DIY - UPCYCLING MY OLD TIRED SNEAKERS

Nma
Mar 22, 2020
2 min read

...of course they weren’t always old and tired.

4 years ago, I was getting ready to walk down the aisle to the love of my life and seeing as I hadn’t worn a pair of heels in a while prior to that day, I wasn’t prepared to risk tripping on my beautiful ball gown and falling face down in front of the whole church.

Also and most importantly, I wanted to be as comfortable as possible and seeing as my wedding gown was long and wide enough to cover my feet, I decided to wear a pair of sneakers! So I bought some plain white shoes and bedazzled them.

That’s how my one nation white sneakers were born. I call them one nation sneakers because as you know white sneakers are pretty versatile and go with just about anything so I wore them pretty much all the time till they became old and tired.

But as expected, my feet got so used to them as they felt so comfy and so I got attached. So this is me giving them a new life so that I can rock them for maybe another 4 years.

Materials

Sneakers

Lace Fabric

Glue

Applicator

Lace trimmings

Scissors

Pre DIY

First thing I did was clean the surface of the sneakers with soap and water and dry properly with a towel. Then I took of the shoe laces and glued the inner layer back in the shoes as it had detached from excess wear.

Steps

Step 1

Apply glue to one side of each leg of the sneakers.

Step 2

Carefully place the lace fabric on the surface where you have applied the glue. Pat the fabric down with your hands to make sure that sticks to the surface of the sneakers. Allow it to dry properly. This will take 15 - 30 minutes or even more depending on the type of glue used.

Do same for the second leg of the sneakers.

Step 3

After they have dried properly, trim off the excess fabric with a scissors.

Step 4

Next, apply glue to the other side of each leg of the sneakers and carefully place the lace fabric on the surface as done in step 1 and 2 above.

Step 5

Trim off the excess fabric after the glue had dried properly.

Step 6

Apply glue to the flap of one leg of the sneakers, cut a strip of lace fabric, place the lace fabric on the surface and allow to dry.

Do the same for the second leg.

Step 5

Trim off the excess fabric.

Step 6

Cover the top part of the sneakers using the lace trimmings. As usual, apply glue, place trimmings and trim off the excess.

Post DIY

Place the shoes in the sun for about 4 hours to dry properly. After drying, trim the lace edges carefully and replace the shoe laces. Dry clean the soles(side and under) with a wet sponge or brush.