How DO I find shoe repairers?

[Guest allen-uk]

I know this is a trade forum, but it seemed the best place to ask.

 

I recently bought an expensive (£500) pair of orthotic shoes, which I had to have because of medical conditions. The shoes are fine, but the only sole that Salts of Birmingham would put on was a soft 'dotted' composition thing, okay, but after twenty miles already starting to wear down. Plus, using them on my cycle, the 'pins' on the pedals (again a necessity for medical reasons) are starting to cut the soles.

 

So, living in NW London, where DO I find an (old-fashioned) professional shoe repairer, who will strip off the current soles and give me a 'vibram'-type (trainers, walking boots, that sort of thing) sole.

 

I thought the 'Directory' link on these pages might help, but it doesn't. Is there a website where I can get a list of shoe repair professionals in my area?

 

Thanks.

 

 

Allen, NW London.

[petercoulson]

hmmm, old fashioned doesnt necessarily mean good. but where you are nw london, you could try kg shoes in eversholt st camden or kokos in finchley for that kind of work. james taylor in paddington st might also help

[Lee]

Is there a website where I can get a list of shoe repair professionals in my area?

 

Thanks.

 

 

Allen, NW London.

 

Although it won't help today, I am working on a directory map of repairers, which rather strangely, given your request coming today I got a prototype working yesterday & it will be going live on the site in the next few weeks.

 

Lee

[elfman]

i know salts of birmingham , when you say you purchased a pair of ther shoes becouse of a medical condition, wer you advised to do this or was it your own choice, the reason i ask is as follows

if you were advised by the health service that you needed these shoes then you may have been entitled to them on the health service

now as for the material on the soles ,this is the nhs supplys standerd ,how ever you can request a soling material than this if you require it but only if you need it,

if you bouhgt these shoes yourself then you can also ask for the vibram units that you want at the time of ordering them ,however be sure to ask for the heavy duty ones or they will put the lightweight micro ones on.

finally be sure to tell whoever you get them repaired by if there any concealed adaptions on these shoes ,such as wedges, floats ,rocker soles ,met bars.

personlly i would have the shoes stripped down completely and redone as these shoes are well known for the soles and welts to peel away as they are normally pvc welts with a micro sole and if these are the standerd orthotic shoe that they make then they will fall apart.

i have been repairing these shoes and most of the other orthotic shoes for the last 20 years and they have always been the same

[Guest allen-uk]

Thanks for those replies.

 

Peter: NW9, so Finchley sounds reasonable.

 

Elfman: yes, I was entitled to shoes on the NHS, and had a pair made at Stanmore Orthotics dept. They were not good (gave me blisters) and I gave them back many months ago. Fed up with getting old and still having no proper shoes, I went private - in London it could have cost around £2K, so my £500 and a couple of trips up the M1 seemed worth it.

 

I asked Salts if I could have 'chunky' soles, as although old and one-legged, I am reasonably active. 'No', they said, orthotic shoes only come with these sort of soles. So I got the 'standard' soles (I will take a picture later and post it to show what I mean).

 

Yes, they have rockers. I don't know what else, but they were very specifically orthotics shoes (i.e. not just posh hand-made ordinary shoes). One has a dropped forefoot, the rest are raised half-an-inch to give 'drop' on the right foot.

 

Now I am into Salts, I suppose I will have to get a second pair made by them (half price), as one of my legs is prosthetic so I can't just jump into a different pair of shoes at will! Wish I could.

 

Anyway, thanks again, and I'll post these pics later on.

 

Cheers.

 

Allen.

[Guest allen-uk]

Here are some pics. One shows the 5mm sole thickness, the other two are to show the type of sole and the sort of damage I've been getting in a very short time!

 

 

Hope this helps with your views.

 

 

Allen.[

[elfman]

the pictures show a standerd medical eva pyamid micro ,the life span on this micro is very poor ,i cannot believe that salts said you could not have a heavy duty unit , i have had many a surgical shoe made up with commando units , i have also stripped down salts shoes and replaced there units with commando units ,i have also made up surgical shoes for avid golfers with spikes included , as these are what i would call a standerd surgical shoe ther should be no problem in getting them done with a better quality unit but as i said you must inform who ever does the job of all the adaptions that are on the shoes and to maintain them , there are a number of firms you can try for these shoes should you require a second pair, they are reeds of blackburn ,ken halls ,gibert and mellish ,county footwear,

if you need these and qualfie for them under the nhs then you can get them repaired on the nhs and request a heavy duty unit ,the nhs code for this would be c22 resole and hee with commando stlye unitscost to nhs on average £44

[Gray]

I agree with elfman. eva is very lightweight and that is why it is used in orthapedic shoes obviously too counter the thickness of some builds to save weight but it has very poor wear quality. Vibram units may make your shoes feel more heavy. Maybe a suggestion would be to replace the top layer with a better quality micro (same pattern but harder wearing). The build ups are irrevelant once they have been built to your needs, only the top layer needs to be replaced and a through micro sole and heel in a better quality should be no problem for any reputable repairer.

[Guest allen-uk]

Thanks elfman, rlj.

 

Those answers are really helpful. Most of the internet is a waste of space, but at times like this I am very glad it was invented, for how else could I ask professionals about this sort of problem?

 

Anyway... re. Salts: as I only got the shoes six weeks ago I have emailed them asking for their opinion. Their orthoticist (he's independent) has come back saying it was a misunderstanding and that heavier duty soles are available, which is fine, so I am now waiting for Salts management to reply.

 

Thanks again, and I will report progress.

 

 

Allen.

[Hugh-Candoit (ENG)]

Please be aware that with heavier duty soles there is extra weight and less flexibility, but if these two points are of no problem then all the suggestions on here are OK. Why not post them to elfman and save the trips, he is only as far away as your local post office, or a carrier could pick them up from your home.

[Guest allen-uk]

Thanks for the comments and suggestion. It is useful to have more options, as a couple of weeks ago I felt I had none!

 

Allen.