Damage to Church's shoes - please help

[asr123]

I knocked my toe on the underside of an open desk draw the other day and the corner of it took a pretty nasty chunk out of my shoe. It is really quite deep - you can really feel it when you rub your finger over it. When I did it, the damaged area was white in colour.

I have tried to polish it out to make it look better, but I doubt any amount of polish will completely repair this.

I was wondering about sending the shoes back to Church's for repair, but not sure if they would repair something like this. Possibly put a new toe cap on the shoe?

The shoes are relatively new (only owned them for about 6 months) so the soles are not in any need of repair yet and shoes are still in good shape apart from this damage.

Any recommendations?

Also, I bought from Austin Reed. If I do send them back to Church's for repair should I do it through Austin Reed or Church's direct? (Will AR add an extra charge on top? Or is it safer to deal with a shop I can actually go in and speak to, rather than doing it all via phone and post?)

I have attached pictures of the damage so you can see. (After I have tried to polish it out.)

 

[rebel222]

I am not aware of any company that would replace the cap. A good cobbler or polish guy could mask the damage, but it's not going away.

 

[Ich_Dien]

Take them to a Church's shop and ask?

 

[Quadcammer]

You're pretty much screwed.

the only thing I can think of is some sort filler, and a lot of polish, but that will always be noticeable

 

[kev777]

Isn't it called "patina" round these parts ????

 

[Lucan]

Now you're a person who has a pair of Church's as their everyday pair. You therefore look like a serious player, as opposed to someone who saved up for months for them and has a small pedestal they put their shoes on every night before worshipping them.

I'm now going to go and do the same to mine. Maybe we can nod knowingly if we pass each other in the street.

Lucan

PS. being slightly more serious, I'd just accept it as a bit of character, they really don't look as bad as you're probably imagining.

 

[Quadcammer]



Isn't it called "patina" round these parts ????

thats a pretty nasty gouge

 

[Cant kill da Rooster]



thats a pretty nasty gouge

Agree with Kev and Lucan. I have gouges in some shoes, just keep polishing them, maybe even mix in darker polish for patina. Just adds character. Compared to most shoes around here (KCs) they are kick ass.

 

[NoCleverName]

I think I would tolerate this on another color of shoes, but if it happened to my black shoes, I'd probably get a replacement. I keep black shoes around for more formal occasions and I wouldn't want them to be gouged like that for any occasion I would wear black shoes. That being said, I would still keep them around, I'd just have an un-gouged pair as well. If you wear these day to day then I say hell with it, keep wearing them, don't worry about the gouge.

 

[asr123]

Take them to a Church's shop and ask?

I live in Cheshire (UK), so no Church's shops around here unfortunately. I'll take them with me next time I'm in London though and see if I get some time to stop in on one of the stores and ask. Might try phoning them tomorrow too to see if they can advise. I know that when repairing shoes that are misshapen through wear, they do cut open the stitches and restitch them so thought if they can do this they may be able to replace the entire toe cap.



Thanks for all of the responses chaps. I really appreciate all the feedback. If I get no luck through the repair service, I'll just keep polishing them and it will become slightly less noticeable over time I'm sure. I do wear them pretty much every day for work so I'll take the view that it adds some character to them (although I'm aware that too much character can look ugly).

I'll let you know how they turn out if they get repaired. My next pair I'll tread more carefully with!

Cheers

 

[NotoriousMarquis]

I'd put a little tiny dab of snoseal or beeswax something just in the area as a filler, and then build up with layers of polish and wax. It's worked for me.