Shoes can last a lifetime — we make sure they do
Resoles, recrafts and restoration in a Melbourne CBD laneway. Quality workmanship at fair prices, on the shoes you intend to keep.
What we fix
How quoting works
Send photos or drop in
Use the quote form, or walk them into the shop over the counter.
We look at the shoe
John tells you what it actually needs, and what it does not.
You decide
Nothing is started, and nothing is charged, until you have said yes.
Three things move the price: the materials you choose, whether the shoe needs a repair or a rebuild, and the condition underneath the sole once it comes off. That last one is why we quote on the shoe rather than over the phone — and why you will not be surprised at the counter.
Get a quoteThe work
A resole is the start of a shoe's second life, not the end of its first. Most of what leaves the bench here has been through it before, and will again.
More of the work on Instagram
John
John Coburn has been at the bench for more than 35 years. He is one of the last people to complete a formal cobbling apprenticeship in New Zealand — a trade qualification that no longer exists to be earned.
That is the difference between a shop that replaces parts and a workshop that reads a shoe: what to keep, what to rebuild, and when the honest answer is that it does not need the work.
Find us
13A/50 Lonsdale Street
Madame Brussels Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000
Madame Brussels Lane runs off Lonsdale Street between Russell and Exhibition. We are the glass shopfront next to the Silca keys cut sign — look for the green machines through the window.
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, closed weekends
- Tram
- Route 86 or 96, Lonsdale Street stop
- Phone
- 0429 351 697
Pin approximate — laneway entrance to be confirmed.
A quick question?
Send it here and we will reply within two business days. For a repair, the quote form gets you a straighter answer.
Get a quote instead