I thought I'd found a great cobbler in Berlin. A shop with history, offers bespoke shoes, super busy. They'd already resoled two pairs of shoes for me previously: a pair of sneakers and a pair of my wife's Red Wings. These came out like butter so I figure I'll take him my boots and ask for resoling. These people are obviously artisans. I show him a picture of the sole I want, Vibram V-bars. At first he says, they have everything Vibram. He goes to back and brings out his assistant who nods angrily and produces these Vibram half soles. They're actually cool looking. Okay, fine. This is okay. I don't "need" a Vibram V-bar. I look at my 1000-milers and say, this is how it came from the factory, this is fine, too. I pick up my boots two weeks later and he does this:
Now, this isn't so bad, I guess he wanted to save the leather midsole because it was sturdy. Fine. But the feel of the shoe is completely off. Not only is the cork completely gone, but the original sole was wearing though. Not what I was hoping for at all. And the shoe is uncomfortable and heavy now.
The second pair of shoes are worse... These are my old LLBean Kahtadins. The original sole is over ten years old. Solid as a rock. This boot was already the most uncomfortable thing in the world to wear. So, what do they do? They sand it down and slap this onto it. I tell myself, the sole doesn't have to look good, right? (Yes, we watch the videos and want what we want... but at the end of the day, we're walking on this all.)
And, again, the shoe feels completely off. Still super stiff and uncomfortable, and now with the extra sole, it's super heavy and completely cumbersome to walk in. It's unwearable.
Is this a cobbler taking the easiest way? Are these old soles that sturdy? Was it a mixup of language? Or was this like an "f*** you and don't ever come back here" kinda thing. I get the feeling it's the latter.