My Vintage Boots Fell Apart

In November 2020 I had a sale on my Etsy shop for a pair of vintage Zodiac lace-up boots, these are the boots.

The boots were shipped promptly and arrived within a couple of weeks, the customer then contacted me to tell me she was thrilled with the condition of the boots, she left positive feedback and all was well, happy customer and happy seller, however, a couple of days after I received another message from the same customer who was completely devastated and in panic... the gorgeous boots were trashed. The photos she provided were proof of the fact, and here is her story:

“The boots I got from Classy Mod arrived a week ago and I was so happy with them because they looked amazing and initially gave this shop a positive review. However, I have to change my feedback as I wore them for the first time today outdoors for a short walk and the soles on both boots completely came apart from the boot. I understand there is wear and tear with vintage but a responsible seller should assess all these things and ensure their item is in fully usable condition or describe if not. Given the exorbitant price + custom taxes I paid on these I am beyond disappointed and appalled that they could not even stand one wear. The cost of resoling them is likely to be over half the price of these and out of my means. I hope the seller has the decency to refund me my money fully and does not repeat this with anyone else.”

I completely understood the situation and gave her two options, one to send the boots back, and the other to contact a cobbler to have the soles re-glued.

During the various messages back and forth I explained to her that well-crafted leather goods especially name brands like Gucci, Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Chanel to name a few, have in-house repair shops, although the Zodiac boots are not in the same brand category of the mentioned elite brands, however it is well known by vintage fashion aficionados that all well-crafted high quality leather goods can be repaired.

The customer loved the boots so much that she was open to search for a local cobbler, after a few days she did find a cobbler and had the soles re-glued, we came to an agreement that was satisfactory to both of us and the issue was resolved.

This was learning experience for both the customer and me because prior to this situation I was unaware that lengthy storage and climate can have negative impact on the adhesive materials of vintage shoes, this case in point; These Zodiac boots were stored and worn in warm California for probably 5-10 before I acquired them, so these boots from 1970s looked great and seemed solid when I packaged them for their long trip to Finland but unbeknownst to me the adhesive had deteriorated.

If the boots had been sent back to California the issue may have taken longer to be discovered, however these boots were immediately subjected to a severe climate change and possible worn over ice to make matters worse, Finland is a frigid country that gets very cold in December according to Google AI Overview; The average temperature in Helsinki, Finland during winter is around -35.5°C. However, the daily high can sometimes rise above 0°C due to warm airflow.

I suspect the old adhesive was dried out and quickly deteriorated under freezing temperatures the sole fell off, thankfully she was able to have the soles re-glued and was able to keep these rare collectible pair of boots that she loved so much.

Moral of this situation is that when purchasing vintage leather footwear one must be aware that a possible repair is in the future, high quality shoes hold their value because they are repairable, if Hermes sold leather goods that could not be repaired the allure of owning the brand would discourage most people from purchasing.

In over 20 years of selling vintage and hundreds of shoes sold, this is the only pair where the soles fell-off, so this is not a common occurrence.

Speaking of holding value, these same Zodiac boots are now selling for over $800.00 (If you can find them) worth more than triple the price my customer paid in 2020.