dheel Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Does anyone know where I can buy some heel tips for stiletto heels? One of mine broke off, and now there's a metal shaft poking out the bottom of the heel. The heel tips are either plastic or hard rubber, but metal tips would be even better. I'd prefer an online store, because I'm still afraid of going to the store in person. How do the tips attach? Just glue? Thanks! "No matter what they say" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba136 Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Where is BZ Heels when you need him? Being mentally comfortable in your own mind is the key to wearing heels in public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 The heel tops are fixed on with a metal pin of certain diameter so it is a tight friction fit in the tube. It's difficult to buy them an the tops except in quantity as the shoe repairers seem to have a trade monopoly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ionic Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Perhaps we'll have to discover how to break the monopoly and then run a shop for small quantities of components on Jennyspage...... /I /I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Pull that pin out, very carefully. New heel tips come with the pin included. That is why it is important not to wear heel tips down too much otherwise you can't get the old pin out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Shoe Posted November 25, 2003 Share Posted November 25, 2003 Now for my oar in the water! Firefox is right about how the "top-piece" is fixed, the pin has a fluted or barbed shaft so they can be fitted tighter. When removing the pin, hold the heel firmly in your left hand and then with a twisting, wiggling motion, carefully withdraw the pin with pliers. It would be quite simple to set up a component shop for members, I'll talk to Achilles with the possibility of a supply deal! Graduate footwear designer able to advise and assist on modification and shoe making projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new_look Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 please do john, potential customer interest here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ionic Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Archenemys are selling metal tips on their general website. www.archenemys.com/home.htm Probably not worth bothering from the UK but of interest to the North Americans. /I /I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 I remember that Woolworths in the UK used to sell a variety of both rubber and metal stiletto tops in different sizes. They even came with two different pin diamters and plastic tube inserts so you could adapt the pins to various heel tube sizes. They stopped the lines in about 1995. Was this due to lack of turnover, or pressure from the shoe repair people who were done out of a nice little regular earner which any competant handyman could carry out in 5 mins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigj3650 Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 now for my tuppence worth Woolworths, glasgow stores dont sell metal heel taps, iv been round them all and they say there is not enough consumer interest for them to make it viable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefox Posted August 24, 2004 Share Posted August 24, 2004 It is possible to buy direct from the manufacturer's of such items. However, they are only interested in selling large quantities so I would think you would need to buy 1 or 2 hundred at least. Other possibilities include making your own from plate metal and drilling holes in them, or reclaiming tops from cheap second hand pairs in charity shops or car boots sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skirted-UK Posted August 25, 2004 Share Posted August 25, 2004 If you don't want to take your men sized court shoes to a cobbler to have the heel tips replaced, get yourself an old pair of women's stilettos from a charity shop that have the same sized heel tips as your shoes. If the heel tips are ok you can pull them out with a pair of pliers and use them on your shoes. If they are worn you take them to a cobblers for repair and pretend that they are your wife's, you then pull out the new tips when you get home and fit them on your shoes. When they are worn down you refit them back in the women's shoes and take them back to the cobblers to repeat the process again. It's so easy! "You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave ! " The Eagles, "Hotel California" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova Posted August 27, 2004 Share Posted August 27, 2004 Just out of curiosity/possible small profit venture, how might I contact a manufacturer of metal heel tips for purchasing a quantity of tips? Does anyone know the company? I've only seen them for sale at Archenemys, and with all the bad publicity they've gotten, I'm not willing to buy from them. Jen If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hartland Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Some of the information above has been incorrect. I own a shoe repair business for 15 years, have been in the industry for 35 years. Let me explain about high heels. Most ladies high heels are a plastic or wood block, either covered with leather, vinyl, cloth, or painted. The spike kind of heel has a metal tube inside. Some tubes are the length of the heel block, and some only go into about 1/2" of the heel. The shoes from before 70's ( a majority of them) have the long metal spike driven into the plastic block. There is only one size of the metal part, but many sizes of the rubber heel that is molded onto the metal spike. The newer high heel spikes have a metal hollow tube molded into the heel block