Leather Soles: Breathability Vs. Cement

[Lohan]

Hello all,

I am a beginner and plan to do some sandals. I plan to sew some vegetable tanned sole leather to the upper leather. I've got an old instruction on sandal making from Tandy and they are cementing the sole before sewing and I have also seen most shoemakers on videos cementing the outer soles.

I am a little bit confused. You are often told that leather soles are so nice because they can transport off humidity. But this will surely be blocked using some kind of rubber cement.

Is there a way to avoid cementing? Using other glues?

I don't want to use nails.

Kind regards,

Lohan

[Brewerkel]

Any sole leather spongy enough to wick moisture would:

- wear out quickly

- wick water from puddles to your feet.

I suspect you have confused the wicking ability of full leather uppers with that of sole leather. Glue and stitching, or glue and wood pegs/ iron clinch nails are traditional methods for attaching modern out soles.

[Lohan]

Yes, this sounds very reasonable. Nevertheless you can find endless discussions on whether to put topies on leather soled shoes or not with one of the arguments being the breathing of the soles.

Hence, I shall opt for cementing and sewing.

Thank you very much.

[Jazznow]

Just my opinion on this discussion if glueing of sole (leather or rubber) will affect breathability or not.

This discussion is common among shoe aficionados who have (to be honest) little to no knowledge of leather, it's production and it's properties. They have a vague imagination, that leather is able to breath and suspect anything that is not leather is not good.

In fact, leather is soaking and storing sweat. Veg tanned leather can take as much as 2,5 times of its own weight in water/sweat. So a thick insole can take more moisture than you will probably sweat all day. It won't need to penetrate the insole to get to the outsole. Brewerkel already mentioned that this wouldn't be good too.

Which is way more important to the live of your shoes is that you give them the necessary brakes to let the moisture vanish from the leather after wearing them. That means after a workday of wearing your shoes, let them rest for the following day.

Best wishes

Jonathan