In case you didn't know, we love a shoe repair challenge - well, we certainly got one here!
A customer sent us an online shoe repairs enquiry with some photos of their beloved Harley-Davidson boots that they wanted repairing and restoring to their former glory. The boots were about 10 years old and had been regularly ridden in - which is great, BUT the leather on the top of the left boot was extremely worn due to all the gear changes, which had evidently eroded the leather away over time.
Not only that, the actual soles were literally non existent on the rear heel and had worn away altogether and all that was left was a solid plastic heel, which was very slippery! The main sole was also as smooth as ice, with no tread left at all.
Challenge accepted!
We put a plan together of how to approach this job - we knew how sentimental these boots were and they definitely needed a touch of the Ingmans Magic! Without waffling on about 'how' we did what we did, here's a summary of 'what' we did LOL
- Removed existing sole and heel;
- Created and stitched on a colour matched toughened leather patch (to fix the gear shifter damage!), which will also now protect the leather from future gear shift erosion;
- Created a hand made, 3 tier hard wearing heel - consisting of a Goodyear sole, a layer of cushioning and a top layer of thick hard-wearing leather;
- Added a hard wearing and 'grippy' Goodyear Welted sole to the main shoe base, which also encapsulated the leather patch for quality and longevity;
- Added a new leather insole ;
- Gave the boots an 'Ingmans' polish;
- Wrapped them in tissue:
- Placed them in one of our snazzy boxes;
- Put the box in one of our snazzy bags;
- Sent them back to our customer.
I'm annoyed that I didn't save any 'before' pics, but here's a gallery of the finished work. I was actually sent these pictures in an email from the happy customer, who was over the moon with the quality of the repair - "Better than when they were new" were his actual words! He also mentioned how impressed he was with the whole process, from the initial enquiry to sending and receiving back his boots. You'll see he's actually included some pics of the boxes that we send our repaired shoes and boots back to the customer in.
Dear Harley-Davidson boots customer, thank you very much for taking the time to email me your valued feedback and indeed your very words - I'm delighted that you're delighted and I hope you don't mind me writing a blog about it!
If you've got any shoes or boots that you 'think' are beyond repair, why not put us to the test - click below to send us a shoe repair enquiry:
Did you know we now have an online store? Click below to have a look - but if you'd like a closer look, we'd love to see you in our store in Chesterfield - come on down or call us on 01246 200951 or;
send us a message
All the best - and thanks for reading.
Andy @ Ingmans
