Sleevehead: Shoe refurbishing in London: John Rushton                                                          

Shoe refurbishing in London: John Rushton

    I've always wondered how customers of Brooks Bros Peal shoes (made by Crockett & Jones and Alfred Sargent) dealt with the issue of refurbishment. I suppose many just get them resoled by their local cobbler. However, that generally precludes them from getting refurbished by the original factory. Many shoemakers - both American and British (like Allen Edmonds and Crockett & Jones) - will not refurbish shoes that have been resoled by someone else.

Naturally, if this concerns you, then the proper way is sending the shoes off to the original factory for recrafting or refurbishment. This also offers the benefit of getting them relasted on the original last they were designed for.

However, for US customers, factory recrafting of Peal shoes presents a little bit of a conundrum. Peal shoes made by C&J can be sent to the NYC C&J store, which then sends it off to the UK for refurbishing. But with Alfred Sargent-made Peal shoes it's not as straightforward as AS does not have a direct retail presence in the US. When I called a NYC based stockist of Sargent (Leffot) they basically referred me to the AS factory. So it seems the best bet is to send the shoes to the factory directly or work with a London shoe stockist.

And this is essentially what I did in my recent visit to London. I stopped by AS stockist John Rushton on Wimpole St and dropped off my Brooks Bros black slip-ons for resoling in Dainite. Factory remake is 100 GBP, while instore is 85 GBP. Sargent factory refurbishings will take a minimum of 8-10 weeks and probably longer. The lady I spoke with at John Rushton mentioned the factory was backlogged.

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