DIY Chaco Repair: Re-web your sandals

Being a field biologist, good gear is important to me. I have used chaco sandals for about 20 years as I've studied bees and wasps all over North America. Chaco has a great warrantee, and for a fee they will re-sole (~$40), or re-web ($36) your sandals. (https://www.chacos.com/US/en/sandal-r....

If you don't have time or money to send your sandals in, it is pretty easy to replace the webbing yourself. Chaco Z1 sandals (like the ones here in this video) use 1" webbing, Z2 sandals use 3/4" webbing.

What you'll need:
• About 6 feet of 1" webbing, I got 10 feet at REI for $0.45 a foot (https://bit.ly/307oX1c)
• Heavy duty thread and a sharp needle (something like https://amzn.to/2T4VqDX)
• An exacto knife (https://amzn.to/2FylaAn)
• A lighter
• Scissors

You only need about 6 feet of webbing to replace the straps for both sandals, I purchased 10 feed just in case.
When it gets wet, the nylon webbing stretches a bit more than the original polyester webbing so you will want to be aware of that.

The entire process takes about 30 min and is really easy. Re-webbing your sandals may void the Chaco warrantee so you might want to consider that before you go cutting your sandals apart

While I still really like Chaco, lately I have been wearing my BedRock sandals more. They are lighter weight and have a more minimalist design. Check them out: https://bedrocksandals.com/

While I made this video using a needle and thread, later I took my sandals home and used my sewing machine to re-do some of the hand sewing you see in the video.