The purpose of a traditionally goodyear welted shoe, whether it has a leather or rubber stitched sole, is that it is designed to be repaired – numerous times. The vast majority of shoes from Loakes, Sandersand Trickers are goodyear welted. This method of construction hasn’t changed in 150 years, the essential element of which is a strip of leather, called the welt. This welt runs around the outside of the shoe, one edge of which is stitched to the upper leather whilst the other edge is stitched to the welt. Therefore when the sole does require replacement the new stitching only goes into the welt and does not interfere with the upper leather.
Whether they be Sanders, Trickers or Loakes shoes they can all be returned to the manufacturer where the original lasts will be put back inside the shoe before the shoe maker replaces the entire long sole and heel block. The shoes will be returned to you almost as new and looking superb. If you are fortunate enough to have a good local cobbler then our suggestion would be that he replaces the sole with a half sole whereby the sole is cut an inch or so in front of the heel block and only the sole leather which wears is replaced. Your local cobbler won’t have the same lasts on which the shoes were made so if he were to take the entire sole and heel block away from the upper there is a possibility that the shoe won’t fit quite the same. The advantage of the half sole is that it is considerably cheaper than a long sole. But do check with your cobbler that he will be doing a goodyear welted repair and not a blakey stitch whereby he stitches the new sole to the insole and not the welt.
If you would like Bradshaw and Lloyd to repair your shoes then send an email to repairs@bradshawandlloyd and we shall send you our price list and instruction form. Your repairs should be returned to you within two weeks.
