How Not to Mend Your Shoes

One small ideal that I always try to cling to is that, when things break, it is better to fix the old one than immediately go out and buy a new one. In the same vein however, it does mean that I am terrible at buying new clothes until they literally fall to pieces, which ironically has been the fate of my sandals, leaving strange black powder/lumps of sole in the corridor between my room and the kitchen. Unfortunately, as maybe some of you worked out from my ExtremeShoeEngineering(tm) in Hokkaido, where I resorted to wearing a sock-bag-sock combo to keep dry, there was a small waterproofing problem with my shoes. July/August in Japan is well known as the Rainy Season, and after a number of soaked feet incidents I have been prompted to properly repair my shoes.

(NB. Without really checking, I just assumed that the chance of me finding new shoes in my size, in a style that I liked, and within a reasonable price while in Japan would be small enough to discount. Ah well.)

So, my shoes and I made trips to a small shoe-repair shop near the main station, and were promptly told that they couldn't repair them directly, and whatever they did probably wouldn't solve the waterproofing problem. When I went to a larger "Shoe/Leather Expert" shop, they explained that they couldn't do much for it either because the sole was one whole set piece, and they couldn't slice it up well enough to make a repair. The leather on the sole was pretty thin anyway, and wouldn't really have sliced at all. So, no real chance of professional help with solving the footwear problem.

This was about the extent of the problem. Although in the background you can see the strawberry plants - having wielded no more than four strawberries, I figured there must be something wrong with how I was keeping them (or that the season had changed...), so I adopted the strategy of just leaving them to take over the balcony. It works very well for growing the plant, but still no strawberries...

Anyway, back to shoes.Then I remembered I saw some sort of liquid plastic something in Tokyu Hands the last time I was there, so went off to investigate. I found this.

Not only did it have a fun name, but the rear instructions were fantasically optimistic as to how well it would work.

So, application. Squeeze out of tube, spread on with ice lolly stick. The kit also came with a nail file, but my nails were ok so ended up not needing it.

It went on pretty well, staying liquid long enough for me to contort the shoe a bit and get it well into the hole(s).

Both shoes done, just a matter of waiting. The weather was still hot enough to dry it pretty quickly, and it was well done within about two days, though I decided to do a second layer to cement things a bit more.

They sealed pretty much perfectly, and thanks to the new insoles I had sent from home they were back to fully weather proof again. Hurray!

PS. After about a month and a half of wear, and the tsuyu (rainy season) showing no sign of stopping, they eventually split along the hole again. It was easy enough to use Shoe Goo to fix them again though.

PPS. By the end of the year, they're almost back to their original state of holiness. Ah well. Time for more goo...