Another ruined heel #2

[Amanda]

Guys, When you wear heels everywhere they get ruined, trashed, scraped, chipped, scuffed and skinned. It's expensive and upsetting. This is the age of technological advancement in materials. I think it's time you found a solution....please.

[HappyFeat]

It's not a technological solution, but I tend to only wear less expensive shoes to "high risk" places or if I know I will be walking a great distance. For example, one club I frequent often requires a three block up hill, over grates and cracked sidewalks to get to the door. I have trashed too many of my good shoes going there until I decided to save the better shoes for some place more convenient. In other words I just surrendered...

[Milan_Heels]

I'm afraid it's the pleasure / pain principle - you gain your pleasure by wearing your beautiful heels and have to accept the pain to your wallet! Nice avatar by the way.

[Stilettoscot]

I think the only real material on heels now, besides the removable heel covering gimmicks out there, are steel heels. Expensive... Or, change into your nice heels once at your location.

[heelma]

To me, this is a much bigger issue if the heel is wrapped into leather or other material, compared to those where the solid base of the heel is colored to match the material of rest of the shoe. Let's take leather, PU or particular patent leather shoes, and you will find some in which the heels are wrapped with this exact same material. Now you sink with your heel into a crack between rocks, concrete panels, cobblestones, etc, and that will most likely be enough already to rip your patent leather cover on the heel apart and expose the cheap looking plastic of the heel below. These cases look much worse and are much harder to repair compared to heels where you don't have such a "wrap". With those heels, and they don't need to be metal heels, you'll find some scratches on the heel, but most often, these are hardly noticeable, unless you look really closely. Also, you can simply fix those scratches yourself in many cases by using shoe polish or some other staining agent. However, the second group of heels often doesn't look as nicely to begin with, particularly if you have a simple black plastic heel paired with a very nice looking patent shoe, and the heel "sticks out" by not shining/reflecting. For the first group though, with the wrap, I found that shoe repairers often fix those for free when you go there and ask them to fix the heel tips for you. Also, it might be worth a try to fix it yourself, as often there is no material of the "wrap" missing but the "wrap" is just chipped. In such cases, you might be able to first pull the wrap back into place with tweezers and fix it with some glue. From the materials perspective, I don't think there is an easy fix insight. First of all, even material that is much harder to rip apart than leather or PU will probably not withstand the enormous forces you apply to it when you push your heel into such cracks. Second, even if such material existed, it will probably be nearly impossible to match the look of the rest of the shoe. I guess the conclusion is to mainly use "unwrapped" heels for longer walks outside and save the other ones for inside uses. This doesn't seem to have much to do with the price tag of the shoe, or which designer you choose if any.

[astrid]

Guys,

When you wear heels everywhere they get ruined, trashed, scraped, chipped, scuffed and skinned.

It's expensive and upsetting.

This is the age of technological advancement in materials.

I think it's time you found a solution....please.

I feel your pain. I bought a pair of boots years ago and they are my abslolutely favourite pair. I learned to walk properly in heels in these. Anyway, I have always worn them around the house and outdoors doing bits and pieces at home. Unfortunately, they are now well past their sell by date and its time to lay them to rest. Too many scuffs, scrathed soles and toes. I did my first piece of streetheeling in the also.

[roniheels]

It's not a technological solution, but I tend to only wear less expensive shoes to "high risk" places or if I know I will be walking a great distance. For example, one club I frequent often requires a three block up hill, over grates and cracked sidewalks to get to the door. I have trashed too many of my good shoes going there until I decided to save the better shoes for some place more convenient.

In other words I just surrendered...

Beside the normal care you would take for any of your shoes, I think this is the best advice. Although we all have our favorite high heels that we like to wear all of the time. Just treat them with tender loving care.

[Amanda]

Well, I'm glad at least that some of you understand. Most of my heels seem to be the "covered in leather" variety. Even when I get them re covered they never match the shoe exactly and it costs a fortune. I don't want to surrender, neither do I want to wear cheap shoes when I'm out and about, nor do I want to wear metal heels that in my opinion are just "too sexy" for me. I want some kind of breakthrough to relieve me of this misery. There, that's enough steam let off for now!.

[Thighboots2]

Amanda, You seek the perfect shoe such as that written about in the story "The Stiletto Trap". That pair never wore out. Sadly, there will never be a solution as there are just too many cracks, gratings and so on to catch you out when you are distracted. However I do feel your pain as I have "done" the heel of my YSL's on the tube escalators. It took a lot of polish to hide that one but fortunately, they are solid leather stacked heels, not covered, so it was possible to recover the situation, had they been covered, it would have been a different matter. I also keep having to get the superglue out to repair my wife's heels when this happens. A little trick is to get a kiddie's wax crayon of the exact colour to your heel as it is a strong wax so you use it as a filler. Once smooth, then regular shoe polish and its as good as new. I think Dr Shoe gave us that tip some years ago in the repairs section. I just saw you posted this subject in the girls section, with a slightly different twist. The heel protector you highlight is probably the best solution, ableit ugly, although I think the first crack you do come across it will fail. Similar idea to those funny thing prompted on the web this summer to enable you to wear stiletto heels on grass. Anything that protects a heel is going to detract from it and although metal heels spring readily to mind as you suggested, they are usually brass and then electroplated to the desired colour. That metal is soft and is scratched by a crack or grate just as easily. On the plus side, they are easy to unscrew and replace and do make the most glorious sound. If you have a friendly man with a lathe, he can make you different shapes for fun as well. A good grade of tool steel preferably High Speed Steel but high carbon will do at a pinch, hardened and tempered will do well to and will be the most resistant to scuffing plus last a really long time. You can then go for really thin tips, i.e. tapering to 3mm, if that is your thing, but you'll sink into tarmac even in the winter. When you scrape the heel as you walk as happens from time to time, at night you will get a few sparks. Back a few stiletto seasons, heel tips had hardened pins and I often saw sparks from heels in the night time. Now they are plain cheap mild steel that wears much faster. Simon.

