UKC

Sorry to bring up an age-old subject but who are people sending their shoes to for re-soling at the mo? How is this fella in Greece? How long do I have until I'm getting shafted by Brexit on postage?

I've been very satisfied with Llanberis Resoles previously but their prices seem to have jumped from something like £33 to £45 a pair and I've got a couple that need doing. Everyone else UK-based seems to have mixed reviews.

Scarpas & Sportivas, if that matters. 

In reply to PaulJepson:

Resole only; no rand trickery required. 

In reply to PaulJepson:

Stff.

Seriously, there's a thread a few weeks ago that tells you everything.

In reply to Deadeye:

Care to link? I did search but other than a specific thread for London or Birmingham resolers there was nothing since the summer....

Sorry if I've offended you; you didn't have to click. 

In reply to PaulJepson:

George in Greece is brilliant - just got my Skwamas back with factory soles and toe patches for 35 euro posted.

In reply to PaulJepson:

George in Greece is amazing. Ive tried all of the British one and the results were average. I sent the to George and they genuinely came back like new. 

In reply to PaulJepson:

Jeepers dude.  Ok.  https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/gear/london_climbing_shoe_resoles_2-71307...

If you search "resole" there's heaps.  The longer threads tend to have better info.

The location is a red herring - you asked about Greece.

No I didn't have to.  I actually thought you might be recommending a new, good place.

In reply to PaulJepson:

I'll second George, i do use Llanberis as well though but for reasonnshow below I prefer George for Sportiva stuff. Feet First are hit and miss in my experience.

George can get complete sole units and new P3 platforms for La Sportiva shoes, so can basically re-build my beloved Miuras. Between 4 of us we've just sent him 10 pairs.

In reply to PaulJepson:

Since mid-2019 the pound has steadily strengthened from 1.09 to 1.2 euro, so the overseas resole has become even more competitive. Might be able to switch back to buying stuff off Bergfreunde and Bergzeit again 😀

In reply to GoneFishing111:

How did you get in touch, his website says booked up until April and he's not answering emails, did you just send them off and hope for the best?

In reply to PaulJepson:

well I have been using Cheshire Shoe Repairs for years, must have had 20 pairs done, always been very good.

Rands included if needed and also other random bits just done without asking.

In reply to JMarkW:

        . . .   that's what I'd have said before sending shoes to George in Greece who's in a different league altogether. The trouble with CSR is that he takes away the shape of the toe - it's all rounded up (very neatly) and not as was

In reply to PaulJepson:

Just got back a pair from Cheshire and pleased with them so far. New rand patch blended very well. New shoes, ready broken in. Very *slight* change to the toe profile, but as if by magic this matches my foot shape better than the identical pair not yet resoled.

In reply to steveriley:

another great guy is Shoe Doctor: https://shoedoctor.eu/en/us/  which is based in Slovenia. Resoled two pairs last November and the quality was great!

Postage is expensive so it's worth teaming up with others or send several pairs to get postage / pair down.

In reply to krikoman:

Yeah I wasn't sure if that meant they won't be accepting any new jobs until April, or anything sent now wouldn't get done until April.....

Thanks for the replies everyone! 

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In reply to krikoman:

He's always answered my emails tbh.

It did take a while to get my shoes back, there was a little confusion as to wether he'd received them or not however i was that pleased with them i soon forgave the time it took - maybe 3 weeks?

La Sportiva are actively supporting resoling of their shoes and are trying to get the same thing up and running in the uk apparently.

In reply to PaulJepson:

just dropped ours in for a resole in Vallada for a grand total of 17 Europes a pair (5:10 c4, rand an extra €3)

In reply to PaulJepson:

Bloke in Todmorden use to resole my boots and fell shoes. Eric Spotoff if I remember correctly. Near the market.

In reply to steveriley:

Very happy with them. Dropped shoes off at the shop on Friday, arrived back in the post on Tuesday. They seem better in the toe than before.

In reply to GoneFishing111:

I'll try him again, cheers.

In reply to PaulJepson:

To be accurate I’ve gone up to £45 from £40. It’s not been £33 for a long time. Feet First are £47 and LSR  £45 too. Cheshire is cheaper but doesn’t really count although if you just want a cheap resole on a flat round-toed shoe he’s ok. But whatever you send you’ll get a flat round-toed shoe!! 
 

George in Greece does a great job, I always recommend him to requests I get from Ireland etc as I don’t post outside the uk. Personally I find the air miles hard to justify these days when there are local alternatives but everyone has their own take on that and it partly depends on your reasons for resoling too. 

Oh I’m Llanberis Resoles for those that don’t know me. 

In reply to torquil:

What rubber can you get hold of? and is there a limit on the sole? I have an old pair of La Sportiva Rock Jocks that I would love to get back into use. Can you do something like that?

Cheers

Gwilym

In reply to torquil:

What's the reason you've stopped doing 5.10 shoes? Doesn't bother me as 5.10s don't fit my feet but I've recommended you to someone and typically they wear 5.10s.

In reply to Street:

Argh, hadn't noticed that! Who do I send my Hiangles to now?

In reply to torquil:

Looks like I paid £35 a pair in September. Not that long ago?

In reply to Street:

For a few reasons but the main one is that Fiveten just dont resole as well as others, i’m happy with the quality of my work on SPortivas and Scarpas but I never am on Fivetens. By the time they come in for a resole they are normally very soft and the toe boxes dont hold their shape well, plus they are way more liable to delaminate. I’m always too busy these days and need to cut something out and will be very happy not to see a Fiveten again.

