This week’s Waste Less Wednesdays post was originally published 3 years ago (it feels like just yesterday!). I’m happy to report that all of the shoes in this post are still going strong, and I just popped into the shop to get the heel replaced on a pair of my favorite winter boots.

Feeling like you have no soul* sole? Replace it!

In today’s cheap clothing culture it seems that we aren’t investing in quality clothing and shoes that can be refurbished rather than replaced. Today we’re talking about how easy it is to replace/fix the soles of footwear. We’re hoping to encourage you to think twice before you toss your next pair of shoes or boots.

*sorry, but you know we needed at least one soul pun in this post. It’s best that we got it out of the way in our opening line. 😉

Money in Your Pocket!

For each pair of shoes in these photos, the soles had worn down, especially on the heels. And you can sort-of see that these are well-loved shoes; pairs that we wear weekly and even daily during some seasons.

They are also an expensive group, together costing well over $500 when new. We could have replaced them, and it’s always tempting to do so, especially when you walk into REI and see this year’s shoes all lined up and looking awesome, BUT we were able to fix the soles for less than $200 (total).

Sole Details

From left to right :

• $70 replace the entire sole on the Aurora shoes
• $40 replace the heels on Merrell hiking shoes
• $40 replace the heels on the Dansko clogs
• $40 replace the heels on the Salewa boots

As you can see, depending upon the wear on your soles, the cobbler may only have to replace a section at a reduced price. If you look closely at the photo above, you can also see that they have many options for replacement soles and will try to match the existing sole.

I’ve never had trouble finding a cobbler while living in the city and larger towns. Admittedly they can be hard to come across in smaller towns, but don’t give up hope! Growing up the closest cobbler was a few towns away, but still worth the drive.

But a local cobbler isn’t your only option! If you buy shoes from an awesome American company like Aurora, then you can send your shoes back to get re-soled at the factory.

Know Your Sole

It’s helpful to know what portion of the sole can be replaced on a shoe. This will determine when you have to take them in for repairs.

In some cases, a sole can’t be repaired if the sole (the layer with the tread) has completely worn off and you have started to wear down the foam/rubber layer under the sole. On most shoes, this may not be a problem. For example, our hiking boots are pretty useless once the tread on the bottom wears away, and it’s at that point that we take them in to be repaired.

On other shoes, like Dansko clogs, the wear-down limit may not be as obvious. If you have a pair, look closely at the sole. There’s the thick base (adding most of the height to the clog), and then there’s the thin sole with tread that’s glued onto that base. Once the thin sole-layer wears out, it’s time to take them in. If you start to wear through the thick clog-base, it’s too late.

And then there’s the exception to the rule. In our case it’s the Aurora leather slip-ons. Those soles are one piece that’s sewn onto the leather. For these shoes, the entire sole will be replaced and you don’t have to worry about how worn down they are.

Save Resources

Hopefully this is obvious, but any time you aren’t buying stuff, you are saving resources. If you can put off buying shoes for another year, then you are doing a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ for this great planet of ours.