5 ms·

Over 30 years ago, when still in my mid-20s, periodic visits to a local shoemaker shop (now long ago gone into retirement) for re-soling were part of my young u

by ncphil 5y ago

Over 30 years ago, when still in my mid-20s, periodic visits to a local shoemaker shop (now long ago gone into retirement) for re-soling were part of my young urban professional routine. When one pair was finally too far gone for repair, they hand crafted me a new pair (proudly showing me to the back of the shop to see them make the finishing touches). Best shoes I ever owned. They cost about $50 in 1980s dollars, so not cheap, but also not as expensive as some department store brands. The US didn't just lose manufacturing enterprise in the decades since then, we also lost our small crafts shops.

thesuitonym 5y ago
People often talk about millennials not repairing anything, but where could we go to do it? There is nowhere you can go to get shoes repaired in a way that doesn't look terrible--and even if you could, shoes aren't built to be repaired. No extra material to sew anything back up after a tear, hollow soles that are glued on with the cheapest possible glue, fake leather, synthetic fibers that tear easily... What are we to do?
- jolux 5y ago
  You can still buy quality footwear made of quality materials, it just costs more. And I’m not sure athletic footwear has ever been easily repairable, for one thing. Optimizing for weight cancels out many of the affordances you mention.
  - TillE 5y ago
    It's hard to even find well-made stuff. There are tons of things I'd gladly pay a 2x markup for if it were built to last, but in the vast majority of cases it's buried under a mountain of cheap garbage and nearly impossible to discover. Most old reliable brands are now churning out the same type of garbage. Doc Martens is a notable exception in that they do still make and prominently offer Made in England boots.
    - quickthrowman 5y ago
      There are plenty of quality shoe makers, they just cost more. Red Wing, Allen Edmonds, Rancourt, White’s Boots, Quoddy, Alden, Viberg are made in the US/Canada. Loake, Church’s, Trickers, Cheaney, Edward Green, John Lobb are made in the UK. Meermin and Carmina are made in Spain. There are a lot more as well.
- NickNameNick 5y ago
  I'm in New Zealand, and I had some boots re-soled a few months ago. Probably a lot easier with the boots (Timberlands) than the shoes I had done a few years ago. For the shoes they sliced the bottom off the foam-rubber soles, then glued solid rubber sheets back on.
- brandonmenc 5y ago
  > What are we to do? Spend $1000 on something Italian. If you're not going to do that, then realize that buying a $100 pair of Florsheims every two years is actually a pretty good deal compared to what we used to do back in "the good 'ol days".
  - retrac 5y ago
    You're not wrong. The cost of cheap mass-produced clothing, relative to consumer income in most industrialized countries, puts such clothes in the range of being effectively disposable to the middle class. A t-shirt can be had for under $10, less than the cost of a decent meal in a restaurant. A cheap pair of shoes for $30. Such abundance would have been unthinkable even a century ago. Of course there are ecological implications to our disposable attitude to clothing.
- the-dude 5y ago
  Move to Europe.
- rtpg 5y ago
  There are still shoe repair shops, you know. Like just bring the stuff in and you can actually get a lot of stuff fixed (just like it's possible to patch a shirt, even a badly made one). One can whine about the costs relative to buying a new pair, but that's your decision.
yuppie_scum 5y ago
You’ll find them here or there. There’s two or three shoe guys in a nearby affluent suburb, I’m sure in the city center there’s several more. There’s a pretty active Reddit sub, GoodYearWelt about high quality resolable footwear.
- systemvoltage 5y ago
  The parent is not saying whether you can find them or not. The relative abudance of such shops have drastically reduced compared to 1980's.
- wrycoder 5y ago
  Companies like Allen Edmonds will rebuild their shoes if you send them in to the factory.

by ncphil 5y ago

thesuitonym 5y ago

People often talk about millennials not repairing anything, but where could we go to do it? There is nowhere you can go to get shoes repaired in a way that doesn't look terrible--and even if you could, shoes aren't built to be repaired. No extra material to sew anything back up after a tear, hollow soles that are glued on with the cheapest possible glue, fake leather, synthetic fibers that tear easily... What are we to do?

jolux 5y ago
You can still buy quality footwear made of quality materials, it just costs more. And I’m not sure athletic footwear has ever been easily repairable, for one thing. Optimizing for weight cancels out many of the affordances you mention.
- TillE 5y ago
  It's hard to even find well-made stuff. There are tons of things I'd gladly pay a 2x markup for if it were built to last, but in the vast majority of cases it's buried under a mountain of cheap garbage and nearly impossible to discover. Most old reliable brands are now churning out the same type of garbage. Doc Martens is a notable exception in that they do still make and prominently offer Made in England boots.
  - quickthrowman 5y ago
    There are plenty of quality shoe makers, they just cost more. Red Wing, Allen Edmonds, Rancourt, White’s Boots, Quoddy, Alden, Viberg are made in the US/Canada. Loake, Church’s, Trickers, Cheaney, Edward Green, John Lobb are made in the UK. Meermin and Carmina are made in Spain. There are a lot more as well.
NickNameNick 5y ago
I'm in New Zealand, and I had some boots re-soled a few months ago. Probably a lot easier with the boots (Timberlands) than the shoes I had done a few years ago. For the shoes they sliced the bottom off the foam-rubber soles, then glued solid rubber sheets back on.
brandonmenc 5y ago
> What are we to do? Spend $1000 on something Italian. If you're not going to do that, then realize that buying a $100 pair of Florsheims every two years is actually a pretty good deal compared to what we used to do back in "the good 'ol days".
- retrac 5y ago
  You're not wrong. The cost of cheap mass-produced clothing, relative to consumer income in most industrialized countries, puts such clothes in the range of being effectively disposable to the middle class. A t-shirt can be had for under $10, less than the cost of a decent meal in a restaurant. A cheap pair of shoes for $30. Such abundance would have been unthinkable even a century ago. Of course there are ecological implications to our disposable attitude to clothing.
the-dude 5y ago
Move to Europe.
rtpg 5y ago
There are still shoe repair shops, you know. Like just bring the stuff in and you can actually get a lot of stuff fixed (just like it's possible to patch a shirt, even a badly made one). One can whine about the costs relative to buying a new pair, but that's your decision.

yuppie_scum 5y ago

You’ll find them here or there. There’s two or three shoe guys in a nearby affluent suburb, I’m sure in the city center there’s several more. There’s a pretty active Reddit sub, GoodYearWelt about high quality resolable footwear.

systemvoltage 5y ago
The parent is not saying whether you can find them or not. The relative abudance of such shops have drastically reduced compared to 1980's.
wrycoder 5y ago
Companies like Allen Edmonds will rebuild their shoes if you send them in to the factory.