Vibram Sole Factor tour stops by OBJ

Humor us for a moment. If you flip over your shoes, what brand is the rubber?

This Monday, I sifted through my shoes to find a pair needing new soles. The Vibram Sole Factor crew was coming by that day as part of their second full year of touring the U.S., in partnership with local cobblers and to promote resoling in place of chucking shoes in the trash.

“A lot of people throw their shoes away not thinking they could get them resoled,” said Tyler Allan, Sole Factor’s lead.

I picked out my oldest pair of hiking boots—Hi-Tec Sierras from the early 2000s—with worn down, dusty lugs. And what do you know? They already had Vibram outsoles.

There’s a good chance your outsole was made by Vibram, too. The Italian cobbling company was founded in the 1930s and makes the rubber outsoles for more than 30 outdoor brands, including La Sportiva, Merrell, The North Face, L.L.Bean, and Vasque.

Read more: How do you pronounce Vibram? 

For two days, the Vibram crew parked their 40-foot RV—complete with a showroom and mini resoling factory—at the SNEWS office in Boulder, Colorado. I dropped off my boots with the cobblers, who helped me choose the Predator style sole, with a Megagrip compound and grippy gum rubber component on the heel and front under toe.

Other employees at Active Interest Media—OBJ’s parent company—had Vibram breathe new life into their Chacos, running shoes, work boots, and other kicks. There’s a whole array of sole options, from big knobs to thin grip, from camouflage to neon pink to black.

Step 1

Tyler Allan, Sole Factor lead, intakes sneakers needing new soles.

Step 2

Customers can choose from a wide range of soles and colors, from utilitarian to stylish treads.

Step 3

Cobbler Refugio Contreras dismantles the soles of the shoes before grinding and leveling them off.

Step 4

Cobbler Gino Conti grinds the shoe before gluing the new sole on.

Step 5

The shoe then gets sent to the finishing machine, which takes care of the polishing.

Step 6

Andy Hawk, managing director of AIM’s Mountain Group, which OBJ is under, checks out the upgraded kicks.

The starting cost per pair is $75, so why not buy new? If you care about waste, you should already know the answer. All you have to do is choose a sole from the online catalog, fill out a form for the cobblers located in Queens, New York, and San Diego, California, mail in your shoes, and wait a few weeks for Vibram to ship them back with fresh new treads.

The Vibram Sole Factor has a whole calendar of stops, where you can get your shoes resoled. Here’s where they’re going this summer:

· July 14-16: Killington, Vermont

· July 21-22: Baltimore, Maryland

· July 29-Aug. 1: Las Vegas, Nevada

· Aug. 4-5: Sparks, Nevada

· Aug. 8-10: Woodward, Pennsylvania

· Aug. 17-19: Cascade Locks, Oregon

· Aug. 18: Brewster, Massachussetts

· Aug. 18-19: Overland Park, Kansas

If the cobblers determine that your shoes need stitching work or other detailing—not all of their machines fit into the RV—Vibram will refer you to a local cobbler deemed a “Vibram Diamond Shop.” Not only is Vibram promoting their own brand and line of shoes, they’re trying to drive business to these partner shops around the U.S. Had my boots needed extra work, they would have referred me to Cobbler’s Corner in Denver, Colorado. Allan said there are about 7,000 cobblers in the U.S. and about 5,000 of them sell Vibram soles.

When Vibram handed mine back Tuesday afternoon, they reeked of that rubbery new shoe smell. Other than the wear and tear on the uppers from years of hiking, my boots are good as new and ready to be worn for many more miles.