Inspired by johnniegold's restorations of his Aldens by B. Nelson and Alden, I decided to search out a restoration for a pair of well-worn, poorly cared for Cole Haan Split Toe dress/office shoes that I've had for about 5 years. I did a little web searching and discovered that Cole Haan offers restoration services of its own. Given the condition of the shoes (as you'll see), I figured that it would be best to work directly with the manufacturer to try and resurrect these shoes to as close to original condition as possible. I am opting for their $115 "Signature Restoration," which includes (from their website and order form that accompanied their package):
"Our premium restoration package. We replace your worn soles and heels with original or enhanced Cole Haan materials. As needed, we repair tassels, hardware, hand sewing and stitching; refinish the upper; and custom fit your shoes with new padded leather sock liners. Your shoes are returned with the following accessories exclusive to our Signature Package: Cole Haan natural cedar shoe trees, flannel shoe bags, shoe care products and shoe horn."
They offer services as simple as new heels up to their Signature Restoration, but you can also get a "Full Restoration", which has the same physical shoe restoration as the Signature Restoration, but you don't get the accessories. I figure that since they're going to restore/refinish the upper, I want the polish/wax to be as close a match to the color as possible, and I can use a pair of full sized shoe trees. So I contacted them via the website, and received a reply within a day or two. We worked out that I was just having one pair restored, and they said they would ship the package to me. A week or so went by, and this arrived in the mail:
Opening the package, there was a shipping return envelope and order form, and instructions to wrap my shoes in tissue and send them along with the order form in the enclosed envelope:
And now for some pics of our victim, er, patient.
You can see that the uppers are in pretty rough condition, with a lot of the color having been stained, scuffed and scratched. The stitching is not too bad, so hopefully a touch up and refinish of the leather will bring them back.
The toes are also very worn, as I do have a fair amount of walking on city streets in my job, so they've taken a beating over the years.
The heels? Well, let's just say that I'm a fairly serious heel striker.
As for the soles, you will recall that Cole Haan offers Nike Air technology in the heel and sole for comfort, so the soles are rubberized. It's fair to say that if these were a pair of tires, they would be considered as bald as Persis Khambatta in Star Trek The Motion Picture. As I've looked at replacement shoes recently, I've noticed that Cole Haan does not seem to offer the rubberized leather sole anymore, and has gone to almost all rubber, so I'm curious to see if they bring them back to *original* or *current* standards.
So they're off in the mail, and their packaging indicates a 4 week return. Now we wait.
"Our premium restoration package. We replace your worn soles and heels with original or enhanced Cole Haan materials. As needed, we repair tassels, hardware, hand sewing and stitching; refinish the upper; and custom fit your shoes with new padded leather sock liners. Your shoes are returned with the following accessories exclusive to our Signature Package: Cole Haan natural cedar shoe trees, flannel shoe bags, shoe care products and shoe horn."
They offer services as simple as new heels up to their Signature Restoration, but you can also get a "Full Restoration", which has the same physical shoe restoration as the Signature Restoration, but you don't get the accessories. I figure that since they're going to restore/refinish the upper, I want the polish/wax to be as close a match to the color as possible, and I can use a pair of full sized shoe trees. So I contacted them via the website, and received a reply within a day or two. We worked out that I was just having one pair restored, and they said they would ship the package to me. A week or so went by, and this arrived in the mail:
Opening the package, there was a shipping return envelope and order form, and instructions to wrap my shoes in tissue and send them along with the order form in the enclosed envelope:
And now for some pics of our victim, er, patient.
You can see that the uppers are in pretty rough condition, with a lot of the color having been stained, scuffed and scratched. The stitching is not too bad, so hopefully a touch up and refinish of the leather will bring them back.
The toes are also very worn, as I do have a fair amount of walking on city streets in my job, so they've taken a beating over the years.
The heels? Well, let's just say that I'm a fairly serious heel striker.
As for the soles, you will recall that Cole Haan offers Nike Air technology in the heel and sole for comfort, so the soles are rubberized. It's fair to say that if these were a pair of tires, they would be considered as bald as Persis Khambatta in Star Trek The Motion Picture. As I've looked at replacement shoes recently, I've noticed that Cole Haan does not seem to offer the rubberized leather sole anymore, and has gone to almost all rubber, so I'm curious to see if they bring them back to *original* or *current* standards.
So they're off in the mail, and their packaging indicates a 4 week return. Now we wait.
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Those are the last of the original Cole Haan shoes, pre Nike.
I'm definitely excited to see the restored pictures. Subscribed. 
Sorry about your shoes, though.
