Thursday 3 January 2019

First post of 2019 - My rubber sole Ferragamo died...Why I would prefer you buy Stitched together or welted Shoes

This is my first post of 2019 here and let's start on something with something that this blog is well known for...Shoes. This time, let me remind you why glued shoes or stuck on construction shoes aren't really worth your time and / or money.... especially if you don't have much of either.



This is another of my Salvatore Ferragamo shoes. This isn't one of those higher up Lavorazione Originale or Tramezza series but one of the entry level ones with the rubber, glued on soles. They are nice and flexible when worn but as you can see, after five years of occasional wear, the rubber has perished on one of the shoes. The other side seems to be going strong. 

Anyway, this is down to the fact that the sole on this Ferragamo is most likely a rubber blend and stuck to the upper with adhesive. So after a while, the rubber/poly mix dries out and cracked. On one side only. Which makes no difference since I have two feet and need both sides to wear it. 


I've removed most of the sole and you now can see that I essentially paid a lot of money for not much shoe. Well, I actually didn't pay much for the shoe as I bought it at the Ferragamo factory outlet store at the Johor Premium Outlet for about RM750 or so five or so years ago. 

Well, RM750 could have gotten me a nice pair of Indonesian made blake stitched Mario Minrdi shoes with som hand patina or a nice pair of Fugashin Saigon blake stiched shoes for the same amount of money but I decided to get the somewhat flashy pair anyway. Why you may ask? I just liked the apron toe and horsebit buckle design as well as the tan colour of the shoe.

Then again, I also knew for a fact that as with my other pair of Ferragamo penny loafers which I have blogged about in here I could get these pair repaired once the sole dies on me. So...after so many years, it has obviously done so and it will eventually be sent to the cobbler to get a resole.

It isn't that hard to turn it into a blake stitched shoe after this. As you can see the leather upper has more than enough leather pulled around the insole, so there is enough leather to attach a leather sole to it and get the whole thing stitched together. This is like the other pair of Ferragamo I had written about. To me it is nothing to shout or be sad about as I am aware or what comes next. 

Of course, I have many, many pairs of shoes. The repairs can actually wait. I do not need to get it done straight away and will be saving some of my Ringgit for now. This story would be all different if this were my only pair of shoes of course.

So eventually, when they get repaired, it will be a nice leather sole with a blake  stitched sole. Better than before and good for another five years or more. I know many will usually throw away their shoes but I always advocate buying stuff that last years or decades.

So don't do what I did here if you do not intend to spend RM300 or so on getting a glued shoe fixed. I knew what I was getting myself into when I bought this pair. I only bought it because I thought it was a reasonably priced shoe which can be fixed later on. 

Of course, I am sometimes not a reasonable man you know. So don't follow what I did here. Only do so if you have the means of saving such a shoe and are willing to get it fixed for a certain price. At least this pair will still be servicible.

The most sensible advice I can give here is if you have a choice, buy a shoe with better construction. Or own many pair until you just don't care. Or you have the time to send shoes for repair.







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