To sole gaurd or not ? - Page 6

I can testify first hand that a worn topy grips better on floors covered with blood and other bodily fluids than a worn-in leather sole. Topy material is 'grippy', even when worn down - it is not ever 'slick' with wear. No comment re: ice - as I don't get that sort of weather where I am. Nothing like a bit of first hand experience. Lulz at the haters - because clearly nothing denotes bigtimer status quite like people who specifically keep an eye out for topied soles.

I personally like the way a new sole feels on a shoe. After a while the goodyear welted shoe gets a bit gushy and when the new leather is on and new cork filled back in it gives it more support once again. The fit shouldn't change with a simple resole job because the welt and insole isn't replaced, thus the show isn't being relasted or changing its shape. I think you would be more likely to have fit issues sending back for a whole recraft than you would just getting a resole.

Do you work in a slaughterhouse?

How this thread turned into a snobfest is just fubar

Hospital. Every once in a while, the lines blur. (that was a joke)

Figures. Seems those in the medical professions have some macabre sense of humour.

I'd err against it. If the weather is that bad I'd almost prefer an old switcheroo.

With all due respect... I suspect that if you do not understand the mechanics or accept the logic, this will fall on deaf ears, but... A Goodyear welted shoe cannot be always resoled to the guaranteed exact size it was when it came in for resoling. Whether the customer notices it or not, there is always a little, and sometimes a lot, of slippage in the gemming. The glue lets go, for whatever reasons, and without the original last there is no way to determine 100% accurately where it (the gemming started out. Most shoe repairmen will guess...and it is an educated guess, but still a guess for all of that. Like it or not, there is nearly always a set of mechanical principles that cannot be abrogated in these kinds of things. It never relies on wishful thinking or hearsay or what we think is fair or right. Or even, beyond random, luck.

what if the shoe is returned to the factory for a recraft and resoled on teh original last?

In that case, as long as the manufacturer has the original last (sometimes they will replace them with something similar but not exact...just because they wear out over time), your fit should be exactly the same as it was when you first bought/wore them. For goodyear welted shoes, I personally, think re-crafting is the only sure and reliable option. I hate to say that because there are a lot of good and skilled craftsmen out there that repair shoes and do their very best. They bring a lot to the game, not the least of which is local and personal service. But then, the shoe repair Trade began with, and is fundamentally based on, handwelted shoes and boots. No last is needed to retain the proper fit and feel if the repairman respects the original standards to which the shoe was made.

No shit ace. It's like a bunch of threads on MC. If you happen to like non-iron shirts or black blazers or shoes from American makers, you get called out as a *small-timer* by opinionated peons who -- if you check their 40 or 50 previous posts -- haven't contributed a SINGLE thing to the forum and, on top of that, have only been dressing themselves for a year or two. You want to ambush them in their tiny little cubicles and slap them silly, dontcha?

That's the problem with any internet forum.

Post an image wearing a suit, you'll get people who recently joined saying the shoulders are too wide as an unfortunate standard practice.

This IS a significant issue for me here in the Boston area. It keeps me wearing my rubber-soled Ecco's, or nicer Dainite-soled shoes, in the winter. Leather soles seem really slippery on the ice we get here

That said, I've not been a fan of topy, etc.

So what was the conclusion reached here about adding good quality rubber topys to the leather soles on elite shoes? Did I make a mistake rubber-topying my Church's Pembreys? Incidentally, at a large cathedral-like atrium that is the entrance to a place I was at today, with polished marble floors....at around 11, past the morning rush....an older gentleman walked in, not leisuredly but not running, but clearly ready to get something very seriously done.....and the sound of his leather soles resounded in the entire atrium like whiplashes to herald his arrival.... It sure as hell sounded cool...and struck awe and admiration into rubber-soled me....

alright, that's a shame.