Also as a company they have never been very supportive fo resoling, rubber has been hard to get hold of etc. Scarpa and Sportiva are much more helpful. I may end up only doing the Italian shoes before long but for the moment I’ll do anything that isn’t Fiveten.

In reply to galpinos:

I’d say either Feet First if you want to stay in the UK or George in Greece. 

Hiangles are up there with Dragons and Anasazis as being my absolute least favourite shoes to resole. WIth any of those its really important to catch them early - dont leave them till there is a hole and you should still get a reasonable job. But if you send me something like an Instinct or Katana without a hole and you should get a shoe that really is better than new.

In reply to torquil:

Oh dear........

Will you do Unparallel shoes or do they have the same problems you have with 5.10s as they are the same last?

(I have moved from Hiangle to Regulus)

In reply to PaulJepson:

You’re right it was £35 in Sept, it was £33 for a while maybe 2 years before iirc but your point is valid either way. I bumped up to £45 this week as I realised the others had gone up to £47/£45 and i have been run off my feet working 7 days a week since I’ve been back trying to keep up (luckily its rained the whole time so I’m not missing much yet). I totally understand if people want to look around for a cheaper service somewhere else and I know every time I do a price increase i’ll loose a few customers. I don’t want to get to the point where i’m rushing and the quality goes down though. 

I notice George isn’t taking work till April and suspect he’s in a similar situation - I would be surprised not to see a price increase from him soon too.

In reply to torquil:

But Evolv aren't Italian!

In reply to torquil:

That's wrong on both counts. You'd be better letting the quality of your own work speak for you

In reply to steveriley:

I've sent two pairs of the same Anasazis to Llanberis and Cheshire first a while back. The Cheshire pair are still fine and get occasional use but the Llanberis pair came back slightly delaminated, went back came back and deliminated again. The 2nd time I just left it. 

So I understand why Torquil doesn't deal with 5.10s anymore, and respect that if he's not satisfied with his work he shouldn't be accepting them. 

In reply to torquil:

Yeah I totally appreciate the increase and would likely do the same. I was very happy with the shoes you did for me (the Scarpas actually came back better, and had more of a Sportiva-style aggressiveness to the toe than when new), and if it was just the one pair I needed doing I would absolutely be sending them your way.

Unfortunately, between my partner and I, we have a few pairs (one of which will need the rand), so was interested if there was a more economical option for larger scale.

I'm always going to resole over buying new if possible (more for the 3Rs than cost-saving), but at the end of the day I'm going to be unemployed in a week, so it has to be worthwhile. 

It doesn't seem that you rate Cheshire (I have no experience to speak of) but their price does include rand, so if you're basing your pricing against theirs then it's £45 vs £55. 

In reply to PaulJepson:

 

ShoeDoc in Slovenia.

Works out the cheaper, the more shoes ya send in (unless he's changed their pricing from last fall).

Basically it was that you ship to SLO at your own cost, and he'll ship one or 40 pairs back at a fixed price.

Quality is around the same as George a bit more south of them, pricing about the same. AFAIK they are also rather busy, but it might still work out just fine (if you're not in a  hurry). I have quite a few pairs waiting to be resoled, two of e'm are NoEdges, so either ShoeDoc are highly likely (as no one does them in Finland).

In reply to HeMa:

Thanks - I'll wait and see if I get a reply from George but if no joy then these looks like my boys/girls!

In reply to PaulJepson:

drop a line to them as well... they also might be swamped with work.

both shoedocs are certified LaSpo resolers (though I think George dropped it, but might have it again?), and as said both are doing good quality resoles.

In reply to torquil:

Great to have Torquil's expert contribution, which is very much in accord with my views. In my experience, his work and that of George is head and shoulders above that of Feet First and CSR. Luckily for me, Scarpas and Sportivas give me the best combination of comfort and performance and Torquil has resoled my Testarossas 4 times. They are still at least as good as new and there is no reason to think more resoles won't be possible so even at the increased price, resoling is a bargain. I wonder if the non-Italian-made Sportivas are as durable.

In reply to Steve T Brighton:

The Tarantulas (which I believe are made in China?) seem to go through at the toe VERY quickly. We used them as a hire-shoe for a while but they were so uneconomical at the rate we went through them. Must be very thin rubber + scrapey-toe-punters wearing them. The walls aren't even that abrasive compared to stuff like Walltopia! 

Just want to say that after following this thread to help me decide who to go with to get a pair of Scarpa chimeras resoled, I ended up going with Torquil at Llanberis resoles. I've used Cheshire shoe repairs a couple of times in the past and have been fairly happy but I just wanted to see if I could get better quality somewhere else. I sent them by royal mail 2nd class on the 21st Feb and they arrived back yesterday (so roughly 1.5 weeks), so I was very happy with the turnaround.

Although I've not had a chance to try them out again yet, I've got to say the quality of the repair looks perfect and they look as good as new! I'd be prepared to pay that little bit more for the quality of Torquil's work every now and then, especially when it comes to a high end shoe like the chimera.

However, I would also say that I didn't require a rand repair, which in my experience is when the shoe can lose it's shape a bit.

Anyway, initial impression is 10/10 👍

In reply to PaulJepson:

Another vote for Llanberis Resoles. I had some blue Scarpa VS resoled with a the stiffer rubber (as on the orange version) and the resole is superb. 11/10!

In reply to George_Surf:

Whereabouts in Vallada for future reference? Thanks in anticipation 

In reply to PaulJepson:

Just had three pair returned from CSR, all look great, the toe might be a little more rounded, but not massively. New rands and 1/2 sole £45 each.

Turn around less than a week.

Just need somewhere to use them now!!