shoerepairer

If I ask a shoe repairer to dye it black, will that mess up the interior (closed toe) or get dye all over?

Most repairers would have dyed many, many pairs of shoes in there time, we have little trade secrets that should ensure that you will get a top class job, and I would be really surprised if any dye ended up inside the shoe!

Mind you with a typical preparation & dying time of around the 1 hour mark, getting it done professionally doesn’t come cheap, so DIY is a very cost effective way of doing it!

When you buy the dye also buy a fine paint brush, for doing the edges.

There are two types of dye to consider, spirit based & water based. Most spirit based dyes achieve the best results BUT it depends on the way the shoes leather has been tanned as to whether this is the best choice & your retailer “should” be able to tell you which dye to use.

Spirit based dyes soak into the upper & are true dyes, once completed they will wear as well as the original colour.

Water based dyes normally put a surface on the upper, much like a paint & dry to a flexible & hard wearing coating. Which occasionally needs touching up. This is best used on plastic, synthetic & canvas uppers.

Would the dye come off over time and leave brown spots (the underlying color)?

Under normal wear generally no, provided the uppers are maintained afterwards! Scuffing as with any upper, will need polishing or touching up.

Or would it turn out so well that after it is dyed I could never tell later that it was ever brown?

if you take your time, you will not know they have been done, allow plenty of time, don’t rush them, consider allowing for two initial coats, and a 24 hour drying time & your shoes will look as good as new!

After you've obtained a good quality dye you need to remove all old finishing material, wax, oil, or other stuff that might still be on the leather. I would suggest a good scrub with saddlesoap

Do NOT use saddlesoap, neatshoes200. Saddle soap is a preparatory compound containing mild soap and softening ingredients such as neatsfoot oil, glycerin and lanolin. Your dye will not take well to neatsfoot oil! Use metholated spirits (not white spirits) to clean of the maufacturers polishes & “glossing” but please NOT saddlesoap!

Always remember that it's okay to go from a lighter finish to a darker one, but not the other way.

Of course, if the shoes are made of something other than leather, all bets are off.

Here in the UK (not to familiar with the US market) the water based dyes I mentioned before are made by several manufacturers, the two most popular being, Dylon & Punch both are capable of dying leather, synthetics, plastics & canvas & both state you can dye black shoes white. I have lightened the shade of an upper on several occasions with positive results.

Lee

by usability I meant, from a design & manufacturing point of view. the key to getting such a design into the high street is it "HAS" to have be used by the designers at the top end of the spectrum. Once its been on the cat walk it will end up on the side walk. How usable is the design? it has to be an Elegant design to filter through. Key to the "elegance" is the pin system you are employing to operate the pump, if this was the main focal point of the design, ie longer & aesthetically pleasing then you might just have a product that would get looked at. Lee

Good to see a positive outcome. Lee

Whilst this is an interesting concept there are many shoe designs including Stilettos which use the pneumatic effects of weight shift during walking to flow air through vents in soles to promote constant humidity release.

I think the key elements your design has to be based around are

• 1. Safety (which from your post you are fully aware off)
• 2. Cost, is there a cheaper alternative ?
• 3. Usability,

From a safety prospective could the “pump” not be placed at the point where the sole first impacts the ground, this would resolve the issues with heel strength.

Cost wise this system would have to be built for less than a euro a pair for any manufacturer to invest in tooling to bring it to the market place.

Most manufacturers want there shoes to be repairable so they don’t end up with thousands of warranty claims because they didn’t last long in wear. Your design would have to work around this.

It would also be worth checking international & local design patents to make sure your not “stepping on any ones toes”

this is not designed to be a Negative reply, but a constructive one. Bantering some ideas & thoughts to you.

Good Luck!

Lee

Your welcome. Lee

Camberley in Surrey.

PM'd

Lee

any suggestions where I go to find a person who can do this for me?

Where abouts in the UK are you (nearest town)

Lee

UV light resides in the 250 nm range and is fairly easily blocked, even by ordinary glass.

Not strictly true!

