Shoe stretching gone wrong!

[aquatherm]

I took a pair of suede Chelsea boots, relatively new (worn less than 20 times), for a bit of light stretching and went to collect them today. My heart sank when I saw them, they had been stretched so much that the material was sagging everywhere. The toe box itself is fine, but the leather around it has been overstretched and now looks loose and baggy, to the point where you can see the toe box material poking through. I also noticed a note on the box that said "stretch as much as possible," and they had been in the stretcher for two weeks.

They said they'd send them to the manufacturer for repair and relasting, but is that even possible? I don’t know much about the process, but once leather is stretched that much, can it really be fixed?

 

[Son Of Saphir]

^^^

Yes, stretching is a very misunderstood thing. You can have shoes stretched a size and make them fit your foot, but it doesn't mean you should do that. Shoe stretching is at its best when a shoe basically fits good, but it might need a small tweak with a small stretch here or there. The shoe should never look misshapen.

Can an upper be shrunken and relasted? It does seem possible.

 

[aquatherm]

I'm glad to hear it can be done. They are a really nice pair of shoes that have been discontinued so they can't replace them

That method looks bonkers. Wonder if that's how's it done at the factory 😆

 

[Club Soda]

I stretched the hell out of some suede EG Belgravia ruined them. I had dark oak that were a big snug so I preemptively did it when I could have probably just worn them to fit.

 

[epsilon22]

I took a pair of suede Chelsea boots, relatively new (worn less than 20 times), for a bit of light stretching and went to collect them today. My heart sank when I saw them, they had been stretched so much that the material was sagging everywhere. The toe box itself is fine, but the leather around it has been overstretched and now looks loose and baggy, to the point where you can see the toe box material poking through. I also noticed a note on the box that said "stretch as much as possible," and they had been in the stretcher for two weeks.

They said they'd send them to the manufacturer for repair and relasting, but is that even possible? I don’t know much about the process, but once leather is stretched that much, can it really be fixed?

Mind sharing pictures? Curious what it looks like.

I've only had a pair stretched, it was an MTO pair from Spigola. The shoemaker, Koji himself was present both when I placed the order (trying on a few sizes, walking around the store) and when I asked for the shoes to be stretched for more width around my toes. I think he added like 6-7mm in width, based on the amount of additional leather he tacked onto the lasted shoe trees.

Sizing shoes is hard, sometimes you walk around for a few minutes and feel fine, but the moment you wear the shoes and walk 30 mins, the problems start. I ended up going MTM and bespoke for my latest pairs, as I'm honestly tired of trying ill-fitting shoes lol.

 

[Son Of Saphir]

Mind sharing pictures? Curious what it looks like.


Sizing shoes is hard, sometimes you walk around for a few minutes and feel fine, but the moment you wear the shoes and walk 30 mins, the problems start. I ended up going MTM and bespoke for my latest pairs, as I'm honestly tired of trying ill-fitting shoes lol.

I am sure many of us have been bitten, even the most experienced of us still make mistakes from time to time. The shoes feel fine in the shop, but by the end of that night you know you've made a $2,000 mistake. Don't you hate it when that happens. When you are a shoe person it is bound to happen sometimes.

I'm glad to hear it can be done. They are a really nice pair of shoes that have been discontinued so they can't replace them

That method looks bonkers. Wonder if that's how's it done at the factory 😆

Bespoke addict is the only man in the world who does that. I wouldn't expect the factory to do it, too much work. If the shoes are a dead loss, don't worry about it, it is often part of a shoe person's journey. I had a pair of Grenson Masterpieces stretched once and the cobbler ruined them, the gemming came apart. I just threw them in the back of the cardboard and haven't seen them since. I also have a bunch of John Lobb's and bespokes that no longer fit because my feet changed, so l just shrugged, packed them away and haven't seen them since.

Being a shoe person is a high stakes game, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose badly.

 

[epsilon22]

I am sure many of us have been bitten, even the most experienced of us still make mistakes from time to time. The shoes feel fine in the shop, but by the end of that night you know you've made a $2,000 mistake. Don't you hate it when that happens. When you are a shoe person it is bound to happen sometimes.




Bespoke addict is the only man in the world who does that. I wouldn't expect the factory to do it, too much work. If the shoes are a dead loss, don't worry about it, it is often part of a shoe person's journey. I had a pair of Grenson Masterpieces stretched once and the cobbler ruined them, the gemming came apart. I just threw them in the back of the cardboard and haven't seen them since. I also have a bunch of John Lobb's and bespokes that no longer fit because my feet changed, so l just shrugged, packed them away and haven't seen them since.

Being a shoe person is a high stakes game, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose badly.

Yeah honestly that MTO wasn't my brightest idea. Should've been patient and gone for a second MTM with Yanagimachi (same price as Spigola MTO at The Armoury) or gone straight to bespoke.

In the end the shoes are wearable, but they still aren't very comfortable. Not a complete writeoff, but definitely not $3k well spent.

They're black cap toe oxfords, and I mostly wear odd jackets and trousers so my eventual primary rotation would mostly be derbys and loafers, and the oxfords will only occasionally go out. I don't think I'll need them enough to justify replacing them with bespoke. At least not in near future.

 

[TimothyF]

Sizing shoes is hard, sometimes you walk around for a few minutes and feel fine, but the moment you wear the shoes and walk 30 mins, the problems start. I ended up going MTM and bespoke for my latest pairs, as I'm honestly tired of trying ill-fitting shoes lol.

You might already know this, but what you describe can easily happen with MTM and bespoke as well. Humans are fallible, fitting shoes right on the first try is hard, and unfortunately there's a good number of snake oil salesmen in the shoe industry. Your best hope is an honorable shoemaker who listens carefully to your problems, and disregards extra cost to himself to do whatever it takes to fix them. But even there you might have to suffer through painful break-in on the first pair

I am sure many of us have been bitten, even the most experienced of us still make mistakes from time to time. The shoes feel fine in the shop, but by the end of that night you know you've made a $2,000 mistake. Don't you hate it when that happens. When you are a shoe person it is bound to happen sometimes.