Patching Holes in the Leather of Climbing Shoes

I have a pair of La Sportiva Miuras that aren't that old (I just had them resoled for the first time about a month ago) and they're starting to develop holes in the leather part of the shoe.

The tongue has a hole near the bottom where it meets the laces -- I'm guessing that's from the laces rubbing against it while crack climbing or something. On the outside of the foot where the rand meets the rubber there's another hole beginning to develop (not sure what that one was caused by). I had a pair of Miuras before where the tongue became detached and I'm hoping to save these from the same fate.

Anyone know how to patch holes in the leather parts of climbing shoes? I've searched the forums and so far the best I can some up with is climbing tape and seam grip, but that doesn't seem to be working as well as I would have hoped (maybe I'm doing it wrong?).

Any beta on leather shoe repair would be much appreciated

I don't know if this will work with climbing shoes but may be worth a look:

ehow.com/how_113341_repair-…

Another option may be going into a RedWing boot store (if you have one close by) and see what they advise, they deal a lot with quality leather boots and do repairs.

I assume you already have, but you may see what SCARPA themselves recommend.

Let us know what you find out!

I had a hole developing in the suede/leather of a pair of Cobras. I went to a shoe repair shop and bought some full-grain leather. I cut a patch to size and used contact adhesive to glue it over the hole. It worked like a charm and has held up for years now.

i blew out my Anasazi Blanco climbing a lot of thin hands, i had them resoled with a rubber patch over the holes. those are synthetic but it has worked very well and having extra rubber for super thin stuff and rand smearing has been great.

Tape on the inside, glob of shoe goo on the outside. Smear it in and fairly flat. Let dry. Done.

txclimber wrote:Tape on the inside, glob of shoe goo on the outside. Smear it in and fairly flat. Let dry. Done.

+1

I patched a leather shoe by cutting a little patch of heavy cotton like denim, shoe goo on it, then sticking it on the inside and clamping it with a little C clamp. I used little blocks of wood with the clamps and put wax paper between so the shoe goo didn't stick to them. The repair turned out perfect and unnoticeable.