I have a pair of approach shoes that have a calf-leather lining in the heel area. A small hole formed after quite a lot of use. However, the shoes have lots of miles left in them. I took the shoes to a cobbler who refused to repair them. He told me to keep wearing them until the hole gets really big and then he'll repair them. The hole gives me a hot spot after only a mile. I can't wear these shoes enough to make the hole bigger.

So, I'd like to repair these shoes myself. I noticed the cobbler used leather strips to repair worn heel liners. Does anyone know where I can get some of these? What type of glue is used? I've searched on Google and can't find any information. Maybe I'm using the wrong terms...

Thanks all.

If you sew in a strip, it will cause even more rubbing on the edges of the strip.

How about putting a substantial piece of moleskin over your heel, preemptively (that is, before the hike)? If a hole developed in that part of the shoe, chances are your heel was rubbing a lot on that spot, anyway.

Yeah, this is a spot where there was a little bit of rubbing, and that little bit, combined with granite gravel and sand getting in my shoes made the hole. I might try to find a tiny piece of leather and glue it in the hole just to see what happens. Maybe I should just give the shoes away. Having to wear moleskin every time I use these shoes to walk to school and around town will be a pain. (I walk a lot instead of driving.) Moleskin tends to shift when I use it in that area unless I use a huge piece, and the adhesive comes off on my foot. I have a newer pair of shoes that I use for hiking, so it's not like it's my only pair. I just wanted to get as much mileage as possible out of them. Hmmm.

The problem here is that women wear so many different shoes that they never really wear any of them out. If you were a guy, you would probably have an old worn out pair of shoes that should have been thrown out long ago and the answer would be simple: remove the leather insole from the ones to be thrown away and use it in the shoes you want to fix.

I really don't fit that stereotype. Most of the men I know have ten times the shoes I do. None of mine have leather insoles.

Kerstin wrote:I really don't fit that stereotype. Most of the men I know have ten times the shoes I do. None of mine have leather insoles.

None of us fit sterotypes. I used to be a one pair of shoes kind of person and haven't changed very much, so I definitely don't have ten times as many as you do (even if you've only got one pair). I've also noticed lately that most insoles tend to be some sort of synthetic material rather than leather - unless, of course, they are very expensive shoes (or boat shoes). Tell us about how thick the leather is and maybe someone can mail you a scrap. A handicraft or art supply store might be another good possibility.