Questions?
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Unlike running shoes, which inevitably break down with mileage, you extend the life of your rock shoes by resoling them. Resoling means you can stick with the shoes you know, love, and trust for longer. In addition, by replacing the rubber, rather than the whole shoe, you’re making the more environmentally-friendly choice. And you get to support a small business and dying trade — cobbling — by working with us!
The best time to resole your rock shoes is when you see the soles of the shoes starting to wear down. If you notice thinning or holes in the bottom of your shoes, it’s time to bring them in. If the rubber along the top/toe is thinning or developing holes, all the more reason to bring them in. The rubber along the toe is called the rand, and when the rand breaks down, there’s danger of damaging the fabric underneath, creating holes all the way through to your toes. If your shoes do have holes through the fabric, we sadly cannot properly repair them and will likely turn them away; the new rand rubber would merely cover the hole, resulting in air pockets and poor performance. At Rock Shoe Revival (and practically all resolers), there is an upcharge for rand repair, since it requires a more complicated and time-consuming repair.
No problem! When dropping off your shoes, select the type of repair you think you need (half sole versus half sole + rands), and we’ll give them an inspection. If we think your shoes require something different than what you selected, we’ll give you a call and discuss pricing and options. Kind of like dropping your car off at the mechanic — your car may need one thing, but the auto shop may find other problems.
We offer two types of Vibram rubber: grip and edge. Grip is a stickier, more flexible rubber that is more ideal for bouldering. Edge, on the other hand, is stiffer and longer-lasting, ideal for sport and trad climbing.
Yes! However, please keep in mind that we don’t recommend resoling only one shoe. The reason is that you generally want your shoes at the same level of repair. If one shoe has blown, chances are that the other one is soon to follow suit. Seeing us twice means extending the time you’re without a fully functioning pair of shoes.
Unless there are extenuating circumstances, we aim to have your shoes back to you within 2 weeks of us picking them up [as of October 14, 2025].
If you have holes that not only go through the toe rubber (rand) of your shoe, but through the underlying fabric, we have no way to repair your shoes. Since we cannot repair the hole in the fabric, placing rubber over it will just result in an air pocket in your shoe. The shoe will break down quickly again and simply not perform well. It’s best to get your shoes to us when the half sole is wearing down, but before any holes have formed. If the rand develops a hole, stop climbing in the shoes immediately and get them to us!
The answer is the worst kind: it depends. The main takeaway here is that when you resole your climbing shoes, you are breaking them down and putting them back together. This means that every time you resole your shoes, you are reducing the structural integrity of the shoes. This is why a pair of shoes can only endure two, max three, resoles. At a certain point, the base of climbing shoes can no longer hold up.
Take note of how long it took for your new shoes to reach the point of needing a resole. A resole will add life to a shoe, but likely not the same amount of life it’s already lived. If you start to see peeling or delamination from your resole and not much time has passed since repair, please reach out to us and we’ll happily do a touch up. However, if a month or more has passed, ask yourself a couple of questions. Is the delamination purely an aesthetic issue? Is the delamination affecting the way you climb? You want to avoid unnecessarily breaking the shoe again for a non-issue.
At the end of the day, there is no rule of thumb for how long a resole should last. Sarah works in footwear at REI, and she advises customers that running shoes should last around 350-500 miles. But there are caveats that can change that range drastically. What kind of terrain are you running on? How much do you weigh? What does your running gait look like? All of these factors can change the longevity of the shoes. The same goes for rock shoes. Are you climbing mostly at the gym or crag? What kind of rock are you climbing on outside? How much do you weigh? How often are you climbing? What does your climbing footwork/technique look like? We are always happy to fix a resole failure, but please keep these questions in mind before sounding the alarm.