The process

Nothing happens
until you say yes.

Seven steps from a photo on your phone to a restored pair back in your hands. You approve the price at step four — before anyone collects anything.

01 · About a minute

You photograph the pair

Six angles from your phone. The app runs a sharpness, exposure and framing check on each shot before it accepts it — a bad photo produces a bad grade, so we stop it at the camera rather than downstream. The last angle is the tongue label: we read the style code off it and pre-fill the model, colourway and year for you to confirm in one tap.

02 · Same day

We grade the defects

Four weighted attributes — sole wear, creasing, discoloration, material integrity — each scored against reference photographs. The letter grade (A–D) is arithmetic on those four — not somebody’s overall impression. You see every attribute and the photo it came from.

03 · Up to 24 hours

Shops bid on the work

Your photos and grade go to vetted Chicago shops. They bid on the actual pair. The grade is an aid for them, never a contract term — they're quoting on what they can see.

04 · Your call

You choose and approve

You see the bids and pick one. Nothing is charged and nothing moves until you accept a price.

05 · You pick a window

We collect the pair — sealed

We come to you in the Chicago metro. Your pair goes into a numbered tamper-evident bag in front of you, and the sealed bag is photographed with its serial visible. Pickup and delivery is a separate line on the order, quoted before you accept.

06 · Set by the bid

The work happens

Your payment is held rather than paid out. The shop does the work and photographs the result.

07 · Then it's done

It comes back, then they get paid

The pair is photographed again on the way out, sealed in a fresh numbered bag, and returned. You check the seal before the job closes. Once you've approved it, the shop is paid.

The four attributes

Why we grade defects instead of the shoe.

One number for a whole sneaker can't be argued with and can't be acted on. Split into four, every part of the score points at a specific thing a shop can actually do something about — and at a photograph proving it.

Each attribute has photographic anchors for every step of its scale, so two different graders looking at the same pair land in the same place. We measure that agreement rather than assuming it.

A failed sole is a hard gate. Past a certain severity a pair is routed to recrafting no matter how good the other three attributes look. Some damage can't be cleaned away, and pretending otherwise wastes your money.
Sole wearSOLE_WEAR
Tread depth, smooth spots, holes or splits · weight 30%
CreasingCREASING
Toe-box lines through to cracking · weight 15%
DiscolorationDISCOLOR
Stains, yellowing, colour shift · weight 25%
Material integrityINTEGRITY
Seams, bonds, anything coming apart · weight 30%
A
92 / 100
B
74 / 100
D
31 / 100

The awkward case

What if the shop finds something the photos missed?

It happens. A photo can hide a split seam or a soaked insole. The shop can request a re-quote — but they have to show you why, with evidence photos of what they found.

  • You get 24 hours to approve the new price or decline it.
  • Decline and the pair comes back to you free — you are not charged for work you didn't agree to.
  • A shop cannot quietly raise the price, and cannot start the extra work while you're deciding.

This is deliberate. Grading will never be perfect, so instead of pretending it is, we built the workflow so an imperfect grade costs you nothing.