Ultraviolet C resides at around the 250nm range, The Sun emits ultraviolet radiation in the UVA, UVB, and UVC bands, but because of absorption in the atmosphere’s ozone layer, 98.7% of the ultraviolet radiation that reaches the Earth's surface is UVA. This as you know resides around the 400 nm – 315 nm wavelength. but this is all scientific blar blar, not something I try to blind people with:penitent:

to prove the damaging effect not keeping your white patents/PVC's in a dark place, Take a piece of white paper or newspaper, tear it in half. Place one piece where ever you would leave a pair of shoes, say by your back door but in natural light. Or behind a window to exaggerate the experiment.

Place the other half in your closet or a box out of light in a cool dry place as suggested.

Now leave them for a week or two!

I'd be willing to put money on it that after a week or two when you put them together again they WOULD be different colours, even with white paper. why? because that UV light is the worlds natural bleach!

Lee

Could I maybe get someone to fix D-rings to the shoes with small leather strips stitched on?

Rather than stitching it straight to the upper I made a couple of little loops of leather each end, to add to the detailing & to allow the chain to be removed/replace easier.

This is the reason I use small loops of leather, as mentioned! the reasoning behind this is that you can make the loops a nice size for the chain supplied.

It helps keep the "look" of the shoes more aesthetically pleasing.

the second advantage of using small pieces of leather is should the finer chain get broken it can be replaces without further work from your cobbler. simply remove & replace.

Lee

I have done this before, the customer brought a long necklace & I fitted this to the boots. Rather than stitching it straight to the upper I made a couple of little loops of leather each end, to add to the detailing & to allow the chain to be removed/replace easier. I have also stitched key chains onto footwear for a slightly heavier look. Ask your local shoe repairer if he could do it for you. failing that stitch them on your self use a pair of pliers to hold the needle, but hold it close to its tip as you pass it through the leather this will stop it bending! Lee

Hi gothbound Thighboots2 is quite correct, this is repair is "Very Routine" & all in a days work for a cobbler. I would say that it is a 50/50 split between shoes that come in with a nice "easy" to remove pin & shoes like yours that have gone just a bit to far! Timpson will repair these with no problems, so to will any independent repairer who works for him self & may offer that "something" extra in customer service. Lee

If you are embarrassed then tell the guy you are in a drama club and have to play a tranny. He won't care either way as you are a paying customer.

Embarrassment... It's all in the mind.

A true word there Benno,

what you all have to remember is as repairers with stitching machines we get asked for many "unusual" jobs. the "there not mine" as an item's placed on the counters always a dead give away!

You (the Customers!) really don't have to worry spinning us a line, we have seen & worked on it all before!

From Exotic dancers to Transvestites it brightens up an often mundane day anyway!

As for strap extensions the biggest problem for my customers is the cost.

when your looking at spending over an hours labour on making them (if they are done nicely) they are going to cost a lot on money. but straps can be made any length. as for strap extensions this is actually quite a logical solution.

the only things I can think of that might be adaptable for this are luggage tags & cat collars.

Lee

whites always a difficult shade to keep looking original, but there are cleaners available for white leathers, but your PVC/patent is not so easy!

the pigment in the boots changes over time, which is unavoidable

Prevention is better than cure here!

store them in a cool dry place, to much heat (near a radiator) will shorten the life of the upper.

Store them out of site of natural light, as uv light will accelerate discoloration.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY Following each wear leave the shoes/boots in a well ventilated area to allow the moisture in them to evaporate (your sweat contains acids which are not leathers best friends) this moisture will often soak through the leather/PVC/patent causing discoloration from the inside out, which is not good in the case of PVC/patent.

Lee

What ever you do don’t get them wet!

Especially if they are budget synthetic shoes. The heels will have either cardboard or plastic stiffeners in the back to give the shoes the heel shape, far from shrinking them you are more likely to end up with them becoming a soggy / baggy mess & worse than before.

If you don’t want to go down the heel grip route, then try a tip toe half foam insole placed at the ball of the foot, this will help raise your foot in the shoe & may just tighten the lose area by the desired amount.

Something which often puts people off heel grips is that they often work lose over time. I have on many occasions simply run a row of stitching around the top edge of the shoe to stop them “peeling” away, making them a very efficient solution to this problem.

Lee

I've seen many attempts made by unqualified people doing craftsmen grade jobs. [shop fitting in the East End of London being a good example.]

Funny you should mention that! I refitted my shop last year!

http://www.cobb-lees.com/plugins/p2001_image_gallery/images/4.jpg

Including, walls ceiling, floors & signage!

