Irons, skates, resoling: how to keep your shoes longer?

A central element of any good wardrobe, dress shoes require rigorous, daily maintenance. But bad practices persist and we often receive calls for help regarding shoes in poor condition or at the end of their life.

However, a few precautions to protect them, as well as simple actions, can allow us to keep them longer. This is what we are going to see together today.

Disclaimer: êtreBCBG is a start-up specializing in shoe repair and home dry cleaning in Paris. After dry cleaning a suit , they discuss with us the best practices to adopt with your shoes. To do this, they opened the doors of one of their artisan shoemakers to us. The floor is theirs!

A brief history of shoes

Far be it from us to give you an ultra-detailed retrospective of the history of shoes! But if current shoes are undoubtedly the most advanced in terms of comfort, more complex designs have come before.

• 8th - 3rd millennium BC : the first leather shoes appeared in Europe and Asia, based on the model of the Areni-1 shoe, discovered in Armenia in 2008.

• 3rd – 2nd millennium BC : in ancient Egypt, sandals were now made from leather, woven straw, with strips of palm leaves or papyrus. They are unisex and signs of social distinction: the poorest walk barefoot while the rich wear sandals sometimes covered with gold. The slaves are literally not allowed to wear shoes (nice...).

• 5th century BC : Ancient Greece saw the appearance of sandals made entirely of leather: leather sole and straps allowing the sandal to be held on the foot. The famous gladiator sandals that we still wear today!

• 5th century : the Roman Empire extended over a multitude of regions and included as many climates. In the warmer regions, Roman sandals do not show any major evolution compared to Greek ones, except sometimes a debauchery of luxury . In the cold regions of the empire, citizens wore boots or closed shoes. To relax, everyone wears slippers.

• Under the Christian empire , clothing evolved with customs. Christian morality requires that you no longer reveal your body. Shoes are no exception and must now cover the feet .

• In the Middle Ages : artisans of the Kingdom of France sourced their leather from abroad. In particular, they use goat leather from Cordoba in Spain. Users of this leather are now called “cordouannier” or “cordouennier” . From the 11th century, shoes became widespread, but it was not until the 15th century that leather shoes dethroned wooden ones.

• 15th century : we measure our social rank by the size of our shoes! The “foals” are all the rage and compete in originality and length.

• 16th century : the boot leaves the battlefield and now finds itself in living rooms. The ankle boots sometimes reveal the ankle - a big liberation of morals! - and thigh-high boots often go up to the waist.

• 17th century : borrowed from horsemen's boots, heels are now used on ankle boots and dress shoes . The shoes become thinner and the buckles and ribbons appear.

• 20th century : in the first half of the century, shoes became popular among all social classes, even if clogs remained worn in certain regions, particularly agricultural ones.

• In the second half of the century , the rise of the fashion industry did not leave aside shoes, which became an icon in their own right. Mass production and mass distribution standardize styles and trends.

It is interesting to note that the widespread use of shoes in their modern form ultimately remains quite recent, barely a century ago!

Apply the precautionary principle

Millennia of evolution have led to the diversity of models, shapes and colors that we know today. So please don't ruin everything! Before you can safely wear your favorite shoes, you will need to go to your shoemaker to administer “first aid”.

Review...

Anti-slip pads

What's the point of putting on a skate?

Installing skates is THE first operation to be carried out on any new pair of shoes with leather soles. Above all, it helps prevent slipping : the sole of a new shoe is smooth, so it slips on a wet surface.

The second reason is to protect your shoes from humidity and water infiltration , and therefore premature wear of the sole. Skating therefore has a real impact on the lifespan of your precious shoes and on the health of your bank account!

To avoid abnormal deformation of the shoe , it is preferable to wait until you have done it on your foot before putting on a skate. This is usually the case for 5 to 10 ports.

Contrary to popular belief, this is not so that the glue adheres better. Your shoemaker must in all cases “scratch” your sole with specialized tools and abrasives, in order to ensure ideal adhesion of the skate. We will talk here about sighting.

How to choose your skate?

Two options are then available to you: the classic skate called “Topy” and the natural skate called “crepe”. The first is a little cheaper but the natural skate is, on the other hand, more flexible and more aesthetic.

You will need to replace your skates when they are worn. The lifespan of a skate will vary depending on how often you wear your shoes. The watchword is caution: do not wait until you have “attacked” the sole before taking action.

One last tip before entrusting your shoes to your shoemaker: ask him to show you an example of a skate installation that he has made . If he didn't just glue the skate but took the time to thin it at the joint with the sole, it's because he knows what he's doing!

Irons, almost inseparable from skates

Most shoemakers recommend installing irons at the same time as that of the runners. First of all because it is much more practical to carry out these two operations together, but above all for the good of your shoes.

Irons are the first defense against friction, blows and impacts of all kinds that your shoes undergo on a daily basis.

Here again, two types of products are available to you:

• The “bean irons”, which are fixed over the skate and which thus add a slight extra thickness to your sole. An inexpensive solution but which may hinder the process for some.

• Recessed irons which – as their name suggests – are embedded and screwed into the sole, therefore adding no additional thickness. They will be more resistant and more aesthetic . A slightly higher price too, due to the working time for your shoemaker.

Heels, not to be neglected!

The term “heel” is a generic term, often misused because it can mean two things:

• the heel block : here we are talking about the heel as a whole, made up of several layers, the last of which is called “bonbout”,

• the bonbout : this is the last layer of the heel, in contact with the ground, which therefore serves to protect the other layers.