[heelma]

Not really serious, of course, but if you are looking for a scratch-resistant coating on a metal heel, you could suggest diamond, tungsten, etc

[Histiletto]

Realizing the inclination high stiletto heels have to become damaged, expensive heel brands should send along with your purchase a few sets of replacement heels, like they send extra heel tips. You should have the option on the number of sets to be sent for a nominal fee. This way you could have your favorite shoes repaired by a local repair person back to their new status without a lot of bother. This isn't a perfect senario, but I can't see a better one except to have a full shoe replacement warranty which most brand name won't do beyond the fashion popularity factor of your shoes. Actually, most expensive high heels makers only make so many per a seasonal run. Once the inventory is purchased the chances of reissuing another run is usually doubtful. We have to remember though, footwear probably takes more wear and tear than any other article of apparel. Even the best made will eventually wear out. High heels are more subject to become ruined because we rely on the the fresh new look they are suppose to maintain in order to be appealling. Once the newness wears off and they have a bit of a used and/or damaged appearance, high heels are either left in the back of the closet as "sentimental has beens" to be worn on occasion or disgarded all together.

[BobHH]

I think it is pretty much inevitable that high heels will get worn or damaged much faster - look at the construction. Your flat trainers or other male-type shoes have big soles that often stick out beyond the uppers. The large area covers surface holes and imperfections without harm and means load per square inch is low. The edges hit things before the uppers, to the shiny surface is protected to some extent. High heels, particularly stilettos, have smaller footprint areas resulting in higher loads and faster wear. Non-platforms often have thin soles, also. All the soles tend to be either the same as or narrower than the uppers, so the uppers come into contact sideways or toe first. The heels are particularly highly loaded so the tips wear more quickly, and the small tip area is prone to finding cracks and holes in the walking surface, not to mention sinking into soft ground. Graceful high heels are generally made for looks, not for practicality, so we are probably stuck with the wear and tear until impervium or protective force fields are developed.

[Guest]

Amanda , I think most of us guys that go "out" to play are well aware of all the nasty obstructions put in our way that have been plaguing you girls for years and are are learning very quickly.

I'm sure there are many women in upper town hall positions that ought to push to eliminate many of them and probably are trying but just being ignored. Beyond covering the cost (value for money) to rectify all traps the only way to get them cleared up is for everyone to be wearing heels.

It's bad enough to fight a claim for tripping over a lifted paving slab, if the claim also stated "Mr Jones tripped after stubbing a toe on a raised slab (insert height) whilst wearing stiletto heels" is probable going to get either binned, passed round every office as a joke or a reply on the lines of "We the defendants feel that there is no claim as you Mr Jones put yourself at risk by wearing abnormal footwear".

Who says we take our lives in our hands? keep your eyes open and the rest we know.

Al

[Puffer]

... Anything that protects a heel is going to detract from it and although metal heels spring readily to mind as you suggested, they are usually brass and then electroplated to the desired colour. That metal is soft and is scratched by a crack or grate just as easily. On the plus side, they are easy to unscrew and replace and do make the most glorious sound. If you have a friendly man with a lathe, he can make you different shapes for fun as well. A good grade of tool steel preferably High Speed Steel but high carbon will do at a pinch, hardened and tempered will do well to and will be the most resistant to scuffing plus last a really long time. You can then go for really thin tips, i.e. tapering to 3mm, if that is your thing, but you'll sink into tarmac even in the winter. When you scrape the heel as you walk as happens from time to time, at night you will get a few sparks. Back a few stiletto seasons, heel tips had hardened pins and I often saw sparks from heels in the night time. Now they are plain cheap mild steel that wears much faster.

Simon.

I don't think I'd be 'friendly' for much longer, Simon, if you asked me to make heels on my lathe out of high speed steel ! Yes, I suppose it can be turned using carbide tools but not an easy job; it's normally ground to shape. Putting a thread on would be quite a task too. But, yes, one could use a high carbon steel (silver steel), suitably hardened and tempered - or what using about mild steel and then case-hardening?

As for heel pins, I wonder if small masonry nails would make a good substitute to limit wear? The type that fix cable clips might be one answer; they come in several diameters.

One final thought: shoe dye (usually in a bottle with a foam applicator) is invaluable for touching in scuff marks, particularly on black leather. It's not always that easy to find but Woolworths sell it - stock up now at 20% (or better) discount before the stores all close down!

[Dawn HH]

I have a stone driveway and I have occasionally scuffed the back of my chunky heeled 3'5" or 4" heeled boots walking in the stones. I have since learned to walk a much smaller step on my toes to keep the heels from getting scuffed by the stones. It works for me. Cheers--- Dawn HH