Look like Jeffery Wests....
I saw some comments about a 1/2 sole job in an earlier post here.
Some in the industry have called me stupid for only doing full re-crafting rather than 1/2 soles. We use dozens of full soles every week. To my knowledge we used 1 pair of Men's 1/2 soles this year.
The reason they have called me stupid is they tell me that the profit margin is greater on 1/2 soles than a full re-craft. Something I'm fully aware of.
I have asked them, would you put a 1/2 sole on your own high-grades? They say no. Then I ask, why would you use them on a customers? The answer I get is, the customer is stupid, they don't any better. That attitude always annoyed me. My response lead me into confrontations a few times. that is, it's the customer that puts bread on our table. If they are naive about something, why not educated them? Why take advantage of them?
The retail price range of shoes we service is $300 up to 15K. If a customer is willing to trust you with that sort of investment why would you compromise your trust in them and, your integrity by cutting corners with a patch job? Makes no sense to me and it's damaging to the integrity of the business.
The fact is, shoddy shoe repair shops (the majority) would rather do 1/2 soles than doing the job the right way. Sure you can make it look pretty but that's only cosmetic.
It's the structure and integrity of the construction of the shoe thats important.
The four most common reasons cobblers use 1/2 soles are:
1. They don't know how to use the stitcher's needed.
2. They are not willing to invest in them.
3. Profits
4. They want of offer a less expensive option.
None of those are acceptable to me. I give #4 some merit however, it's still not right for the shoe. That's where I have to bail.
To add insult, the cobbler that knows he is going to use a 1/2 sole is more concerned with short-cuts (increasing his profit) rather than correcting something he sees. Something the customer will never notice. To that I'll add...that sort of guy isn't concerned with the welt because he knows he's not using a stitcher. So, when he trims the sole, he doesn't care if he severely damages the welt.