As your reply continues

but it supports my remark about repairing cheap shoes. Not that I agree with our 'disposable' attitude to everything these days.

It supports what both off us are saying, I’m realistic about what goes on, as my very first post commented

Noticed some of the advice on shoe repairs was a little wayward, so thought I’d post up some replies to point some topics in the right direction

I can only reply using my “professional” experience. I’m also an avid DIYer & know what can & can’t be achieved in the average garage.

Rant over! A nice little exchange fastfreddy2, the very essence of what forums are all about. please don't leave the thread alone on my account!

Sorry for going “Off topic”

Lee

Blimey fastfreddy2 I think I may have touched a nerve!

is that the methods described and shown will make every trained engineer wince. That doesn't mean you don't do a great job, or aren't a great fellow, but the methods you use do look a bit, well, primitive

Perhaps that because you are looking at the problem far to “technically” there is NO correct when it comes to the repair of stilettos, this is because although there is a rule of thumb, with sizes there are quite literally hundreds of sizes, many different materials (ie, sprung steel, alloy, stainless tubes) & more importantly varying degrees of wear prior to repair. Watching an engineer over complicate a task would also make ME wince & I’m sure you will agree that engineering in itself is about problem solving.

Wikipidia Engineer: Engineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems

The methods employed by repairers may at first hand appear primitive to the untrained eye, but take a closer look at your local cobblers,

• how much investment in machinery do you think he has made?
• How many years training do you think it took to reach the standards he sets?

If your good at something it looks easy, that’s why today I have already repaired around 30 pairs of shoes all with out a hitch.

A task you believe should only be carried out by rocket scientists

This is NOT what I said, but it doesn’t take an rocket scientist to realise that!

Lee

I tried to (gently) see-saw the tip out of the tube. The locking pin that goes deep inside the heel came out too

That’s kind off the reasoning behind my own ramblings! It doesn’t matter how many shoe repairers there are in the world there will always be someone willing to “give it a go”

I hope that with my advice slightly less damage will be done with a little better knowledge & understanding & that maybe just maybe along the way I might convert one or two DIY’ers to walk through the doors of the local cobblers safe in the knowledge that an experienced, expert is standing behind the counter.

If you read the topic “10 ways to clear a stiletto heel” you will see that with all the techniques shown, NONE use a see-saw action as this can lead to damage to the plastic heel block or the tube coming out unnecessarily.

I'm no cobbler, more of an engineer. I'd have had no problem using araldite to keep the tubes back in place if necessary. In fact I almost dropped a blob of the stuff inside the heels before the tubes were inserted, in an attempt to lock the tubes in permanently. But they felt fairly secure without additional bonding.

Araldite is OK, if & when I replace a barrel I actually use a pair of electric pliers & heat the tube from the inside out, this heating of the heel ensures a firm hold “within” no glue is needed.

As long as the tip end of the tube can expand for a new tip to be inserted, I can't see there being a problem?

This comment, in 90% of cases is correct, however it’s the 10% where the problems escalate with each incorrect repair meaning after a couple of attempts a professional repair is needed. Rendering all previous repairs uneconomical.

Seems to be a bit of risky solution being discussed here, in what I would be tempted to call a "bodge"

isn’t that what you have just done, added to the discussion whilst (in my opinion) mentioned one such “bodge”

I doubt Timpson's keep replacement 5" stiletto heels in stock, if at all.

For our American or International cousins Timpson is a national chain of repairers here in the UK, as for keeping replacement 5” heels in stock, few repairers keep them in stock, why? Because millions of stilettos have been sold over the years, with tens of thousands of variants in many different heights. Virtually all repairers except a few order the closest design in for each individual repair. The infrastructure here in the UK is good enough to get them sent overnight so a day or two to maybe a week shouldn’t be a problem. I think this is more than reasonable for such a repair.

As for Timpson, they actually DO keep many designs in stock, but in one of their Central workshops of excellence. These are dedicated workshops for specific repairs so with a time delay for shoe transportation the time scale I would imagine (don’t know, having never needed to use them!) is a week or two.

Lee

Perhaps a slight "flattening" of the heel-pin?

The tube that is in the shoe isn't solid, they have a seam running down them & are in fact sprung. flattening the pin is only a term, not a literal.

