Cheaney Recrafting - A Review

[Blackhood]

There seems to be a lack of information regarding the Cheaney recrafting service on here so having just gone through the process I thought I'd leave some information for those who might need it.
Apologies for the pictures, the iPhone isn't a great tool, but its all I have at my office.

So my shoes are a pair of high-shine black monkstraps that have been worn for about 4 years 4 days per week. Purchased when I first arrived at university and needed some shoes for work in retail. Although kept with shoe trees in, they haven't been very well looked after and are firmly into "beater" territory, none the less they are structurally sound and recrafting them was cheaper than a new pair of shoes.

It starts with a call to the Cheaney factory where I asked for instructions regarding destination, cost and details. Cost was £70 including shipping and the time scale was about 5 weeks (they came in dead on the 5 week mark). On the website they ask that you include a cheque in the box, but since cheques stopped being used before I was old enough to get a proper bank account I simply included a letter asking them to call me for credit card details when the time was right. They were more than happy to do this for me.

There were the shoes at the time of being sent away:

As you can see they were long overdue and starting to suffer from neglect. Hey ho, I suppose it just better serves to illustrate the wonders of well made shoes.

These are the shoes I received back this morning:

Good:
New sole, heel and interior heel pads are well put together, very neat and with no visible damage or pigment transfer to the uppers.
True to their word, 5 weeks to the day.
Thorough revitalising polish - makes a difference even on the high-shine leather.
The fit is as good as before, any change in shape has been so minimal that I haven't noticed it.

Bad:
Attention to detail hasn't been flawless; small amounts of the edge dressing has curved round onto the sole.
In some instances the "stamped" Cheaney logo is slightly wonky.
5 weeks is a very long time given the factory is about 1 hour from my house, but I suppose anything that is done by hand will incur delays.

Overall impressions:
I certainly couldn't have picked up a pair of shoes this comfortable for £70, and for a shoe entering their 5th year of service I am more than happy. Would I have had better or quicker service at C&J or some other more expensive brands? I don't think so. There are many horror stories on these boards of recraftings that have been let down by sloppy work, and I honestly don't believe that this has been in any way worse than any other brand.

I will definitely by using and buying Cheaney again, and certainly encourage other Europeans to do the same. For those in America, you will have to judge for yourself whether the postage costs are worth it after exchange rates.

 

[kev777]

Thanks for that !!

 

[gsugsu]

Seems to be good value in extending the life of a workhorse pair of shoes. Very informative. What was the purchase price of the shoes or put another way, what percentage of the purchase price was the redrafting?

 

[Blackhood]

I got them on sale at £125 with a stated original price of £225, so approximately 1/3.

I don't tend to look at it that way as the 4 years that have passed means the original price might as well have been a bag of beans for the impact it has; the decision was more a case of what shoes could I buy for £75 that would replace them? Not much shows up so, the recraft happened.

 

[labravajazz]

Sounds very good and compare to Church's at £90 + just to resole similar pair 3 years old took several weeks and we returned with cracked uppers around the edge of one shoe where they had resoled , no ther refurbishment done, so they were returned with new soles but in seriously worse condition than when I dropped them in. They claim it was already damaged whethey received it but they absolutely were not, and less than 3 years since new looked after with trees. Buyer beware! Cheaney sounds way better deal

 

[ncdobson]

You can see the recrafting process here:

 

[chogall]

I got them on sale at £125 with a stated original price of £225, so approximately 1/3.
I don't tend to look at it that way as the 4 years that have passed means the original price might as well have been a bag of beans for the impact it has; the decision was more a case of what shoes could I buy for £75 that would replace them? Not much shows up so, the recraft happened.

Perfect rationale for recrafting. The other factor is on the emotional side where your shoes spent the past so many years with you.

p.s., recrafting typically runs about 1/3 of the original price of shoes.

There seems to be a lack of information regarding the Cheaney recrafting service on here so having just gone through the process I thought I'd leave some information for those who might need it.
Apologies for the pictures, the iPhone isn't a great tool, but its all I have at my office.
So my shoes are a pair of high-shine black monkstraps that have been worn for about 4 years 4 days per week. Purchased when I first arrived at university and needed some shoes for work in retail. Although kept with shoe trees in, they haven't been very well looked after and are firmly into "beater" territory, none the less they are structurally sound and recrafting them was cheaper than a new pair of shoes.
It starts with a call to the Cheaney factory where I asked for instructions regarding destination, cost and details. Cost was £70 including shipping and the time scale was about 5 weeks (they came in dead on the 5 week mark). On the website they ask that you include a cheque in the box, but since cheques stopped being used before I was old enough to get a proper bank account I simply included a letter asking them to call me for credit card details when the time was right. They were more than happy to do this for me.
There were the shoes at the time of being sent away:


As you can see they were long overdue and starting to suffer from neglect. Hey ho, I suppose it just better serves to illustrate the wonders of well made shoes.
These are the shoes I received back this morning:




Good:
New sole, heel and interior heel pads are well put together, very neat and with no visible damage or pigment transfer to the uppers.
True to their word, 5 weeks to the day.
Thorough revitalising polish - makes a difference even on the high-shine leather.
The fit is as good as before, any change in shape has been so minimal that I haven't noticed it.


Bad:
Attention to detail hasn't been flawless; small amounts of the edge dressing has curved round onto the sole.
In some instances the "stamped" Cheaney logo is slightly wonky.
5 weeks is a very long time given the factory is about 1 hour from my house, but I suppose anything that is done by hand will incur delays.
Overall impressions:
I certainly couldn't have picked up a pair of shoes this comfortable for £70, and for a shoe entering their 5th year of service I am more than happy. Would I have had better or quicker service at C&J or some other more expensive brands? I don't think so. There are many horror stories on these boards of recraftings that have been let down by sloppy work, and I honestly don't believe that this has been in any way worse than any other brand.
I will definitely by using and buying Cheaney again, and certainly encourage other Europeans to do the same. For those in America, you will have to judge for yourself whether the postage costs are worth it after exchange rates.

They probably have an SOP and pipeline of shoes waiting to be recrafted. The end result looks good too!

 

[add911_11]

Excellent recraft, I do like Cheaney shoes.

 

[Ich_Dien]

They got edge dressing all over a pair of my brogues I sent back - added another two weeks onto the already 6 week re-craft when I pointed it out to the rather embarrassed salesman.

I paid for a higher rate of service on the re-craft, one where the put oak bark soles on and a leather heel - all in all despite the long wait I was happy with them.