and there are 5 sizes of metal pins on many different molded rubber sizes. ( Each rubber heel company has their own sizing chart ) That Archenemy site only has metal pin heels with rubber or vinyl heels molded on to them I have only seen all metal heels when someone came into my shop with them on the shoe. They usually say they got them in Europe, but usually they bought the shoes with them. It is not real easy to remove the metal pin. If you twist it too much, it could break off and leave the rest of the metal pin in the heel block. Then you have to devise a way to get the rest of the metal pin out. Some shoe makers use a center punch to push the pin in as far as they can, and then insert the new heel. This may work, but if the old pin is still in the tube, you may not be able to drive the new heel pin into the tube all the way. Thus you will have a heel that is partially sticking out of the heel. One Method that shoe makers use is to use a heel cutter to cut off about a quarter inch of the heel block, so that they can grasp the metal pin and pull it out. We have a heel wheel machine that grasps the pin, and pulls the heel pin out. If you choose the wrong size of heel pin, it either will be too large, and you can't drive it into the heel tube, or it is too small, and it will twist around and around. The heels that you may find in grocery stores, and hardware stores are usually the cheapest that money can buy, so you may not save the money you thought you were. You should find a shoe repair shop that specializes in repairing the high heels and keep them in good repair. If you even wear your shoes or boots with one heel lift missing only one day, you may be inviting disaster. If the metal pin gets driven into the heel block, the shoemaker may have to do one of the methods I mentioned above, and the heels will become lower. You may be lucky the first time, but sometimes if you damage them twice, you may not be as lucky the next time. I know there may be a shortage of shoe repairers, but all it takes is some common sense, and patience, and your experiance will be better Gene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubba136 Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 Hmmmm! Sounds like you know your business. I bet you can convince people here to send their shoes to you for heel replacements. Gland to know you're around. Being mentally comfortable in your own mind is the key to wearing heels in public. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hartland Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 I belong to the SSIA shoe service institute of America we have a website ssia.info If you need to find a member of our industry, go there and there is a dialog box on the opening page for you to enter your zipcode to see if there is a repairer near to you. (some of them also have websites, and you can visit them also.) Good luck Gene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thighboots2 Posted September 29, 2004 Share Posted September 29, 2004 Notwithstanding Gene's excellent advice above, if you do want to do it yourself and your UK based, then follow this link http://www.stiletto-heel-tips.co.uk/ Are you confusing me with someone who gives a damn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hart88 Posted October 1, 2004 Share Posted October 1, 2004 Gene, previously Hartlandshoes Thank you for showing the Link, It is instructive, but could be misleading. let me give you all more advise. The repair shown is common, but the shoe that is shown looks like a shoe that has hardly been worn...Be advised, If the shoe you have has been worn alot, the job will be definately more difficult If you twist it just too much, Broken tip... I just took a picture of all the styles of Steel tip/rubber heels that I carry that are from the USA Stay tuned, and I will post a picture of them. As an aside, I have 5 thicknesses of steel pins. In the gold stem which is one of the most used, I have 8 sizes of rubber heels for that stem alone in WHITE, TAN, BROWN, AND BLACK. In the Copper pin size, which is the next one thinner, I have Tan Brown and Black in about 4 sizes of rubber... the Silver Pin size, which is the next size larger, I have Black, And Brown in 3 sizes. Not included are the long silver pins from 1-1/2 to 4". Those come in about 5 sizes of Rubber... As a Buisiness, we have to have all of them as possible on hand to be ready for the next customer, You as a customer want to save money, we do also by buying them in bulk. Then we sit and wait for you to come in. I worked in a Department store that did 150 pair a day of spikes alone, and we ordered them by the thousands. Most shoe shops order them by the dozens. Stay tuned, I intend to show you more in the days to come Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hart88 Posted October 3, 2004 Share Posted October 3, 2004 I now have a jpeg of many styles of pins that we use in the USA http://hartlandshoes.us/DowelsExample.jpg The scale of the picture is just abit larger than life size I put a line around the gold pin to show you that these seem to be used the most at this time. The copper pins are next, and the silver pins third. You can see we have most of our styles in these pins. I ususally get them in boxes of 3 dozen...other sizes I get in dozens. We Now have white in only that size you see. The long platform style is one we use for many of the heels that look wide in the back but skinny sideways. (Strange to me.) I don't like those, the heel blocks don't seem to be very strong, and not much area to nail, or be inforced by the shank. I hope this helps your discussion about heels. I will as soon as I can, do a step by step also, with a worn out heel, Ok! later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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