Mesh shoe uppers – repairable?

[Ian Schumann]

Hi folks, been a long time since I’ve visited this forum, but just a quick question for anyone experienced with gear repair …

I really love my Inov-8 F-Lites, and after 2 years the shoes are in great shape overall, except for a hole on the outside of each shoe, developing next to my pinky toe(s):

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DbAPFSnnaTuFPj82A

It appears the combination of lateral pressure from my toe, and the fact that this is right wear the rand meets the upper, is proving a little too much for the thing mesh.

Question is: is there anything that can be done about this?

Thanks for any thoughts!

[Ian Schumann]

Make that *thin mesh, not thing 😏

[Mike B]

I have a pair of Saucony Pergrin 8 that did this. They were the dark green and black so I used some RTV Black silicone that I had in the garage a put a coat of that over the mesh that was tearing. I used masking tape to contain the silicone to the area on the shoe that I wanted it on and to try and blend it with the other parts of the shoe. I was able to get a few more months of use out of them before the tear moved to the edge or the silicone and the rand. I think it changed the give of the mesh and made a shear line next to the rand. Hopefully they fix this issue in the next version of this shoe since they fit me well. If you can reinforce the underside that might help.

[Jerry Adams]

or Seam Grip or Shoo Goo – a little more robust than silicone

I’ve used those to repair shoes

Put unused seam grip or shoo goo in freezer and it will be usable for years.  Leave it at room temp and it will be dead in 6 months.  Take it out a couple hours before using to let it warm up from the freezer.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Warranty?

[Ian Schumann]

Thanks for the suggestions folks — never realized that seam grip / silicone could be used on porous / woven surfaces, but I like the idea of trying to contain it with tape during the cure phase.

I’ll give that a shot 👍

[Brad W]

I’d take them by an old school cobbler and get their opinion. If you don’t care about looks maybe they can patch it.

[Lester Moore]

I’ve used AquaSeal by McNett, which worked reasonably well fixing a very similar problem on a pair of Cascadia 10s. Just be sure to tape the inside of the hole before applying the Aquaseal, otherwise the Aquaseal will ball up on the inside. Once hardened, the ball of dry Aquaseal forms a protruding mass that’s very irritating to the feet. The repair gave me another 100 miles or so easily, but it won’t last forever.

[Matthew M]

This same sort of thing happened to my Wildcats on the AT. I ended up sort of darning-sewing them back together with dental floss then covering the whole area with CA glue to sort of fix things in place. It kept the rip from running back down the shoe, but normally when that started happening I knew the shoes were on there way out. I got maybe 100 or 150 miles out of the repair then it starting tearing though around the stitching and on the other side of the shoe. Wildcats are my favorite so I was willing to overlook them exploding after 600 or so miles and just got new ones when they stated to blow out and by the time my repair failed they would be wateing for me in a box. I wish i had a picture of me sitting at a picnic table someplace outside a shelter sewing my shoe with dental floss by head lamp light, it was a real hiker trash pride moment.

[William N]

This is more of a general tip, no idea if it will work for your mesh-shoes.

Heavy-Duty Window Screen.  I’ve been using this for a few years to replace seats on my office chair, and to make a bed for my dog. It’s really strong stuff, low stretch (which means you can pull it tight, staple or clamp it and it won’t be stiff like a board, but it will hold up without sagging for a couple of years).

My dog’s bed: she was old and incontinent, so I made a bed out of 3/4″ PVC piped, stretched heavy-duty window screen clamping it with strips of PVC and sheet metal screws. I put an ABS water heater pan underneath. The idea was that she’d sleep on it, and if she peed in her sleep it would collect in the pan. That part worked, but she seemed to really like sitting on it, and it brushed dirt off her into the pan. As a material it’s a bit too heavy for most backpacking uses. Maybe a heavy duty water bottle pocket, or air-flow back pad (stretched between the two rails.)

[William N]

Matthew M’s idea seems like a good fix. I’d look for floss or thread, that would be soft (I’d avoid most sewing thread). Maybe poke holes in the rubber part with a heavy duty sailmaker needle. All your knots of course would be on the outside. Do some weaving. I like the idea of ShoeGoo (or silicone caulking) over the darned hole, that would keep the darning from spreading. And if you smeared some of it on the inside, then it wouldn’t matter what thread you used.

You could probably avoid this happening in the future if you just cut your little toes off. I don’t think they do very much. A pair of bolt cutters should work. A pair of little toes is probably 400 grams of excess weight.

[HkNewman]

Field repaired a hole in my King Mtns (remote on the PCT) by stitching to provide “structure”, then a mass of glue on top of that (think it was urethane sealant) facing out, then an oval shaped Tenacious tape patch I cut  over that (with more sealant over the patches edges .. remember them trying to curl).

It worked until the rest of the shoe started dissolving around the repair.

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