Maintenance

• Breaking-in: some shoes are made of hard but deformable material. After a person wears them multiple times, the material reforms to fit the wearer's feet. The person is said to have "broken in" the shoes.
• Polishing: for protection, water resistance (to some extent) and appearance, especially for leather shoes and boots.
• Heel replacement: heels periodically wear out. Not all shoes are designed to enable this.
• Sanitization: the inside of shoes can be sanitized with germicidal shoe trees or other cleansing methods to prevent the growth of microorganisms such as odor-causing bacteria or fungi.
• Sole replacement: soles can also wear out. Not all shoes can have their soles replaced.
• Shoelace replacement: shoelaces can sometimes be damaged or destroyed necessitating the replacement of the laces.
• When unfit for use, shoes can be treated as trash or municipal solid waste and disposed of. The exception can be with mostathletic sneakers which can be recycled and turned into other raw materials. See Nike Grind as an example.

A person who makes or repairs shoes in a shop is called a cobbler.