SoleHeeled offers convenient and affordable Church’s shoe repairs by Australia’s best craftsmen, with free shipping to your door. This case study outlines how we recently repaired a customer’s pair of Church’s shoes.
The shoes
These Church’s Diplomat 173 shoes had been well looked after, but the soles and heels were heavily worn down due to regular wear. When the customer reached out to us for a free diagnosis/quote, we offered to perform a half resole and reheel using premium Joh Redenbach soles and heels.
JR Leather half resole
We began by carefully removing the heel blocks and the old soles back to about an inch before the heels — these were sliced diagonally to allow for the installation of new soles that could sit flush with the old, without affecting the shape of the soles or profile of the shoes. We then selected a new pair of German-made, JR leather half soles — a popular choice for many of our customers with Church’s shoes (and other luxury dress shoes) as they offer superior comfort, water resistance, and longevity — and of course, they look great.
We adhered the new half soles into place, and then stitched them around the perimeter and nailed them at the ends — with premium brass nails that retain their colour and shape while the leather around them is itself worn down. We finally finished the edges and re-painted the back half of the soles to black, to give the new soles a seamless, classic look.
JR Leather dovetail reheel
Having peeled off the old heel caps, we adhered and nailed into place a new pair of JR leather dovetail heels. Shaped like their namesake, these heels are more durable than plain leather heels, because the rubber positioned at the back provides extra protection where they generally wear down the fastest.
Have a pair of Church’s shoes needing repair or restoration?
Our experienced craftsmen have been trusted by not only generations of Australians but also local and international brands (including RM Williams, Gucci and NET-A-PORTER) with the repair and restoration of designer shoes since 1955. If you have a beloved pair of Church’s shoes in need of repair or restoration, ask us for a free diagnosis/quote by completing our online order form — where you can upload photos of the shoes and let us know exactly what you would like done to it, or let us advise you on what the shoes need based on the photos.
SoleHeeled serves all of Australia through its free 2-way shipping service:
Order online: Answer a few questions to get an instant quote and complete your order.
Send your shoes: Drop your shoes off at a local post office for free packaging and shipping to us.
We repair: A team of experienced craftsmen will carefully repair your shoes.
We return: We'll deliver your repaired shoes to you, wherever you are in Australia.
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