An observation/question on resole

[Isaac]

General question on a shoe resole. So i had sent a pair of White's to Brian the Bootmaker. I know he usually likes to redo the welt in addition to the sole. But, it completely changed the boot. Still wearable, but not the same if that makes sense.

Is it usually recommended/preferred to send back any boot to the manufacturer for a resole to prevent issues like this, or more of a PNW boot issue. Alden/AE/Trickers/Viberg vs PNW. How important is getting the shoe back onto the manufactureres last for the resole?

I know that Nick's wants their boots sent back to them for resoles, as they do what they do best.
Would be interested to see your take.

 

[johnniegold]

I’ve refurbed many of my Alden shoes with Alden and never had any issue with the quality of the work nor any issue with the fit upon their return to me (always the main concern, right?)

I’ve also had a pair of Alden sent to B. Nelson and had the same experience. No problem with workmanship nor fit upon their return.

Back in the day, when Johnston & Murphy were making recraftable shoes, I would send a pair to them and inevitably they would come back fitting differently then before. To the point where they were uncomfortable. Hence, that’s probably one of the reasons why J&M eventually phased out their low-quality refurbishment program.

I think the preferable way would be to send the shoes to the original maker. They have all the same materials, lasts, machinery, etc., used when the shoe was made.

Alternatively, reputable outfits such as B. Nelson, can do similar work without compromising fit nor the structural integrity of the shoe.

Brian the Bootmaker is quite the artiste. Is there anything you changed on the original boot style-wise?

I’ve seen his vids and he really does some very nice custom work on his soles which can be very ornate and may just feel a bit different while walking on them while the overall fit may remain the same.

Then again, as Mrs. Gold likes to point out, I could be totally wrong.

(But… she’s still adorable. ).

 

[Isaac]

I’ve refurbed many of my Alden shoes with Alden and never had any issue with the quality of the work nor any issue with the fit upon their return to me (always the main concern, right?)

I’ve also had a pair of Alden sent to B. Nelson and had the same experience. No problem with workmanship nor fit upon their return.

Back in the day, when Johnston & Murphy were making recraftable shoes, I would send a pair to them and inevitably they would come back fitting differently then before. To the point where they were uncomfortable. Hence, that’s probably one of the reasons why J&M eventually phased out their low-quality refurbishment program.

I think the preferable way would be to send the shoes to the original maker. They have all the same materials, lasts, machinery, etc., used when the shoe was made.

Alternatively, reputable outfits such as B. Nelson, can do similar work without comprising fit nor the structural integrity of the shoe.

Brian the Bootmaker is quite the artiste. Is there anything you changed on the original boot style-wise?

I’ve seen his vids and he really does some very nice custom work on his soles which can be very ornate and may just feel a bit different while walking on them while the overall fit may remain the same.

Then again, as Mrs. Gold likes to point out, I could be totally wrong.

(But… she’s still adorable. ).

Well he did redo that welt, and footbed, which im sure requred a full last redo.

Talking about refubs, I noticed that my Alden Indy's are actually coming unstitched at the vamp/quarter aspects. I also need to have Alden look at a pair of Shells, that I believe the finish is faulty. Its an interesting thing with them, as I message and it seems they want me to try to figure out who i bought them from and go through them. They did say to send it, but they want specifics for boots that are 10 years old

 

[Rudy Vey]

I have had quite a few re-craftings done by Allen Edmonds over the years. One pair they screwed up royally, shoe came back and was not fitting at all. Called them and complained and a few days later they send me a complete new pair of this model. Not bad, though, they admitted their mistake and made good in a very nice way. Also had work done once at Nelson and would do it again without any hesitation.

 

[Doc4]

So i had sent a pair of White's to Brian the Bootmaker.

I know that Nick's wants their boots sent back to them for resoles, as they do what they do best.

Curious as to why you wanted to send to BtB instead of Whites?

 

[Isaac]

Curious as to why you wanted to send to BtB instead of Whites?

So it was the rage at the time. He doesn’t just do a resole, as he hand welts too, hence the change of fit.

 

[Doc4]

So it was the rage at the time.

 

[LabGuy]

Changing the welt should not change the size of the boot if the cobbler knows what he is doing. However, when you do a full resole to include welt the boot will feel different - that is to be expected. You will need to redo a certain amount of break in.

 

[tankerjohn]

So it was the rage at the time. He doesn’t just do a resole, as he hand welts too, hence the change of fit.

Riddle me this...which White's model did you send to Brian the Bootmaker? A lot of White's boots are made with a stichdown welt. I noticed on Brian's Role Club website it states that all resoles are done with a Goodyear welt. Changing from stitchdown to GYW would change the fit quite a lot, I imagine. Were your White's stitchdown or was the fit change purely from the new welt Brian put on there?

 

[Isaac]

It was converted from the stitch down to a new welt

 

[tankerjohn]

It was converted from the stitch down to a new welt

Boom! There it is. Mystery solved.

I was interested in your situation there and did a little digging. I really like what Brian the Bootmaker is doing. It looks like you can send him a pair of boots, and for a couple hundred bucks he rebuilds everything below the uppers with essentially the same footbed, welt, shank and sole he puts on his custom $1000+ boots. Seems like a really good deal to me! That would be a nice upgrade for a lot of boots out there that have premium leather uppers, but go cheapo on the welts and midsoles to keep the pricepoint down. I'm sure there's other cobblers doing the same thing.

So the PNW boots are kind of an interesting case. I'm talking about the big honkin' logger and firefighter boots with gob-tons of arch support that made White's, Nick's and Frank's famous. Those have a fairly specialized build. Besides stitchdown construction, they also have thick leather shanks and midsoles designed to mold to and support your foot just so. I don't know what level of arch support Brian the Bootmaker's boots have, but I would bet they feel more traditional than what you get on those PNW boots. Maybe that's why Nick's insists on doing their own rebuilds. Just in general, I'd say that if someone wants their boots refurbished back to factory specs, its usually best to send them back to the manufacturer. If you want a different look and feel than factory, than using a third party artisan like Brian is the way to go.

 

[Isaac]

Boom! There it is. Mystery solved.

I was interested in your situation there and did a little digging. I really like what Brian the Bootmaker is doing. It looks like you can send him a pair of boots, and for a couple hundred bucks he rebuilds everything below the uppers with essentially the same footbed, welt, shank and sole he puts on his custom $1000+ boots. Seems like a really good deal to me! That would be a nice upgrade for a lot of boots out there that have premium leather uppers, but go cheapo on the welts and midsoles to keep the pricepoint down. I'm sure there's other cobblers doing the same thing.

So the PNW boots are kind of an interesting case. I'm talking about the big honkin' logger and firefighter boots with gob-tons of arch support that made White's, Nick's and Frank's famous. Those have a fairly specialized build. Besides stitchdown construction, they also have thick leather shanks and midsoles designed to mold to and support your foot just so. I don't know what level of arch support Brian the Bootmaker's boots have, but I would bet they feel more traditional than what you get on those PNW boots. Maybe that's why Nick's insists on doing their own rebuilds. Just in general, I'd say that if someone wants their boots refurbished back to factory specs, its usually best to send them back to the manufacturer. If you want a different look and feel than factory, than using a third party artisan like Brian is the way to go.

Oh without a doubt i knew that would change the fitting. My question was/is if it was necessary to get a shoe back on original lasts for a resole. This wouldnt involve any welt issues, as its just the sole being reworked.

i suppose it wouldnt need to be, since the welt remains and the "last" they use for the resole just more or less holds a shape of the shoe.