Musings of a Local Cobbler

As part of our service to West Michigan community, Liberty Footwear offers repairs of other boots and shoes not made in our own shoe factory. We only repair selected parts, based on our ability, equipment & available materials.

We'd like to share our experience with issues our customers bring to us. Most common are:

• Outsole to upper bond (outsole peeling off the midsole or upper)
• Prematurely worn out outsoles
• Outsoles or midsoles disintegrated because of age & material failure
• Ripped threads in highly stressed out seams - due to constant flexing or abrasion
• Cracked upper plastic parts in flex areas like ball of the foot or heel
• Broken speed hooks or lace loops

These issues happen to all major footwear brands, despite extensive process of laboratory testing and wear trials. Frankly, some of these failures are only revealed when the boots and shoes are used in unforeseen environments or worn in unintended ways.

Still, we believe that when you're choosing new pair you can avoid, even prevent, premature wear or failures. Here are our suggestions what to watch for when shopping for a new pair:

• Shoes & boots w/ uppers using multiple materials - like leather, fabrics, synthetics, plastic parts (logos etc.) may look nice on shelves or pictures but have too many opportunities for seams failure
• Too many upper parts make it difficult sewing them correctly
• Too fine (thin) threads on uppers usually don't hold up long term. They are also easily abraded when boots are worn in rough places like road construction, scrap yards, truck repair shops, industrial buildings construction, farming (both livestock & crops)
• Work boots with only 2 rows of stitching in lower part of uppers usually don't last, 3 rows are safer
• Upper parts sewn in forepart flex area can crack during wear
• D-rings or similar lace-holding attachments in flex area are extremely stressed during wear, especially if used by electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, maintenance persons
• Zippers that are curved along the laces, instead of being straight, wear out fast
• Large plastic logos that are glued or sewn in highly stressed parts of boots - those that are constantly flexing - in forepart or heel

Ready for a pair built to last? Shop our work boots → — or come get custom fitted at our Grand Rapids factory outlet store.