Can You Resole Sneakers? It’s Not a “Yes” or “No” Question

Footwear guys tend to divide shoes into two categories: resoleable and non-resoleable.

Boots and dress shoes often fall into the resoleable category because they’re made with methods like the Goodyear welt, Blake stitch, and stitchdown construction, all of which your neighborhood cobbler can usually resole.

Sneakers and workout shoes are almost never considered resoleable because they’re usually made with “cemented” construction — a fancy way of saying the sole is just glued to the upper.

But if you’re someone who gets attached to their sneakers and would love them to outlast their original sole, you’re not alone. And after years of meeting cobblers and shoemakers, I’ve encountered plenty who have resoled sneakers — and some are easier to resole than others.

So this is something of a two-pronged article:

1. we’ll explore why cobblers can sometimes resole your basic sneakers, and
2. we’ll explore some sneakers that are easier to resole than others.

For this article, we interviewed a man who makes $800 sneakers: Chris Woodford, a fifth-generation shoemaker and the founder of Crown Northampton.

We discussed how feasible it is to attach new soles to various types of sneakers, from cemented to stitched and from canvas to leather.

Our Experts

Nick English, Editor-in-Chief at Stridewise.com, is a fanatic for high-quality, durable, casual menswear and footwear.

He’s traveled the world meeting craftspeople dedicated to preserving trades that make products built to last a lifetime. One of those dedicated makers is Chris Woodford, who shared his expertise on resoling the world’s most popular type of shoe: the sneaker.

Resoling Sneakers With a Worn-Down Sole (Not One That’s Peeling Off the Shoe)

• If your sole is wearing down rather than peeling off, a cobbler may be able to attach a new sole

Cemented sneakers are your “normal” sneakers, whether casual ones like Converse Chuck Taylors or athletic shoes.

The benefits of a cemented build is that it makes a shoe that’s lightweight, flexible, and inexpensive. (This is all most people want from sneakers, so I’m throwing no shade at cemented shoes.)

While these comfy, lightweight materials wear out faster than the thick leather uppers or dense rubber or leather soles that you find on resoleable boots, the real downside is that cemented shoes eventually delaminate: the sole peels off from the upper.

“For basic sneakers, an upper is attached to a rubber sole with an adhesive,” says Chris. “In theory, you can resole them. If you don’t have a side stitch, you just rough the sole away and stick a new sole on top of what’s left of the sole.”

In other words: if the sole isn’t coming unstuck from the upper and the problem is that the sole is wearing away from ground contact, you can glue more sole to the bottom. If, that is, you haven’t yet worn it down so much that you’ve worn away every layer and you can stick a finger into the shoe’s interior.

Before you decide to get more rubber stuck to the bottom of your thinning sneaker soles, consider these downsides:

1. You need to find a cobbler who will do it, and usually they either won’t want to or won’t have the skillset. They’re trained to work with shoes that are meant to be resoled.
2. Even if you find a willing cobbler, the operation will almost certainly cost more than a new pair of sneakers would.

This is the same calculus for folks looking to resole Dr. Martens, which are much harder to resole than other boots: some cobblers specialize in such an operation, but they’ll charge as much (or more) than the cost of a new pair.

But some people get attached to their shoes and want to keep the same pair for as long as possible.

Can You Resole Sneakers When the Sole is Peeling Off?

• If your sneaker is canvas or synthetic, the risk of damaging it during a resole is very high

A lot depends on what the upper’s made of. Let’s start with canvas.

If you’ve seen a pair of Converse All Stars, you’ve seen a canvas sneaker. (And as you can see in the picture above, I’ve owned a lot of them.) Even though they usually fall apart after a year of wear, they may be the most popular sneakers on Earth.

Like most canvas sneakers, it’s basically a cotton upper and a rubber sole. Can you resole them? Without a midsole, it’s hard to sand down the sole and replace it. And that upper…

“With canvas, you have to be real careful because you could tear it,” says Chris. “If the material is not good to start with, pulling the sole off could damage the upper. So, for canvas, I wouldn’t bother. It’s safer to keep them as they are. If you’re that attached to them, frame them and put them on the wall!”

That’s not to say Chucks and other canvas sneakers are bad or poorly made. They’re just not very repairable; there’s no midsole, so it’s hard to sand down the sole to replace it — there’s nothing to attach the replacement sole to.

Can You Resole Leather Sneakers?

• The higher quality the leather upper, the more likely it can survive a resole

When you start looking at high-end sneakers, they’re typically made of leather and they often cost hundreds of dollars. If they’re this expensive then they’re resoleable, right?

