My last pair of custom Adidas Barricade IV using MI Adidas Custom Technology had lasted me over a year, not bad for regular hard court usage. It only lasted me for around 8 months or so until I found noticeable wear on the soles of my MI Custom Adidas Barricade IVs. In general, I found that the Adidas Barricade shoes to have a long history of being pretty durable compared to other major tennis shoe brands. The most common problems that I found with most tennis shoes (including the Adidas Barricades) were that the sole wears out much faster than the top section. You can therefore still have a pair of tennis shoes in immaculate condition, but the sole on your tennis shoes have been worn down to its rubber insoles. Tennis shoes soles in general, are simply not durable enough to withstand lengthy use over long periods of time.


Depending on the type of player you are, your weight, style of play, tennis court surface, model and brand of your tennis shoes you might get varying shoe wear results and wear patterns on your tennis shoes. Customized tennis shoes are no exception. No matter on what surface you play on, your tennis shoes cannot last for many months if you’re using them on a regular basis for tennis. Well that is what I thought initially until I discovered this shoe sole repair kit called Shoe Goo from Penguin which I bought from Royal Sporting House. I found out that you can actually either repair or prolong the effects of wear and tear on your tennis shoes substantially. These shoe sole saver applications comes in a tube similar to that of super glue you’ll just have to follow the instructions found at the back of the Shoe Goo Tube. Something that would either repair or prolong the wear effects on your tennis shoe soles! To date, my first pair of custom Adidas Barricade IV have lasted me for about a year and I am still using them.

I had used both Penguin’s Shoe Goo (more information about Penguin's Shoe Goo Here) and Unique Sport’s Shoe Mend. These shoe sole saver application are generally made of a special formulated adhesive with extra abrasion resistance to extend the life of shoes and found much success with the Penguin’s Shoe Goo compared to Unique Sport’s Shoe Mend mainly due to the durability and the length of time that the glue had stayed on the shoe sole without being worn out as well as the number of times I can use the application. In terms of value for money, Penguin Shoe Goo tends to last longer and comes in a larger quantity compared to Shoe Mend. My Penguin Shoe Goo would last me around 4 to 5 applications. Shoe mend would only last 2 applications. This will be however different for every case depending on how much wear your current shoe already has.

I am not sure however if Shoe Goo had repackaged their product, or if there were two different companies having the same similar product name. I had bought two different kinds of Shoe Goo shoe sole repair kits. The first Shoe Goo (other Shoe Goo brand here) kit did not last me as long compared to the repackaged one under the Penguin shoe care label seemed to have lasted me slightly longer. It could be due to actually two different Shoe Goo brands. One under the Penguin shoe care label and the other under under label. The Shoe Goo under the Penguin shoe care label. Penguin's Shoe Goo could be using a different or new formula to it to make it harder and less resistant to peeling off.

With Shoe Goo, I managed to prolong the lifespan of my tennis shoes significantly and I have been using them without any issues for about a year now. The only downside is that when the courts are damp or wet, the shoes that have Shoo Goo on it would not have appropriate traction and you might be prone to slipping and falling therefore I would highly advise to not use them on wet or damp playing surfaces or while walking on wet of slippery floors. Incidentally, I have also customized my 2nd pair of Adidas Barricade IV as I found them worth every penny. Images of my 2nd pair of Custom Adidas Barricade IV Tennis Shoes here.