The post you are reporting:
I agree with Peter, old fashioned shoe repairers are good and will do all sorts of leather repairs.
If you buy a good (and probably expensive) pair of shoes, they will last, and be well worth mending.
We always go to the Sandwich shoe shop, Brewers, at 14 King Street, very helpful and obliging and reasonable. And they sell a good variety of footwear also.
And, as Bern says, we do not lose the skills our families have always had in the past.
When my son was little, a neighbour had a similar age toddler.
One day she offered me some hand made cardigans in good condition - I said you can still use these they are a good size, to which she replied, they have all lost a button and I can't sew buttons on !!