UKC

I won't go into who in the UK resole climbing shoes, i thinks that's probably been covered well enough.

But i was wondering if anyone has had their shoes done by Scarpa? Any difference or advantage to getting my Instinct VS shoes done by the people who made them? It's more expensive, just curious if it might be worth the extra?

Yes

They will use the original lasts the shoe was built on and if you are lucky it might even be the same person who made them in the first place

There will be a better finish,original materials used and an attention to detail you won't get from a standard resoler 

I’ve got a close friend who’s had some done and seen the before and after job.

They do a considerably more extensive and possibly therefore a better job than your average resoler.

Because of the way shoes are made and the tension they aim to hold his shoes were disassembled, then the entire bottom and toe area were replaced and then put back together.

I’ve been meaning to send a couple of pairs to them but haven’t got around to it yet. If I do maybe I’ll let everyone know how they turn out. 

I would say that the bigger the job your shoes need the more sense it makes to send them back to Scarpa. If you just need a straight resole you're not going to get anything different from sending them to me (Llanberis Resoles), rubber and attention to detail is going to be the same.

As to quality of finish, I'd say mine is honestly better than some of the new Scarpas I've seen in the last few months and I've had to "refinish" a couple of new pairs for people recently, I'm not sure if anything has just changed in their manafacturing but it has been noticable to me and local climbing shops.

Using original lasts can be a mixed blessing too as I always try and keep your shoe in the shape your foot has worn it into rather than forcing it back into the factory shape again.

And as all Scarpas resole really well (by far my favourite shoes to do) then you should get a really good resole sending them anywhere half-decent as long as your shoe isn't too worn out. If your shoe is really worn and needs more of a rebuild beyond just a resole or resole and rand repair then Scarpa is probably a better bet especially if you need work on the uppers/midsoles/straps doing.

Personally i'd question the extra airmiles/carbon of sending to Italy as well but that's a seperate issue.

Torquil

(i'm Llanberis Resoles - so obviously I'm a bit biased but I'm also always very busy so trying to be honest rather than to drum up more work!)

On the air miles and carbon footprint subject, if any U.K resolers can match prices outside of the U.K, then I’ll give the difference to environmental organisations or charities. The difference is considerable and in some cases over twice the price. 

If the prices are matched then there is no difference to give away though

I'd rather spend my money locally instead, £40 for essentially a new pair of £120 shoes is good value to me, and offsetting is the method of last resort for carbon expenditure, or at least it should be.

There’s a difference of (as stated in my previous posts) sometimes twice as much in the U.K, I know of numerous places in Europe where I can get shoes resoled for €20 or sometimes less.

And I totally agree, £40 compared to £120 should be pretty obvious but this wasn’t the point I was trying to raise. The economy of it starts to blur if you’re not paying retail price for shoes though. 

That's some pretty facked up logic if you ask me, why polluting and then give money to charity? Just save the pollution in first place and support a local business in the process.

I had my winter boots resoled and reranded by Scarpa in Italy after asking lots of different UK resolers (the boots were very old and no one had the soles/could source them). They did an absolutely fantastic job and it cost £70, which was an excellent price considering the cost of new boots! I think a climbing shoe resole should be more straightforward for most companies in the UK though so I'd probably say go with them, I did have to wait 8 weeks (which wasn't a problem as it wasn't winter!) whereas most uk resolers will be quicker I imagine.

You did a brilliant job resoling my Scarpa Instinct VS's - well chuffed!

Maybe I wasn’t clear on my intentions. Rather than sending shoes to Spain, Greece or elsewhere, if a U.K. resoler could even come close to matching the lower prices I’d use the U.K. resoler and then give the difference to charity

But again given most U.K. resolers charge twice the price, my pocket can only stretch so far. As does most peoples, has anyone ever caught a plane somewhere? I bet there was a train that was half the price or more, not to mention way quicker.

If I buy green beans from my local grocer imported by airfreight, does that count as supporting local business? The supporting local business comment is very easy to say but it’s a very grey picture and the big picture certainly isn’t as simple as spending your money locally. 

Sorry my travel point didn’t make sense, I was eating on a quick break at work. It was meant to read;

I bet there was a train, but the plane was half the price or more and way quicker.

Thus speaks the voice of someone who has obviously never used the British rail network. Much more expensive, considerably slower and utterly unreliable!

British resolers generally do an excellent job for a fair price, certainly Nige at Feet First in Chesterfield does a fantastic job, far better than Sportiva  who's soles usually begin delaminating ten minutes after leaving the shop with them!

Please see above post for edit.