Leather Vs Rubber Sole Shoes Which Shoe Soles Are Better
[0:00:00] Rubber sole versus leather sole.
What’s the difference?
Which one is better?
Gentlemen, that’s the subject of today’s video.
[Music] So, I had this great question asked me the
other day.
The guy is, “Antonio, what is better the leather sole or the rubber sole?”
There’s advantages, disadvantages to each and my answer to him is it depends.
I know, not exactly what you’re looking for, but understand it does depend on your
financial position, how much money do you have to spend on those shoes.
Also, what is your personal and your professional need and the styles that you like the brands
that you’re going and shopping at where are they actually manufactured and depending
on if they’re using leather or they’re using rubber, are you going to be comfortable
with the advantages disadvantages of each of the materials.
And, all that goes into play to you making the right purchasing decision.
So, guys, let me say straight up, focus in on the function and focus in on the fashion.
Those two things if you understand the advantages and disadvantages when it comes to those particular
issues right there you will be able to choose the right shoes for you.
But first off, let’s start with a little bit of history.
So, when it comes to shoes and leather, understand that this is where it started.
Why?
Leather from various animals because of the density and the properties of the leather,
it simply worked.
It was durable.
You could walk on these thousands and thousands of times and it would protect your feet.
It had just enough cushions that it just simply worked.
Then, about two hundred years ago, we saw rubber hit the manufacturing scene.
And the big thing about this is it they were able to take materials which were kind of
a luxury material, materials that were expensive and they were able to replace them and many
times with various types of rubber.
And all of a sudden, they were able to get exactly and even better than many other properties
that leather had at a fraction of the price.
And that's key, because of the cost difference right here of the actually goods going into
the material and what they were building here, all of a sudden they were able to lower the
price.
So, you saw a lot of lower-end manufacturers go after this immediately simply because they
were able to make something that cost a lot less.
Now, this is the problem with rubber is that we saw because they were going for the low
cost they actually changed up the manufacturing process.
So, when we look at this right here, you see stitching in on and around this.
On a lot of the rubber soles out there you will see no stitching because they are glued
on.
What they use is this like really thick cement glue that is specifically designed to keep
the rubber onto basically the upper part of the shoe, they connect that with glue.
The problem with this is it it's just going to overtime you can have two shoe fall apart.
It's less costly to actually build it this way and that's why a lot of rubber soles get
the bad name.
But, it's not so much the sole, but it's the construction process that's used.
So, if you're able to find a rubber sole like this one right here that actually has stitching
on it, you actually in a sense you're getting a good quality shoe that is kind of getting
rid of that gluing process.
When you find something like that, you can actually get a great deal.
People talk about look for leather on the sole.
Well, that's a mark of quality because if you're using leather here, it has to be sewn
on.
So that's a general basically rule of thumb that if you see a leather sole usually the
dress shoe is going to be of higher quality, but that's not always the case.
One of the reasons people love these rubber soles and we're going to get into the function
aspect of it is because they actually have a lot more grip right off.
After you've worn these for five minutes you could, you know, walk through a little bit
of water and you're not going to slip and slide all over the place.
If anyone has ever worn leather soles right off, you have -- I don't -- I have slipped
on my butt and it's something that drives me nuts about shoes like this.
A lot of them though what they’re going to do is these manufacturers they'll bring
in a small strip of rubber right in here on the heel, sometimes you'll see it go right
across here and that can actually help with giving it a bit more traction.
But, when it comes to actually getting the best traction, you want to have more surface
area so it's going to have a full rubber sole.
Another advantage though for these guys when it comes to the function aspect of this is
that I can get this resoled.
Now, again, if this was stitched on you can get this resoled sometimes as well, but not
always.
But, here whenever you see a Blake stitch you see a Goodyear welt, all of a sudden,
boom, you're able to get this resoled.
So, when you're looking at boots.
This boot right here, notice there is no stitching on it.
This shoe right here it's not going to be able to be resoled.
This one is going to once you’ve actually worn through the boot.
But a lot of these -- by the way these by the way these rubber soles here depending
on what material they use, this could last for years.
So, I’m not saying that you have to stay away from something like this, I just want
you to be aware of the disadvantage here versus this rubber sole and this one by the way is
Thursday Boots and they’ve got this stitching right here with the Goodyear welt.
[0:05:00] You notice this one right here, another dress
shoe.
This company is Alden, they've got the stitching again and Goodyear welt right in here, so
this one leather.
And as you can see one of the things I like about leather is it really actually does start
to get some traction.
Once it's been torn up a bit all of a sudden you've got this surface area.
Now, when it comes -- we talked about the functionality of it and understanding that,
yes, what I love about the leather it can be resoled.
But, understand the fashion aspect a lot of people are going stay away from rubber because
they feel, oh, it's going to be a little bit more cumbersome it's going to be a little
bit too thick.
Now, not exactly, notice these shoes right here?
These are Paul Evans.
They actually made these.
And look at that profile, it's – it’s a great profile.
And they did it very well with the rubber sole.
And this one right here has a Blake stitch, so you could send it in get it resoled.
Now, some of you guys may be wondering, Antonio, I've got these great shoes and you know they've
got the leather sole on them, I love them.
And this right here is just not giving me enough traction which this by the way is made
by Allen Edmonds.
You can actually find -- go to a cobbler and get these or you can order them online.
I'll put a link down in the description.
And you can actually purchase something like this, slap it right on use a – this type
of cement glue on here and you could actually add your own rubber after the fact.
So, this is something it's going to add a bit of height on it, but for a pair of Chukkas
like this casual, it's not really going to make a difference.
I would say if you're going to do this on a pair of dress shoes, you want to go with
the type of rubber sole that isn't going to add much to the height.
There are some of these out there you will see they'll make for boots, in particular
they've got a lot more traction.
And you want to be careful of you don't want to put that on a pair of dress shoes.
But, getting back to the question, what is better leather or rubber?
Guys, depends on your needs, but just understand the difference understand what you're looking
for.
If you don't want to go slipping and sliding when you buy those shoes right off, you know,
then maybe go for a rubber sole if you can find it made that it's been stitched using
either a Goodyear welt or a Blake stitch, but if not look for the leather, always a
sign of quality.
All right, gents now it's your turn.
I want to hear from you down the comments are you a leather sole man are, you a rubber
sole man, or are you going to go with whatever works for you and your particular needs.
I'd love to hear from you guys down in the comments.
And that's it guys.
Take care.
I appreciate you.
I appreciate the community we built here at Real Men Real Style.
And I'm excited about 2018, what is coming up here soon.
I can tell you can tell you I'm working on improving my videos creating some new stuff
that you've never seen before.
That's it guys.
Take care.
I’ll see you in the next video.
Bye.
[0:07:31] End of Audio