Has anyone sueded out sneakers before?

[Austin]

I have a few select athletic tennis shoes that I like, and I'm thinking of going to the local shoe shop to suede a pair out and turn them into dances shoes. Anyone try it before?

Dance shoes SUCK. Online shoes SUCK (especially if its some no name Chinese brand). They never fit correctly and leave me in near tears until I throw them away. Also black shoes suck because they are so very boring. So I'm gonna try suede out the ones I do like, probably in the next few weeks, would like to hear any advice if someone has done it before.

 

[David_In_CA]

Many people have done this for swing dances and love it. I did it with one pair of shoes and was pretty happy with it until I somehow managed to lose the shoes. The biggest thing might be to make sure your have the right kind of suede. There are plenty of online guides about this (I only did this once, and ages ago, so I don't have anything in particular to recommend).

Sneakers are generally larger than dance shoes, which can make certain footwork movements more difficult.

 

[Austin]

Ok thanks. Good to know. I don't plan on doing it myself. There are some professional services around town that will do it for me.

 

[opendoor]

..suede.. and turn them into dances shoes

I spent a lot of money for dance shoes, but I find it much too expensive to remodel a pair of shoes. Ever tried tape?

 

[David_In_CA]

Tape often leaves a sticky residue on the floor once it starts to go. People who run dances complain about it.

 

[Warren J. Dew]

The biggest thing might be to make sure your have the right kind of suede.

I would second this. I asked a cobbler to put suede on a pair of shoes I wanted to dance in, once, and he used something that was suede but was not at all like the stuff on the soles of dance shoes. The best bet is to buy the suede from a dance shoe maker and provide that to the cobbler to install.

 

[rels77]

Ever tried dance sneakers? I love them! Split soles, usually a super cool spot on the bottom to make turns AMAZING!

https://www.lorettasdance.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/capezio-rockit-dance-sneakers.jpg

 

[ralf]

I would second this. I asked a cobbler to put suede on a pair of shoes I wanted to dance in, once, and he used something that was suede but was not at all like the stuff on the soles of dance shoes. The best bet is to buy the suede from a dance shoe maker and provide that to the cobbler to install.

You may need to ask to use Chrome Leather.
https://dancestore.com/pages/about-suede-soles (see the last section)

 

[Joe]

No, I don't think you specifically want chrome leather—that's just a tanning process. You want split leather, which is the bottom split. The top split is just called top grain, which is the "good" part of the leather.

 

[Well Rounded]

I have put suede on street shoes and used them for a showcase. I glued it myself with a lot of super glue and cured it for 2 days before wearing. They lasted quite a while. Aris Allen makes a great selection of swing sneakers that have suede on the soles. They are available at dancestore.com