The higher quality the leather, the more likely the shoe can survive the sole being taken off.

“If you don’t have good material to start with and you’re pulling a sole off, heating it up, cutting it off, or slicing it, you risk tearing the surface,” says Chris. “With really good materials, you have a better chance of success. If it’s a leather upper, the quality of the material determines if it can be resoled.”

But uppers are only one part of the resoleability equation: the sole matters too.

Resoling Cup Soles vs Flat Soles

What about those expensive Italian leather sneakers some guy on the internet said are extra durable?

Flat Soles

• If a cobbler is willing to try resoling a sneaker, it’s easier with a flat sole

Flat soles are common and pretty straightforward: you see the upper and then the sole. The sole doesn’t come up onto the upper and get fastened onto it sideways.

“For flat soles, you usually don’t touch the upper with any machinery.” says Chris. “If your sneakers have a flat sole and the upper is good quality, it’s not crazy hard to take the sole off without damaging the upper.”

Replacing Cup Soles

• Because cup soles come up onto the sneaker’s upper, cobblers need a replacement sole that specifically fits your shoe

But not all sneakers have flat soles. The other type of sole you’ll find on nicer sneakers is a cup sole.

“Cup soles fit like a cup around the shoe, making them harder to replace compared to flat soles,” Chris says. “They are harder to fix because they come up the side of the shoe.“

They’re on everything from inexpensive Converse to high-end Italian sneakers like Koio or Common Projects. They’re called cup soles because they curve up onto the upper, so there’s less of a definable barrier between upper and sole.

If you’ve got a cup sole, your sole is less likely to peel off the upper than a flat sole. But a cup sole is harder to replace, because you can’t just stick a generic flat sole on the bottom and cut away the excess so it fits the sneaker’s silhouette: you need a replacement cup sole that curves up onto the original sneaker the same way. And unless the factory is giving out soles, that’ll be mighty hard to do.

“Cup soles are harder to replace compared to flat soles because with cup soles, you need to replace the sole with one that fits the last, which can be challenging unless the cobbler stocks the right one,” says Chris.

What If My Sneakers Are Stitched, Not Cemented?

• Stitched sneakers are almost certainly cemented as well
• This makes them more durable, but not easier to resole

High quality sneakers might be visibly stitched to the sole: this makes it less likely to peel off, so it’s worth paying for.

People often see the stitching and think, ‘This can be resoled,’ but the stitching is usually for added durability, not for ease of resoling. In fact, we can almost guarantee your stitched sneakers are also glued, to make sure the shoe holds together if one of those attachment mechanisms fails.

Plus, if the sneaker’s stitched, it’s probably a cup sole: also harder to resole.

So stitched sneakers are just as difficult for cobblers to resole for all the reasons we already covered: damaging the uppers while removing the old sole, not having the factory sole, not having the machinery, not having the skillset, and not having a sneaker that was actually designed to be resoled.

But My Sneakers Say They Can Be Resoled!

Some extra expensive sneakers will sell them with a guarantee that they can be resoled.

This is always on the condition that you send your sneaker back to them so they can attach their own sole with the right machinery and the right last.

If that’s a service they offer and you’re happy to pay for the shipping and the service, fair enough. But it’s extremely rare — and could you really call a sneaker resoleable if there’s only one room on Earth where it can be done? We think that term suggests you can take it to your neighborhood cobbler. Or, at least, that you have more than one address you could mail them to for the operation.

So How Do I Know If My Sneaker is Resoleable?

OK, to sum up:

• Sneakers aren’t designed to be resoled and cobblers aren’t trained to resole them; you’re pushing it by even asking the question. Don’t expect any sneaker to be able to be resoled.
• If the sole is wearing away rather than peeling off, a cobbler might be able to rough the sole down and stick a new one on.
• If the sole is peeling away and the upper is canvas or synthetic, it probably won’t last a resole.
• If the upper is high quality leather on top of a flat sole, there’s a decent shot you can get it resoled.
• If the upper is high quality leather on a cup sole, it’s way harder to resole because you need very specific kind of sole for your brand and size.
• It doesn’t matter if your sneaker is stitched or not; that doesn’t make it easier to resole, it makes it less likely to fall apart. Big difference.
• The most important factor, though? The skill — and will — of the cobbler.

If you’re still not sure after reading this article, it’s time to check with the experts: your local cobbler and the company who sold you the shoe originally.