It is the bonbout that we will first be interested in. Although we are increasingly seeing the systematic installation of a rubber or half-rubber toe cap on new shoes, some of them are still sold with a leather toe cap.

On the same principle as for the skate, you will need to call your shoemaker to replace it with a rubber slip. This will prevent you from the same inconveniences as with a new sole: slipping, humidity and various attacks.

Installing a heel is a quick and inexpensive operation which, if repeated regularly, will save you from having to change the entire heel block. .

The slide

The slider is the piece of leather located at the back of the shoe, on the inside. In contact with your heel, it is therefore subject to continuous friction. Friction means wear: first of all on the slide, then on your foot!

To avoid having to wear double skins, we invite you to go to the shoemaker's box as soon as you notice wear on your slide. Your craftsman will be able to find leather of a color similar to the original leather and will replace it for you within a few days.

The art of properly maintaining shoes

The way you wear your shoes, as well as the care you give them, has a huge influence on their health and lifespan.

Cleaning shoes, nourishing the leather, good practices (shoe trees, alternate wearing, etc.)... We tell you everything here !

Zoom: the importance of shoe polish

We can never say it enough: polishing your shoes regularly extends their lifespan. The frequency between two polishes will depend on your frequency of use but we usually recommend doing it at least once a month, on shoes that have been cleaned, nourished, protected and polished.

There are two types of products:

• shoe polish paste, the most "common" product, which "makes up" and nourishes,

• the superfine cream which, while nourishing, allows you to play more with the color of the leather.

Be careful, colorless creams are very practical for maintaining certain light colors or patinated areas, but they tend to modify the appearance of the leathers and whiten them little by little .

Furthermore, we generally choose a shade "one notch darker" than the actual color of the leather, to maintain a homogeneous result and avoid having areas lighter than others.

We never keep leather in an identical appearance to the original, especially in terms of color. Successive polishing as well as wear and wear cause the color to change... And that's exactly what we originally call "patina"!

A second life for your shoes

Are the first signs of age appearing on your favorite shoes? Did an unfortunate accident leave them with deep scars? Maybe it's not too late! Your shoemaker has the means to heal the most serious wounds, or even to resurrect shoes at the end of their life.

Focus on the most common last chance interventions.

The big clean-up

Your shoes sometimes suffer seemingly irreversible damage: grease stains, red fruit stains , motorcycle grease, stains following friction with raw jeans, etc. No matter how much you rub, clean, wax... nothing will do it!

All is not lost, your shoemaker can save your shoes by thoroughly cleaning the leather . With the help of products adapted to each type of stain, technique and a lot of patience, it can often overcome the most stubborn dirt.

Be careful, the operation is quite aggressive with leather. Reserve as a last resort!

Change color with patina

Have your shoes lived well and the successive polishes seem less effective than before? Have you simply grown tired of their original color? On the contrary, has time darkened their color? You can ask your shoemaker to create a new patina on your favorite pair.

We are talking here about an artificial patina which consists of giving a new color to your pair of shoes. To put it simply: your leather is stripped, dyed and shaded (or even designed) to transform its appearance. Even if it is worth the effort, the operation weakens the leather. It must therefore be done with full knowledge of the facts.

The range of possibilities is almost endless, but keep in mind that it is very complicated and sometimes impossible to go from a dark shade to a lighter one.

Achieving a beautiful patina requires know-how and a lot of experience . It is an operation carried out entirely by hand which requires between 7 and 10 days of work from your craftsman. Prices will start around €60 for a simple patina and can exceed €100 if you are looking for originality

Install a new heel block

We told you about the heel block at the start of the article. It is possible that with age, it will begin to show signs of weakness and gradually become detached from the sole. You may also not have followed our previous advice and may have forgotten to change the tips of your shoes, which will have worn out to the point of no return...

Whatever the reason, wearing out your heel blocks does not mean the end of your precious shoes . Your artisan shoemaker will be able to replace them with new blocks which he will be able to cut to the shape of your sole, and color according to the shade of your leather.

The famous resoling

The ultimate repair that a shoemaker can carry out to bring tired shoes back to life, resoling consists – as its name suggests – of completely replacing worn soles with new soles.

How do you know if your pair requires resoling? Here are some symptoms that will alert you:

• broken assembly wire - often due to the absence or advanced wear of pads, or even insufficient lubrication of the assembly wire,

• sole that gapes at the front – exacerbated version of the previous symptom, which can also appear if your irons are worn or absent,

• hole in the sole – here too, the absence or advanced wear of the skates is to blame.

It will cost between 110 and 160€ following the assembly of your shoes. This price will include changing the caps. Your shoemaker may sometimes suggest that you change only the half-sole, if he considers that the part under the heel block can still hold up. The bill will be reduced.

The final word...

The history of shoes is almost as old as that of man. However, it is only since the beginning of the last century that leather shoes have definitively supplanted wooden ones. Ready-to-wear, which appeared around fifty years later, helped to standardize styles and trends.

When buying a new pair, a few precautions will help you keep it longer, from fitting the skate and irons to the heel cap. Then it will be up to you to play! Small habits and regular maintenance will maximize their lifespan.

Finally, in case of major problems, your shoemaker is never far away. Good shoes can be repaired, so ask your craftsman for advice before replacing them!

To go further on the subject, do not hesitate to (re)read our articles on shoe care as well as our interview with artisan shoemakers .