Lightly flatten or fractionally bend the pin at a right angle to the seam in the barrel that way it will open it up slightly giving better grip.

Although ( I would say this!) why not save yourself the hassle & take it into your cobbler, it will only cost a few dollars/pounds to get completely new heels fitted.....

Lee

Raincat, I’m glade your repair held out, BUT

most cobblers put a dap of glue on both the pin and the paper. It means that they can get the top piece out if they need to but it shouldn't fall out.

Dr. Shoe! This simply isn’t true! I have never heard of a cobbler who’s done this! Shame on you!

The pins have a knurled grip on them when they are manufactured, if they do work loss then we either use a flattening technique or an alloy flexible sprung tube insert.

I would never use paper or glue, it only leads to problems further down the line. No stiletto heel should be or would need to be glued.

Lee

First off, all I can really do is explain the way I do a surgical raise, which you may be able to adapt to your own DIY experiences.

Here’s the shoe to be raised

http://www.brilee.co.uk/hhplace/004.JPG

In this first picture you will see I have taken the original shoe down & prepared the first layer, by drilling holes in it.

http://www.brilee.co.uk/hhplace/005.JPG

Because the glue fills in the holes?

NO! As you will see even the manufacturers place a lot of “Air” with grid in the mould, this is for three reasons

• To reduce weight
• To increase flexibility & comfort
• To reduce manufacturing costs (not something we need to worry about for this exercise!)

This first layer is then bonded onto the shoe & the second layer is prepared

http://www.brilee.co.uk/hhplace/007.JPG

Once this layer is bonded you can see that the holes “overlap” each other, this helps increase the bonding strength.

http://www.brilee.co.uk/hhplace/008.JPG

The finished raise.

http://www.brilee.co.uk/hhplace/009.JPG

The holes within help lighten the unit, & as you can see in this final picture help preserve some flexibility at the toe.

http://www.brilee.co.uk/hhplace/010.JPG

Lee

BTW, my understading about the "thumb rule" is still vague, even after a long time looking at the pics. Can you somehow reprhase - if that is not an inconvenience thing for you.

Sorry atsumivn, I tried to explain this as best I could! not really sure how else to word it!

Lee

With the shoe shown I would well recommend NOT altering them, the toe is already touching the floor without the recommended “thumb” space

As a rule of thumb you should be able to place your finger under the toe for correct balancing,

(see my previous reply in this topic)

The heel block placed on these shoes is by design, slightly to high, not to low! Hence the “odd” shape.

If you lowered them then the sole would site on the floor roughly where the ball of the foot is.

As for raising these, this is one of those shoes I couldn’t give you any DIY advice on as the only way I would do them is by replacing the heel block completely, something which you probably couldn't buy easily.

Lowering them I could give some advice but the other way round its not a diy job, sorry.

I think you would find that lowering them is actually the answer.

Lee

Hi shoerepairer,

I mean - Can you tell me how to increase my heel height up to 12mm as you said before?

I tend to do it by myself.

Can you post up or Email me a picture? as this job would very much depend on the construction of the heel block.

***edit***

Lee

As a guide

Shoe

• up to 2-3 pairs of eyelets, lace required 45cm (18")
• up to 3-4 pairs of eyelets, lace required 60cm (24")
• up to 4-5 pairs of eyelets, lace required 70cm (28")
• up to 6-7 pairs of eyelets, lace required 90cm (36")

Leisure & Fashion

• up to 5-6 pairs of eyelets, lace required 100cm (40")
• up to 6-8 pairs of eyelets, lace required 140cm (56")
• up to 8-10 pairs of eyelets, lace required 180cm (72")

Ankle Boots

• up to 6-7 pairs of eyelets, lace required 100cm (40")
• up to 8-10 pairs of eyelets, lace required 120cm (48")
• up to 10-12 pairs of eyelets, lace required 140cm (56")

Long Boots

• up to 12-16 pairs of eyelets, lace required 180cm (72")
• up to 16-20 pairs of eyelets, lace required 210cm (84")
• up to 20-28 pairs of eyelets, lace required 240cm (96")

Did you know the plastic/metal sleeve at the tip of the lace, that you pass through the eyelet is called an "Aglet"

Well, so can you tell me how to have this done. By myself would be the best way then.

Sorry atsumivn, quite understand this question. Could you re-phrase it for me:wavey: