I have yet to wear out a sole before some other problem arises.

Either the sole will be coming off the shoe, and need repair or complete resoling, or the upper will fail before the sole does.

My only shoes that have experienced sole "wear-out" are moccasins with leather soles.

I have had two pairs of welt-constructed shoes fall victim to a sole coming detached at the toe. I have had two other pairs experience a failure of the upper while the sole was still serviceable.

I wear exclusively US-made "quality" shoes. Why do none of them seem to follow the "typical" wear schedules?

Perhaps you aren't using them enough, or aren't using them hard enough?

I worked on a cattle ranch a couple decades ago, and had a pair of (Timberland?) workbooks on which I wore through two sets of rubber soles, while the leather uppers were still going strong. They got resoled by a local cobbler twice in 4 years.

We talking dress shoes, boots, or?

I think a lot depends on how you take care of your shoes. Two pairs of high quality dress shoes each worn every other day using cedar shoe trees should last a couple of sole replacements at least. Gotta use galoshes in the winter and rain.

I do have quite a few pairs, so there's no single pair that gets worn all the time. The one that got worn the most got to the point that the soles had most of the tread worn smooth, but the presence of tread wasn't critical for me, and the fact the sole was peeling back from the toe about 2" was the primary motivator in the repair, and then resole.

My primary pair of work boots, Redwing Roughnecks, have experienced an upper degradation that is far outpacing sole wear. My farm work has the boots in chicken litter, which I suppose could be bad for the leather, but is not hard-wearing on the soles. Had I paid better attention to treatment of the uppers, these boots may not be so far from the typical wear schedule.

Maybe my circumstances have been such that I am exempted from what I have learned ought to be typical.

quote:

We talking dress shoes, boots, or?

Casual light duty daily wear: Red Wing Iron Rangers and Wacoutas.

House shoes and campsite shoes: Itasca and Footskins moccasins. The Footskins admittedly get occasional daily wear.

Work: Red Wing Roughnecks and Reebok Spearhead military boots.

I wear a few other pairs too, but these listed above have all experienced wear that merits repair.

The Rangers and Wacoutas both have (or had) sole peel. The Roughnecks and Spearheads both have upper tearing and cracking. The Moccasins both have sole wear, but they're within the acceptable and expected scope.

My Wolverine 1000 mile boots are on their 3rd sole and 4th heels.

Worn almost every day for the better part of a decade.

They are starting to show their age.

Last year when I took them in for this pair of soles, the Cobbler told me he was retiring. I was happy for him, but wondered who will do this in the future? There are fewer and fewer Cobblers in this area, and only a couple of good ones.

I began the search for new boots. This pair was made when Wolverine would custom make the 1000 mile boot. They no longer offer that option and apparently I wear an odd size.

I knock the dirt and mud off my workboots with a stiff brush every wearing. Whenever it looks like they need it, I clean them and apply Huberd's Shoe Grease. They should be allowed to dry before the next wearing. Not in the sun. Again, two pairs worn every other day will last longer than one pair worn everyday plus another pair worn everyday. Boot trees go in when you take them off. It's not just water from the outside, but foot sweat from the inside.

I don't know about the moccasins or Reebocks, but looking at the three Redwings, I don't see a reason the uppers should be failing before needing to be resoled.

As an example, I wear these shoes 4-5 days a week, not 8 hours a day though. They are five year old at this point, the rubber sole have hardened, and the heels are worn to the point I’m going to send them in to be resoled.

I have Red Wings on their third set of soles. The boot uppers are fine and will probably last for three more.

The only shoes/boots I have ever resoled are my Redwing Chukka work boots.

I typically have a pair of dress shoes re-soled once, and discard them after the second sole wears out. They always seem to tighten up a bit when re-soled and a third set of soles makes them a bit uncomfortable. That's been my pattern for about 40 years now.

I've had a pair of Danners and a pair of Thorogoods resoled and I'm ambivilant on the whole deal. The new soles didn't seem to last nearly as long as the originals. (all work done by their company/sub contractor) The price for the Thorogoods was almost as much as the purchase price, I only did it because it was one of the many original designs they dropped.
The cost of doing the Danners were stupid expensive. Only less so compared to the even stupider price the want for them new. Not sure it was worth it, don't know that I'd do it again.

You work in chicken shit and the leather rots before the sole wears out? Sounds like my experience working in the fertilizer industry. Leather simply cannot survive long term. There is no reason for you to put any value in a resoleable boot. Good boots are still going to outlast cheap crap. Maybe find a Muckboot that works in the worst conditions you encounter, then change too something that breathes

I changed jobs to one that involves hard use. 3-4 soles per pair is not uncommon. 9-12 months is the goal.

The only pair of boots I've ever resoled were Danners way back in my high school days when I hunted and fished thru the Cascades.

As I got older and a little better off financially I had a pair of Whites mountain boots custom made for me. They were out of Spokane, Washington. These boots are amazing, years of mountain hiking, hunting and fishing and they are still in good shape. I have no idea if they are still in business...I hope so.

When I was sailing the seven seas, I’d wear thru a set of boots in six months. The decks had texture in the paint for grip and wore them down.

As I progressed in rank I bought another pair of boots (good ones) and eventually had two pair of Danners or bates and rotated them every other day. Or if I got soaked I had nice dry boots. Then the pair would last several years before needing resoling.

When I was policing I did the same and had 2 pair that lasted 5 or so years before resole, but I was only wearing them halft the year vs daily like I did in the CG.

My daily wear are a pair of Sperry Topsiders. Or I go barefoot around the house. The last pair were trashed as I mowed the yard in them and worse. This pair is only for going outside when I’m going into town. And I can buy another pair from the exchange online for the cost of a resole so there’s that

I have several pairs of Allen Edmonds I wore back when suits were required, some are 20 years old now. I've sent them back to Allen Edmonds for a refurb, new soles, clean up, polish and they come back as good as new, and already broken in!

I’ve had many resoled. Whites after fireseasons, cowboy boots, dress shoes

Word of caution, choose your cobbler carefully. Most are not known for timeliness in repairs. Took me a year to get a pair of cowboy boots back once. Not that they were backed up, Cobbler just worked a few days a week at a snails pace. It’s a dying industry

I have had my Irish Setter boots resoled twice as the rubber is so soft and wearing them on sidewalks tears them up.

quote:

Originally posted by Bassamatic:
The only pair of boots I've ever resoled were Danners way back in my high school days when I hunted and fished thru the Cascades.

As I got older and a little better off financially I had a pair of Whites mountain boots custom made for me. They were out of Spokane, Washington. These boots are amazing, years of mountain hiking, hunting and fishing and they are still in good shape. I have no idea if they are still in business...I hope so.

I believe they are. And seeing is believing as I look at your pair. Very nice. You get what you pay for.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:

I believe they are. And seeing is believing as I look at your pair. Very nice. You get what you pay for.

Thank you. They are by far the most comfortable and durable boots I have ever owned. Sadly, as I get older, my mountain hiking is pretty much over. And yes, you do get what you pay for. I bought those in the early 80's and believe I paid over five bills for them.

I had a pair of Vasque Sundowner boots (circa 1992ish) resoled back when Vasque was still a company. The new soles failed long before the tread (or the upper frankly) was going bad. Began separating. It was at least another decade later, though they hadn’t had a lot of miles put on them. I suspect the resole process simply isn’t as good as the original build, and time affects adhesives too. Doubt I’ll have another pair that I can wear intermittently for 2 decades again in my lifetime.