There are three main reasons to get your climbing shoes resoled. The first two are fairly obvious, but the third might surprise you: we actually believe resoled climbing shoes can be better than new. All three come down to one simple fact — the sole rubber wears out long before the rest of the shoe.
Climbing shoe rubber compounds such as Vibram® XS Grip and XS Edge, which we use at Lezolep (see our section on rubber), have amazing properties. Their exceptional grip lets you stand on almost featureless walls and the tiniest footholds. But that grip comes with a downside: climbing rubber is very soft and wears down quickly against rough rock.
Since climbing puts disproportionate strain on one small area of the sole under their toes, that spot wears through while the rest of the shoe is still barely touched. But there’s no need to throw them in the bin! The sole rubber can simply be peeled off and replaced with new rubber.
Here are three benefits you get from resoling your climbing shoes:
The first advantage is the price. Repairing your climbing shoes always costs less than buying a new pair — usually less than a third of the price, and for pricier shoes, even less than a quarter. It’ll cost even less if you send them in for repair at the right time (find out when in our article).
If you climb several times a week, you may wear through several pairs in a single season. By resoling instead of buying new shoes, you can save a substantial amount of money.
This one speaks for itself. Landfills are already overflowing, and making anything new puts even more strain on our increasingly limited resources. Throwing away an entire climbing shoe over one small patch of worn rubber is, at the very least, a terrible waste.
If your first pair of climbing shoes was too big, stretched even more over time, and eventually had to be replaced, you’re not alone. Maybe you went to the other extreme with your next pair and bought the tightest shoes you could bear. Suffer through the first few weeks in a “Spanish boot,” the thinking goes, and they’ll soon fit perfectly — with no extra space inside, yet comfortable enough for longer routes.
Well-chosen climbing shoes, especially leather ones, gradually mold to the exact shape of your feet. That’s why we buy them snug, allowing them to stretch only where needed. In my experience, though, just as they finally feel perfectly broken in, the rubber beneath the toe is ready to be replaced.
If I bought new climbing shoes right at that point, the whole cycle would start all over again: they’d either fit great at first and get too loose later, or I’d be itching to pull them off after every single climb. That sweet spot — plenty of rubber and a perfect fit — is something I only get to enjoy for a very short while. You can’t climb without rubber, and sore feet won’t let you climb at your best.
That’s why resoling your climbing shoes doesn’t just save you money and reduce unnecessary waste — it actually gives you a better pair of shoes. Send them to Lezolep at the right time, and they’ll come back already molded to your feet, with a fresh sole ready for months of climbing. And you can repeat this process with the same pair more than once!