How to fix slippery sole in shoes?

Question

I have a skechers shoes pair. After some time of usage it started slipping although it looks pretty new. The shoes are very costly but are risky to move with. Can I do something about it?

Adding sample pic of shoe base.

Answer 1

How to fix slippery sole in shoes?

I do exterior work for several shopping malls in BC and deal with several types of surfaces and weather conditions.

I have noted that some shoes and boots are better than others. In fact, I have realized that generally speaking newer shoes or boots have better grip than older ones.

But this is not foolproof either.

For example water on some mall entrances that are very smooth and coated with some sort of varnish can be quite slippery at times, especially when wet.

Each morning there are the usual “walkers” around the mall, whether it is sunny, rainy or snowy. People are funny that way.

One of the gals once showed me her walking cleats she puts on her runners when the surfaces may be slippery. In fact, when she wears them, she will simply leave them one when entering a mall.

By the way, she actually swears by the type of cleats she wears! But will they work for you, is anyone’s guess.

Here is the type of cleats she actually wears.

Sfee Ice Cleats Snow Grips Overshoes Boots, Anti-Slip Silicone Portable Walk Traction Cleats Stainless Steel Spikes for Walking, Jogging, Hiking, Climbing, Fishing, Running, Men, Dog, Kids

There are many several types of cleats on the market, so one would have to make their own decision about what brand best fits one’s circumstances.

You can alter your your shoes, but there is not going to be any guaranties that it would work either.

If one decides to alter their shoes WikiHow has an article (How to Make Shoes Less Slippery) on how to make your shoes less slippery. On of their suggestions is to glue grip pads to the souls of your shoes. I have done this and it works somewhat, but glues never seem to hold the grip pads in place.

As in anything regarding one’s safety in the outdoors or indoors, one should always be aware of one’s surroundings. This is the first step in not slipping on ground surfaces.

Answer 2

When I have a pair of new leather soled shoes, I often find that they are very slippery when new. To solve this problem, I put on the the shoes and scuff the soles by shuffling my feet on a concrete sidewalk. It usually doesn't take much to significantly increase their traction. Or you can use coarse sandpaper on the soles instead. However, if the soles are rubber I'm not sure that the sandpaper thing would work, where as I'm pretty sure the sidewalk trick would work on almost any sole material.

Answer 3

Try toothpaste containing fluor: apply on sole, let it for a night, then wash out with a brush and wipe dry with a piece of cotton cloth or old T-shirt. Should work.