Broken Skate Eyelet: What to do?

[stackem30]

A little over a year ago, I purchased a pair of Vaughn GX1 Sr. Goalie Skates from Goalie Monkey. Thursday night, the skate lace broke through the top eyelet while I was lacing them up.

I'm pretty angry and disappointed. My last pair of skates was a pair of Rbk 7k's (I think, they were not pro skates) and they lasted me 10 years with no issues. I really did not expect a quality issue like this from a company like Vaughn.

Based on the Specifications listed on Goalie Monkey, the boot is only under warrantee for 90 days... so I don't really know if there are any actions for me to take in terms of an exchange/refund. Assuming that's the case, does anyone have experience with a broken eyelet like this? What did you do, take them to a cobbler or a repair shop?

Any advice or information is much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[TheGoalNet]

That’s a relatively easy repair. 

Easiest ways to get it fixed in order:

1. Local pro shop

2. Local cobbler / shoe repair

3. Mail it to a gear repair like @Beccaraptor or other 

99. Use Bay Area Hockey repair (last resort only)

[Matt30]

i had a skate do that years ago and I took it to a shoe repair shop and he sewed some heavy material over the hole and re punched it. The repair lasted the life of the skate

[stackem30]

Thanks fellas, glad to hear this is a fairly easy fix! Still annoyed that this happened, but as long as I can fix it, I can live with it.

[Korppi32]

It look like you should repair the next eyelet also. First I would ask from Vaughn what to do.

[Chenner29]

As others have mentioned, a shoe or boot repair guy is able to do this very easily.

Essentially what they'll do is put a leather patch over it, glue it, sew it down, and punch another eyelet through the patch they just made.  It'll be better than new.

Also an unsolicited recommendation as it looks like you cinch your top laces down pretty tight.  That tension caused some stress to the eyelet, possibly warped it so that your laces ended up pulling through the leather part of your boot.

What I would do is run lace out from your 2nd eyelet down, and instead of crossing it across your foot to the opposite top eyelet, run it straight through the top eyelet on the same side creating a loop.  Do the same on the other side.  Then cross the laces in front through the loops you just made.  This will actually give you a tighter cinch, spread the tension across both eyelets on the same side, and will lock in that tension for longer (assuming you use wax laces).

[estogoalie]

I don't think I have ever seen an eyelet rip like that. I'd be pissed too. And wondering about the quality of Vaughn skates.

[stackem30]

8 hours ago, Chenner29 said:

What I would do is run lace out from your 2nd eyelet down, and instead of crossing it across your foot to the opposite top eyelet, run it straight through the top eyelet on the same side creating a loop.  Do the same on the other side.  Then cross the laces in front through the loops you just made.  This will actually give you a tighter cinch, spread the tension across both eyelets on the same side, and will lock in that tension for longer (assuming you use wax laces).

It's funny, I do this trick with my running shoes, and just last week I saw that there was some video of someone doing it with hockey skates, and people were really buzzing about it. I guess it won't hurt to try. I do like the top of my skates fairly tight...

[ULTIMA]

@stackem30 Toronto Hockey Repair/Goalie Heaven does these types of repairs on a regular basis.

[MTH]

I'd have both skates done the same when you get this fixed.

Shoe shops are pretty cheap (and awesome).