Resoling boots, and which ones are worth resoling

A resole is only possible if the boot was built to come apart, and most boots are not. The sole is pressed and glued to the upper at the factory, and while a cobbler can grind that sole off and bond a new one on, the join is never as good as the original and on an inexpensive boot the job costs more than the boot did. Working out which construction you own takes about ten seconds, and it tells you whether you are holding a repairable object or a consumable one. That is worth knowing before the sole wears through rather than after.

Three ways a sole gets attached

Cemented construction means the sole is glued. The upper is pulled over the last, the edges are turned under and bonded to an insole board, and the outsole is cemented on under pressure. It is fast, cheap, light and waterproof at the join, and it accounts for the large majority of boots sold at any price under a few hundred dollars.

A Goodyear welt is the opposite approach. A strip of leather, the welt, is stitched to a rib on the underside of the insole, and the outsole is then stitched to the welt. Nothing structural is glued, so a cobbler can cut the outsole stitching, lift the sole off and sew a new one to the same welt. The upper is never disturbed.

Blake stitching runs a single seam straight through the insole, the upper and the outsole, which makes a slimmer, more flexible boot that can also be resewn, though it needs a machine many small shops do not own. Vulcanised soles, the kind on canvas sneakers and some rubber boots, are chemically fused to the upper and are effectively one piece.

How to tell which one you have

Turn the boot over and look at the edge where the sole meets the upper. If you can see a line of stitching running around the perimeter of the sole, a few millimetres in from the edge, that is a welt seam and the boot can be resoled properly.

Then look inside, at the bottom of the footbed, with the insole lifted if it is loose. A line of stitching in there means Blake construction. Nothing at all, and a smooth bonded edge outside, means cemented.

The trap is a decorative welt: a moulded plastic or rubber rib around the edge of a cemented sole, sometimes with fake stitch marks pressed into it. It exists because stitched soles signal quality. Real stitching passes through material and you can see the thread sitting in a channel. Moulded stitching is the same colour and material as the rib it sits on.

What a cobbler can do with each

Welted: a full resole is routine work, and a good boot will take four or five of them over its life. The upper and the lining are the limit, not the sole.

Cemented: the sole can be ground back to the midsole and a new unit glued on. Plenty of cobblers will do it. The result is usually fine, sometimes excellent, and occasionally it comes apart at the toe within a year, because the bond relies on the surface the old adhesive left behind.

Vulcanised: not realistically repairable. A rubber patch can be bonded over a worn heel, which buys a season.

In all three cases, a worn heel block is a separate and much easier job. Heels are built in layers and the top layer, the piece that meets the pavement, is designed to be replaced.

The arithmetic, honestly

In the United States, a full resole on a welted boot typically runs somewhere between 90 and 180 dollars depending on the sole unit and the city, and a glued-on replacement for a cemented boot is often a little less. A heel tip is usually 20 to 40 dollars. Prices vary enough by region that the only reliable number is the one your own cobbler quotes.

Set that against the price of the boot. A 300 dollar welted boot with a 120 dollar resole is a sensible transaction, and it is why people buy welted boots in the first place. A 100 dollar cemented boot with a 110 dollar resole is not, however good the intention behind it.

The exception is a boot you cannot replace, in a shape or a size that is no longer made. Then the repair is not economics, it is just what you have to do.

What this means for the boots we sell

Ours are cemented, and the uppers are faux leather rather than hide. That makes them consumables. The Lace Up Boot, The Platform Boot and The Work Boot are not boots to take to a cobbler for a full resole, and we would rather say so than let somebody find out at the counter.

There is a second reason, which is that on a faux leather boot the upper rarely outlives the sole. Polyurethane coatings crack and lift with flexing and age, and a boot with a cracked vamp is finished whatever is underneath it. Spending a hundred dollars on a new sole under a failing upper is money set on fire.

What is worth doing on a boot like this is the small stuff: a heel tip before the block wears into, a stitch repair at a seam, a new set of laces. Those are twenty dollar interventions that add a season.

The repairs that pay for themselves

Get the heel tipped early. Once the rubber top piece wears through, you are into the stacked layers of the block itself, and rebuilding a block costs several times what replacing a tip does. The signal is a visible wedge of wear at the back outside corner, which is where almost everybody lands.

On a lugged sole, watch the outside edge of the forefoot rather than the middle. The lugs there go first and they go unevenly, and once the pattern is flat in that one area the boot has lost most of its grip on a wet pavement even though the rest looks new.

A thin rubber half sole bonded over the front of a sole that is still intact is the cheapest preventive repair in the trade. It costs little, it goes on in a day, and it means the original sole never reaches the point where it needs replacing. On a cemented boot it is the single thing most worth doing.

Buying with repair in mind

If you want a boot you can keep for a decade, the construction is the thing to buy, and it is the one feature photographs can show you. Look for perimeter stitching, a visible leather welt, and a brand that sells replacement sole units or names its cobbler.

Expect to pay for it. Welted construction needs more material and far more labour, so a genuinely resoleable boot starts at a price a good deal higher than a fashion boot in the same shape. A 120 dollar boot that claims a Goodyear welt is worth doubting.

And be honest about the use. A boot worn twice a month for ten years and a boot worn daily for two years cost about the same per wearing. Buying the repairable boot only saves money if you are the sort of person who actually takes things to be repaired.

Questions people actually ask

Can glued boots be resoled?

Usually yes, but not as well. A cobbler grinds the old sole back and bonds a new one to what remains, and the new join depends on the surface left behind. On an inexpensive cemented boot the cost of the job often exceeds the price of the boot.

How much does it cost to resole boots?

In the US a full resole commonly runs 90 to 180 dollars depending on the sole unit and where you live, and a heel tip is usually 20 to 40. Get a quote before committing, because regional variation is large.

How can I tell if a boot is Goodyear welted?

Look for real stitching running around the perimeter of the sole, a few millimetres in from the edge, with thread sitting in a channel. Moulded ribs with fake stitch marks pressed into them are decorative and the boot underneath is glued.

Is it worth resoling faux leather boots?

Generally no. The polyurethane upper tends to crack and lift before the sole is truly finished, so a new sole goes under a failing boot. Heel tips, seam repairs and a bonded half sole are the repairs that make sense.