The original shoe repair adhesive — since 1972
One tube rebuilds worn soles, seals splits and coats the spots that wear out first — on leather, rubber, vinyl and canvas.
Shop the rangeThe tubes that leave our shelves fastest, year after year.
The flagship clear tube — the one people mean when they say they fixed their shoes with Shoe Goo.
One clear, one black — the two-tube set that matches whatever shoe fails next.
Not a glue — the Penguin whitener repaints scuffed white leather and midsoles back to bright in one coat.
The top-rated clear pair — two flagship tubes, one for now and one so there is never a gap.
The black tube with ten snip-tip applicators — controlled black beads exactly where dark soles need them.
Five sealed minis — a year of small fixes, every repair starting from a fresh, uncured tube.
Shoe Goo created the shoe repair category in 1972 and the formula still sets the standard: a thick urethane rubber that cures flexible, waterproof and abrasion-resistant.
Build a worn heel back up in layers, coat a toe before it scuffs through, or glue a flapping sole in one pass — three jobs, one tube.
Leather, rubber, vinyl and canvas — plus waders, rain boots and work gloves with the Boots'n'Gloves formula. If it flexes, Shoe Goo holds it.
The best shoes you own are the ones already shaped to your feet. For over fifty years we’ve made the tube that keeps them going — on skateboards, work sites, trails and sidewalks — for a fraction of what replacing them costs.
In 1972 a chemist in Eugene, Oregon noticed that runners were throwing away shoes with hundreds of miles left in them — the uppers were fine, only the soles had worn through. The answer became Shoe Goo: a thick, self-leveling adhesive that could be spread onto a worn sole, cure into tough synthetic rubber, and put the pair back on the road. Skateboarders adopted it for ollie holes, tradespeople for work boots, and half a century later the red-and-white tube is still the first thing reached for when a good pair starts to go.
This is the full range: the original clear formula, the black version for dark soles, mini tubes for single repairs, Boots'n'Gloves for rubber and waterproof gear, Penguin white for sneakers, and the multi-packs that keep households and repair benches stocked.
| Range | Best For | Sizes |
|---|---|---|
| Clear Adhesive | Invisible repairs on any color shoe | 3.7 oz and 1 oz tubes |
| Black Adhesive | Dark soles, work boots, skate shoes | 3.7 oz tubes, single and carded |
| Minis & Specialty | One-repair tubes, waders, sneaker whitening | 0.18 oz minis, 2 oz Boots'n'Gloves, Penguin |
| Multi-Packs & Bundles | Households, teams and repair benches | 2- to 20-packs, applicator bundles |
A tube of Shoe Goo costs less than a tenth of a decent pair of shoes and typically delivers several repairs. The cured rubber outwears the original sole material in the spots it covers, which is why the same tube shows up in skate parks, on fishing boats and in janitors’ closets. Repairing the pair you already broke in is cheaper, faster and kinder to the landfill than starting over.
Clean and dry the surface, rough it up with sandpaper, apply, and give it 24 hours before light use — 48 to 72 for a full cure. Work in a ventilated space and let temperature do the rest: no clamps, no heat gun, no special skills. Every product page on this site carries the details for its size and formula.
We do not print testimonials with names attached. Below are the public rating totals these products carry, and our own reading of what such a number can and cannot measure.
4.6 average from 3,366 ratings
Several thousand people have scored the flagship clear tube, and the average has held in the mid-fours for years. A number like that tells you the formula does what the label promises across wildly different shoes and climates; it cannot tell you whether your particular sole is clean and dry enough for a good bond — that part is on the prep.
4.7 average from 1,856 ratings
The clear-plus-black pair carries one of the strongest averages in the whole range on close to two thousand ratings. Our reading: people who buy both colors at once tend to be repeat repairers who already know the product, so the score reflects experienced hands more than first tries.
4.6 average from 598 ratings
The sneaker whitener sits near the top of its category on several hundred ratings. A whitener is easier to judge instantly than an adhesive — you see the result the same day — so this score is about the finish itself, not patience with cure times.
