Inside the studio
Restoration
Most heels arrive needing work. Here is exactly what we do, by whom, and why we tell you about it in every listing.
Vintage heels rarely arrive ready to wear. A pair from a 1990s Italian closet has been sitting in a shoebox in a humid Milanese apartment for thirty years. The leather is dry, the heel tip is worn down to the metal nail, the lining is loose at the toe, the hardware has lost its plate. None of that is a deal-breaker. All of it is fixable, and we fix it before we list it.
What we repair
- Heel tips and lifts — full replacement on the original heel; matched to the contour and color of the piece. Done by hand on a Singer 51-class machine when the piece warrants it.
- Soles — full or partial replacement; we use original leather where it makes sense and rubber Topys where the piece is more wearable than archival.
- Linings — reinforced or replaced when the original is lifting, with a matched-color leather or the closest archival fabric.
- Leather conditioning — deep conditioning with Saphir products; this is what makes a thirty-year-old patent leather look like the buyer expects it to.
- Hardware — re-plating brass and silver; re-screwing loose elements; replacement of clearly broken pieces with period-accurate substitutes.
Who does the work
We work with three independent cobblers in NYC. Two are in Brooklyn, one is in Manhattan. We don’t name them publicly out of respect for their other clientele, but the work is consistent enough that we trust their hand more than our own. Each restoration is logged with the date, the cobbler initials, and the work performed.
What we don’t do
We do not over-restore. Vintage value comes from the patina the piece earned in its first life. We will not bleach a leather, paint over the original color, or substitute hardware that isn’t period-correct. If a piece needs more work than a buyer should pay for, we don’t list it.
Why this matters
The Depop description on every wekend listing tells you exactly what was repaired, by whom, when. If the heel was reset, you know. If the lining was replaced, you know. If the original sole is intact, you know that too. We’d rather lose the sale to a buyer who wanted the piece untouched than have a buyer find out a month later.
Have a piece you’d like restored, separate from a sale? We don’t take outside repair work yet, but if you have a vintage pair you’re considering selling, we can quote a buy-out price that includes the restoration cost. Send us a piece.