Is it worth getting my shoes resoled?

Resoling is one of the few consumer repairs with genuinely good economics — on the right shoe. On the wrong shoe it is money spent on something that will fail somewhere else within months. Three things decide it: construction, the state of the upper, and what the shoe cost.

Step by step

1. Look at the join between the sole and the upper.A line of stitching running round the edge, through a strip of leather standing proud, means a welted construction. That shoe is designed to be resoled and can usually take several new soles over its life.
2. Check for a glued or moulded sole.A smooth join with no stitching, or a sole that wraps up over the edge of the upper, is cemented or moulded. Many can be resoled by a good cobbler with a new unit sole, but the cost is higher relative to the shoe and the result is less durable.
3. Press the heel counter.Squeeze the back of the shoe. It should be firm. A heel counter that folds flat means the structure holding your heel has gone, and a new sole under a collapsed shoe is wasted money.
4. Flex the upper and look at the crease.Deep cracks across the flex line, where the shoe bends at the ball of the foot, are the end. Leather that has cracked through cannot be repaired, only disguised, and it will split further.
5. Look at the insole and the lining.A lining worn through at the heel can be patched cheaply. An insole worn through to the structure underneath is a bigger job and pushes the cost up.
6. Compare the quote against the replacement cost.A rule that works: resoling is worth it if the repair costs less than about half of replacing the shoe with one of the same quality. On good welted shoes that is almost always true; on cheap glued shoes it almost never is.
7. Do the heel before the sole.Heels wear far faster than soles and are cheap to replace. Letting a heel wear down into the sole structure turns a ten-pound job into a much larger one, and it changes how the whole shoe wears.
8. Add a protective toe piece or rubber sole while it is in.A thin rubber half-sole bonded to a new leather sole roughly doubles its life and improves grip, for a small extra cost at the same visit.
9. Ask what the cobbler thinks before committing.A repairer who says a shoe is not worth doing is giving you the most useful piece of information in the transaction.

Tips

• Take shoes in earlier than you think. Almost every repair is cheaper before something wears through.
• Rotating between two pairs roughly doubles the interval between resoles, because leather needs a day to dry out.
• Boots for walking are a special case: check whether the manufacturer offers a resole service, because a specialist keeps the original last shape.

Alternatives

• Heel tips or heel blocks only: Cheap, quick, and the repair most shoes actually need. Do it before the wear reaches the sole.
• Full resole on a welted shoe: The sole is unstitched and a new one stitched on. Repeatable several times, and the reason good welted shoes last decades.
• Unit sole replacement on a glued shoe: A new moulded sole bonded on. Possible for many trainers and boots, but costs more relative to the shoe and lasts less well than the original.
• Toe taps and rubber half-soles: Preventive rather than curative. Fitted to a new or newly resoled shoe, they take the wear instead of the sole.
• Replace the shoes: The right answer for a cracked upper, a collapsed heel counter, or a cheap glued shoe where the repair approaches the replacement cost.

Questions people ask