Comfortable shoes, brilliantly resoled
This is an unabashed service plug: I bought a pair of Vasque hiking boots round the millenium-turn, and wore the soles down to naught. I mean naught. The upper parts weren't in great shape either. In November, I bought a new pair at REI and sent the beat-up pair off to be resoled. REI has a relationship with a "boot guy" in Oregon whose shop is licensed by many of the big hiking boot manufacturers to repair and resole hiking boots.
Yesterday I finally managed to pick up the "refurbished" boots. They are in amazing shape! The new Vibram soles, are, if anything, better than the previous soles. And, I think because there was an accidental delay in getting them back to me (wrong contact number for the estimate), they cleaned up and waterproofed the uppers. They did an amazing job, and the boots look and feel wonderful. And all this for sixty-seven dollars (seven was for shipping)! I've no doubt the boots will last as long as they did before (6 plus years) if I give them even just a modicum of care.
Less waste. Less cost. Less time spent shopping (not usually one of my favored activities). And boots I love. And now I have a pair of black hiking boots and a pair of brown! And both pair were made so they can be resoled. Ah, I love my comforable shoes . . . .