To sole gaurd or not ?

[CaymanS]

I topy all of my shoes right after I buy them, without fail.

I was in LA once wearing leather-soled shoes and it rained - very hard - unexpectedly. I took a bad spill and landed flat on my back in a puddle - suit soaked, spasms all over my back, a mess. Definitely could have been avoided if there were just a bit of rubber-like material on my soles.

To whose who say "Who would you wear nice shoes in the rain?" - this is sound advice, if you live in desert environs.

For the rest of us (who live in areas where rains come and go without warning), having a reputable cobbler put a thin sheet of topy on the soles will do very little to erode the aesthetic of the shoe while adding several years of wear and, most importantly, a bit of traction on sidewalks and soft rugs.

 

[CaymanS]

Originally Posted by A.L.Z.

Did I make a mistake rubber-topying my Church's Pembreys?

Well, yes, if you live and die by the groupthink mentality common to non-experts on men's forums who delight in ramming their hardheaded views down your throat without so much as giving an iota of attention to a word in edgewise.

Otherwise, you did what I would have done.

 

[CaymanS]

Originally Posted by DWFII

Leather is a fiber mat. It has pores and when worn just a little...past the waxed grain...tends to expand in contact with moisture. As it gets wet it becomes a little softer as well. So the upshot is that leather, if not dismissed out of hand, will conform to any irregularities and will tend to grip slick surfaces better than a less porous compound.

Rubber...topy in particular...has no pores. Has no ability to expand or get soft or grip. The texture or "tread" on the topy will work pretty well on wet surfaces that are not inherently slick. But, if nothing else, once that tread is worn down a little, it is slick against slick.

I have seen your handwork and obviously defer to your opinion and experience because you actually are an expert.

That said, I would simply note that my personal experience contradicts this statement entirely.

In LA, non-topy'd shoes: worst spill of my life.

In every other city - light rain, drizzle, light snow, name it: never slipped, never even lost balance.

Could be that the topy my cobbler uses is striated for better grip(?) Who knows...

 

[makewayhomer]

I think the disconnect is that completely smooth rubber truly is as awful as DWF says on slick surfaces. I have taken 2 gigantic spills wearing boots with that description before I gave up on them. in other shoes, I can't remember the last time I fell

but my vibram'd soles don't look anything like the pair of smooth rubber soled shoes I have (had)

 

[Lear]

Was watching Layer Cake this evening. There's a scene about 3/4 way through. It's where they continually switch between closeup shots of two mens feet, moving through an underground car park (music). Sorry, don't know the DVD timer position.

Anyway, Daniel Craig is wearing leather soled RMW chelsea boots, with what appears to be Topy protection. Only visible as the camera catches a rear view shot of one foot off the ground. Can't remember if he has any fight/action scenes in those boots. Would be a valid reason for fitting them onto costume though.

You must all see the logic here:

DC (James Bond to you) wears RMW boots
Lear wears RMW boots

DC uses Topy protection
Lear uses Topy protection

DC is a fine figure of a man
Lear is a.... actually let's just leave it at that.

But you get the idea. And to think I'd ever doubted myself.

Lear

 

[ThatGuy]

Wow ... you guys are precious.


But let's be real, real men know how to walk in leather soled shoes. All this talk reminds me of my friend complaining about wearing leather soled shoes. He switched to hush puppies for the grip. Rubbish, ain't it? We all know it's about defiling your shoes in an attempt to prolong its life.

Yes, 50 posts. Yes, dont look like I try too hard.

 

[blahman]

I thought real men don't try to cram their own opinion of what they think real men do down other people's throats.

 

[HitMan009]

I see nothing wrong with sole guards. Any resoling that is not from the original manufacturer will most of the time feel different. I rather just replace the sole guards then to resole the shoes. I think it's better that way. I had shoes done by Mina's on Wall Street. He uses a Vibram sole guards similar to the look of Topys and not the wedge shaped threads of other Vibram sole guards shown on this forum before. For anyone who uses B. Nelson, I rather use Mina's over B. Nelson any day of the week.

 

[__PG__]

Originally Posted by apropos

Hospital.

Every once in a while, the lines blur.

(that was a joke)

I laughed!

 

[Fred H.]

Originally Posted by blahman

I thought real men don't try to cram their own opinion of what they think real men do down other people's throats.
The site mods need to use the global ignore option on TrollGuy. After 200 posts and no one is rising to take the bait he'll just fade back into the dark and dusty corner of the spare bedroom in his grandma's house from which he emerged.

 

[Son Of Saphir]

Sole guards on welt shoe because,
1. welt can only take limited resoles before it need replacing.
Can not alway replace welt,
so limited life on many goodyear.
2. Some hand maker may not be in business in the future,
so impossible to get shoe resole on original last.
3. Not everyone have access to cobbler who will build up last proper and do proper resole.

Sole guard not perfect,
it still prevent many potential problem with recraft.

 

[Son Of Saphir]

Originally Posted by ThatGuy

Nothing says small-timer to me than a nice pair of shoes with topys on the bottom. It screams "I bought these on B&S and can't afford a resole"

See me recent post above.

Originally Posted by DWFII

This whole concept more or less ignores the fact that good shoes are constructed the way they are so that the sole may be replaced fairly easily and the shoe restored to its original lines/sleekness, etc..
See me post above.

Originally Posted by well-kept

It's not just the COST of a full sole replacement on good shoes that Topy or Vibram allows you to sidestep. It's that a resoled shoe will not feel exactly the same as it did with its original sole. Sometimes it will feel very different, to the point of being no longer wearable.
Yes.

Originally Posted by DWFII

I would add this caveat, however. A really well made shoe will not feel or look different if properly resoled.
Despite all the apocryphal testimony and defensive claims, the fact that people do experience a different fit after resoling is indicative of the problems inherent in certain methods of construction.

If the insole is good quality leather, if the shoe is (preferably) hand welted, or,if not, at least filled with something other than cork, it is highly unlikely that anything can change.
Yes.

But if sole cordwainer dies or house go out of business a hand made shoe can still be future problem with doing resole.

Originally Posted by DWFII

A Goodyear welted shoe cannot be always resoled to the guaranteed exact size it was when it came in for resoling. Whether the customer notices it or not, there is always a little, and sometimes a lot, of slippage in the gemming. The glue lets go, for whatever reasons, and without the original last there is no way to determine 100% accurately where it (the gemming started out. Most shoe repairmen will guess...and it is an educated guess, but still a guess for all of that.
Yes.
Sometime gemming lift and people guess where they stick it back,
and many not use correct last.
Factory tell me this.

 

[Faded501s]

Originally Posted by ThatGuy

Hate to be an arse, but that looks cheap and tacky...

Originally Posted by ThatGuy

We all know it's about defiling your shoes in an attempt to prolong its life.

Yes, 50 posts. Yes, dont look like I try too hard.

+1 & +1. Totally agree with the noob here.

 

[Axel Ferguson]

I think the people who do this know it's also about prolonging the life of their shoe(or actually a grip thing, I don't find that too hard to believe), but just don't give a damn about what their sole looks like. I would say that's pretty fair.

 

[Son Of Saphir]

Originally Posted by Fred H.

Thank GOD for the Ignore List!