A little more than 10 years ago, I bought a pair of Allen Edmonds Steen loafers. Throughout the decade, these have been my daily work shoes for the vast majority of the time. There were a few years during COVID when I didn't go into the office, and so didn't wear them much. However, for the past year, I have walked a lot in them, which has undoubtedly accelerated the wear. At any rate, I wore a hole in them a few months ago.

Part of the reason why I bought these shoes was because I could recraft them. They were assembled in a way that could be disassembled. Checking online, however, there were many poor reviews, so I hesitated. However, I ultimately decided to go for it, as otherwise, this pair of shoes would effectively be useless. So, I either recrafted them, or I would have to throw them away, and they were a bit too expensive to toss.

A decade ago, the cost to recraft them was $100. Now, it's $150. I bought the shoes for $170. So, the cost to recraft the shoes was close to what I paid for them, excluding inflation, which is interesting. Anyways, as you can see, and from my perspective, the recrafting service is worth every penny. They did a good job replacing the sole, and refinishing the shoe. I'm very impressed with the way they fixed the scratches and stains. So, I wanted to share my experience. Truth be told, this was something I wondered about 10 years ago, and it's nice to get the answer eventually when the time finally came.