Category Archives: repair

footwear, game, humor, repair, Shoes, sole, walking

Shoe Game Mess: Stepped In Tar

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Whenever you get a scratch or a gash on your sneaker remember it could have been worse. It could’ve been my sneaker. This time it was. My fault. I was zooming around on foot the other day (not the video app). They’ve been doing lots of road repair on the real streets here. I was rushing — I stepped in undried tar unknowingly (or some similar sealant who cares). Shoulda woulda coulda. We hit it with some brushes and fluids later and the foul debris with additional pebbleage from the short walk back was permanent. It’s been about a decade since I’ve stepped in poo. Maybe I was due for one of my soles being turned-to-stone.

In my Shoe Game Chess piece, these court trainers were some knightly exemplars who’d given years’ good wear and justly protected my lead foot from a road hazard. Over at hospital (the experts at East Village Shoe Repair) they were able to get most of the gunk out using proper tools and a bombardment of Moneysworth and Best cleaner. Alas, these are now long over the fresh n’ clean horizon but can trudge on as pawns continuing lower-key use in the rain, doing chores, cleaning or painting.

Whenever you get a ding or a nick on your favorite kick remeber it could have been worse. Could have been your bare ass foot. Thanks shoe.

customize, footwear, ingenuity, repair

Coating Insoles With Reused Leather

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Replacing your factory footwear insoles with third-party products can be hit or miss. Insoles are often built around a native piece of material that goes perfectly with that particular shoe.  I have a great pair of Zamberlan Trekker boots. After a year or so, the insole fabric started to separate from the insole mold. I brought them to East Village Shoe Repair, where Boris replaced the fabric with soft leather cut from an old jacket.

Fabric is ripped off the insole to get ready for replacement @ EVSR

ZamberlanInsoleRepair
Fabric is ripped off the insole to get ready for replacement @ EVSR

ZamberlanInsolesREadyToBeCustomized
Insoles stripped and ready for a new coat An old soft leather jacket is about to have the arm material become replacement insoles An old soft leather jacket is about to have the arm material become replacement insoles

Cut piece from jacket on the EVSR operating table
Cut piece from jacket on the EVSR operating table

RubberCementontoInsole
Rubber cement gets applied to the stripped insole

Rubber cement applied to the piece of leather
Rubber cement applied to the piece of leather

The leather is pressed onto the insole mold
The leather is pressed onto the insole mold

EVSR cuts around the dnow dried leather to fit to the insole
After a quick dry, EVSR cuts around the leather to fit

Blam- new and improved
Blam- new and improved

ZamberlandInsolesWithCustomLeather

ZamberlanCustomizedInsoleThis operation took about as long as it takes to boil a pot of water. Now I have better insoles than I could have ever bought off the racks. Nothing beats a leather insole, but many of our favorite kicks don’t come with them. I treated them with a very small amount of Obenauf’s leather preservative- now I’m ready to go on a trek. Big shout out to East Village  Shoe Repair (now located in Brooklyn, NY).  You might want to have this procedure done on some of your kicks.

East Village Shoe Repair is located on 1083 Broadway in Brooklyn, New York attached to the Brandhunters fashion complex.

customize, footwear, repair, sneakers, sole, technology

East Village Shoe Repair Finds Footing In Brooklyn

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Under the JMZ train that runs along Broadway like a zipper attaching the Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhoods of Brooklyn New York, an old NYC favorite has popped back up to continue doing what they’ve expertly done for years.

East Village Shoe Repair moves to Brooklyn
      Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled footwear yearning to breathe free

The same footwear stretchers, buffing equipment, and years of experience that the fellas commanded on St. Mark’s Place has been transplanted to 1083 Broadway in Brooklyn, NY as part of the Brandhunters consignment store complex.  Think of East Village Shoe Repair as a hospital for your beloved kicks. Barring complete obliteration- there isn’t much that can stop EVSR from bringing your footwear back from near death. Resoling, re-lacing, regluing, reattaching, re-whatever it takes to get your favorite kickers back on the path- using top notch equipment from yesteryear- these guys can find a way if there is one. You might have another couple years left in those oxfords..

Congrats from Popdiatry on the new location! C