Gone are the days of discarding old worn out or boring shoes. Nowadays, they can be brought to life and revamped into a whole new pair, as if brand new, fresh out of the box. Old or boring shoes can be reborn again simply by applying glittery sparkles in their surface. This can be done in many designs and colors.

The industry term to this art is called “Strassing.” You’ve probably seen many high end designs billing $5000 and up for a pair of shoes simply because of the added strassed work. You need not shell out such an amount provided you are willing to send the extensive and tedious time gluing each crystal on the shoe and of course purchasing good quality crystals and not just the dull glass type. Yes, they do vary.

This topic was covered extensively in the July-September 2012 print edition of Shoeholics Magazine. Featured in the article is a before and after picture of the world famous trademark Tribute shoes by Yves Saint Laurent. It was converted from a plain $795 black suede pumps to something entirely different with sparkly genuine Swarovski crystals, a pair worth it’s own appearance on any red carpet with the right dress! This of course adds value of at least $3000 to the pair simply due to the time spent, quality and close knit crystals. It does add up.

Editor Tinu spent more than 68 hours working on the pair just in time for the photoshoot!

Also featured farther below is a sample by Wedding bee. She converted her plain jane Brian Atwood white satin shoes into something of a spectacular when she could not afford the price of $3400 in stores. She saved money by doing it herself. This is “sport” applicable to men and women. We have seen men strassing their sneakers too! Who doesn’t like an upgrade?

So if you have a pair, got the time, got a fat mortgage and car note to pay but want a pair badly, start gluing!

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