Dubbing it "the hottest trend of 2023," TikTok user Mandy Lee (@oldloserinbrooklyn) shared her "mended haul" video to inspire viewers to save money while keeping their favorite products out of landfills.
Instead of buying new shoes, Mandy takes a bunch of her old ones to the cobbler to get them repaired, and the transformation is unbelievable.
"You would never know they were falling apart a week ago," says Mandy in the video, sharing before and after pictures of each of her shoes.
@oldloserinbrooklyn Mended haul: three pairs of shoes before and after the cobbler! it's about time for care, maintenance and repair to get the spotlight in fashion. #designershoes #margielatabis #tabis #cobbler #shoerepair #simonerocha ♬ Blue Blood - Heinz Kiessling
"What they do is beyond magical," she says as she shows off the three pairs of freshly-repaired shoes.
The first pair — simple black ballet flats — are given a new lease of life with fresh soles. The second, a pair of strappy, satin Simone Rocha elevated flats, are given a professional clean and have the strap reattached. And finally, a pair of tall, heeled boots get the magic touch of new heel caps and soles, which perfectly match the color of the brown boots.
"Good as new," Mandy says before correcting herself. "Actually, better than new because these soles were actually meant to last."
The video has received over 24,000 likes on TikTok, along with tons of comments praising the "haul's" sustainable nature. According to Unsustainable Magazine, over 300 million pairs of shoes are thrown away in the U.S. every single year — with 95% of those ending up in a landfill.
Shoes can take anywhere from 25 to 1,000 years to break down naturally, depending on the material they're made of, with synthetic materials such as plastic taking the longest. When these shoes decay in a landfill, they release harmful, polluting gases into the air, which contributes to the overheating of our planet.
Commenters on the video absolutely loved Mandy's mended haul, with one simply stating that "cobblers are wizards."
While Mandy did share that the repairs came to a total of $228, many commenters dubbed it a "great price," considering the end result and the added amount of wear she will get out of the shoes.
"Honestly 228 sounds like, incredible considering it was 3 pairs and the amount of longevity added to them," one user comments.
"Definitely not pricier than 3 new pairs," says another.
"I need to jump on the mended trend asap," adds a third.
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