Resole Basics.

The two repairs that we most often perform at New England reSoul are the 1/2 resole and rand repair.

1/2 resole removes the worn front half of the sticky rubber sole of the climbing shoe and replaces it with brand new rubber. This returns the worn edges to their original sharpness and gives new life to your shoes.

Rand repair repairs the thin rubber covering the toe of the climbing shoe by cutting out the old worn rubber and splice in clean new rubber. This keeps the soft upper and stitching protected and returns your sticky rubber toes for hooking. To see if you need a rand repair compare your shoe to our convenient chart.

Do your shoes need a rand repair?

Match your shoes to the picture and find out.

New Sole This is what your shoe looked like when it was new. Crisp edges and fresh clean sticky rubber. If this is what your shoes looked like you probably wouldn’t be looking at this chart.

Perfect Timing This shoe got to us at the perfect time. The edge of the sole has worn through almost the full thickness of the rubber but not yet begun to wear through the rand. This shoe should need only a resole, no rand repair.

Thin Rand Despite the outward appearance this rand actually need repair. We’ve highlighted the thin spots on this rand, but you may need to check your shoes by pushing around on the toe. If it feels like there’s a soft spot than you very likely need rand repair.

Blown Rand While it pains us to see shoes like this, there is hope! We can repair holes even when they go through the upper. We can either re-sew blown seams or actually patch holes like these. In either case the shoe will need a new rand.

Gym Rand The sandpaper like texture of many gym walls can wreak havoc on your shoes. Most often seen on dedicated gym shoes, and most often caused by dragging the toe, these shoes will be close to new with a new sole and a rand repair.

Sole Hole While this shoe has a hole through the rubber, the location is far enough away from the rand that is shouldn’t generally need repair. Only the sole of the shoe needs to be replaced, not the rand.

Too Close While the hole in this rand may seem as though it can be repaired without rand work the sad truth says otherwise. This hole is just too close to the edge of the sole. Despite the small size of the hole, these shoes should have come to us just a bit sooner. Now this shoe will require a rand repair.

Questionable Sometime even we can’t quite tell if your shoe will need a rand repair. Sometimes it could go either way. While this hole would actually be covered by the sole when repaired, the surrounding rubber may be thin enough to blow when we remove your sole. We do the best we can to keep your repairs to a minimum, but this type of wear may require rand repair.





Parts of your climbing shoe.

If you think your shoes need a little more than just a rand repair or half resole check this diagram for more info.





There’s more to your shoe than the rand and sole. Check out this illustration and the corresponding descriptions to find out more about your climbing shoe

Straps

The straps of the shoe hold the upper tight to your foot and are necessary for a secure fit. There are many variations of straps. Shoes with laces have eyelets to hold the laces tight. Some shoes use elastic to hold the shoes tight, but most use velcro. Velcro can wear out and eyelets can come loose. We can easily fix most strap issues.

Pull straps

Pull tabs are used to help pull a tight fitting shoe onto your foot. They also allow the shoes to be easily attached to your bag or harness via a carabiner. Some shoes have multiple pull tabs, some only one, but if the stitching starts pulling on yours we can repair them for you.

Tongue

The tongue of the shoe covers the top of the foot and keeps it protected from both the pressure of the straps and the rock. Tongues come in a wide variety of thicknesses and materials. Occasionally the stitching that keeps the tongue attached to the shoe can come undone causing it to come loose from the upper. We can reattach it with our sewing machines.

Upper

The upper is the main portion of the shoe. It come in a wide variety of materials and styles depending on the brand, model, and intended climbing style. Leather and synthetics are the most common materials and each has it’s own advantages. Synthetic uppers thend to be cooler and more breathable but are often less durable and do not stretch. Leather uppers tend to be more durrable and will stretch to fit the foot more over time, but are considered hotter and less breathable by many. Regardless of the material your uppers are made of it is important to protect the like of your shoe keeping them clean, and of course keeping your rubber intact.

Rand

The rand is the thinner layer of rubber that wraps over the toe of the shoe. It protects the soft upper and stitching and provides some additional friction for toe hooking. The rand often wears through and needs to be repaired before the upper is damaged and forms a hole. The rand wraps under the sole of the shoe and cannot be repaired without removing the sole.

Sole

The sticky rubber sole of the shoe is where the business happens, but over time the wear and tear of climbing can wear away the sole. This wear shows itself first on the most important part of the sole, the edge. Rounded, worn edges can make it hard to perch on small edges. This can make it considerably harder to climb and replacing the sole (a resole) is the primary thing we do at New England reSoul. Different brands and models of shoes have different types and thicknesses of rubber and there are advantages and disadvantages of each. We stock every rubber we can get our hands on and most in multiple thicknesses. Check out the rubber section of this sheet (or our website) for more information.

Buckle

The role of the buckle is to keep the strap attached to the shoe. Generally a buckle has a metal ring that the strap runs through, and a soft fabric strap that keeps the ring attached to the upper. The most common failure of the buckle occurs when the fabric strap is abraded against the rock and over time wears through the fabric. We can replace and/or reinforce this strapping if this occurs with your shoe.