Shoes

In my opinion, shoes are an investment. I think it's better to have a few good ones than lots of cheap ones. Good shoes will last for years, cheap ones tend to fall apart quickly. Cheap ones tend to smell bad, too: I had roommates on my mission who wore cheap shoes, and wow, did their feet stink sooo bad!

Just because I like good shoes, doesn't mean I pay retail though. I find the shoes I want (Keen and Dansko these days) for a fraction of the original cost at places like Nordstrom Rack, Sierra Trading Post, and ebay.

On my mission I walked so much in my Doc Martens (found on sale at Ross) that I wore through the inner layer of the back of the heel of my shoes. That was when I had my first experience at a shoe repair store: I took them in and they sewed another layer of leather into my shoes, covering the painful heel seams, and making it possible for me to get a lot more use out of them.

Monday I noticed that a seam on one of the straps of my Keen sandal had come loose, compromising the integrity of the shoe. There's nothing else wrong with them and there's plenty of wear left in them (they're only a year and half old), so I got online and found a local shoe repair place.

The unfortunate thing is that I knew how to fix this problem, I just didn't have the ability- my sewing machine doesn't let me get into really tight spaces.

I took the sandal in Tuesday, and $10 and an hour later, it was as good as new. Considering that a new pair of sandals would cost at least $80 (in a different color), more if I wanted the same color, I think it was $10 well spent. For the record, I found my Keen sandals at Nordstrom Rack in the early fall for about $65- less than they're going for now.

can you tell where it was fixed?

I really like that I can continue using these sandals and don't have to buy new ones- new sandals are definitely not in the budget.

Have you had any experiences with repairing shoes?