbler will stitch or properly press a sole for a modest cost and it will outlast anything done in a kitchen.

Tips

• Warm the shoe and the adhesive gently to room temperature first. Contact adhesive behaves badly in a cold room.
• If the sole is flapping at the toe only, still glue the whole loose area — a partial repair peels from the untreated edge.
• Boots used in wet conditions need a polyurethane adhesive rather than a solvent contact cement, which softens with prolonged damp.

Common mistakes

• Using superglue — It cures rigid and brittle. The sole of a shoe flexes with every step, and a rigid glue line cracks within days, usually taking a layer of the sole material with it.
• Skipping the abrading step — Rubber and polyurethane soles have a smooth, often mould-released surface that adhesive cannot key into. Roughening is what gives the bond something to hold, and without it even the right adhesive peels off cleanly.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask