Ski Buckle Hi Tops

These hi tops have cool vintage ski buckles...they are even adjustable just like shoes with laces!

Hi Top Sneakers

Metal Ski Buckles

Rivets

Hammer

Needle Nose Pliers

Drill+ Bit

Rivet

Vise

I bought some vintage ski boots on EBay and removed the buckles. New boots have plastic buckles...I wanted the industrial look of metal. I polished the buckles with aluminum foil first. I drilled out the old rivets with an electric drill and increasingly larger bits. Putting the boot in a stationery vise helped.

Once the buckles are off the ski boot it’s time to rivet them to the shoe. I had to drill out the eyelet grommets a little bit before putting in the new rivet in order to make it fit. Depending on the size of your shoe eyelets and your ski buckle rivet size you might have to experiment a little bit in order to find the right size rivet. Since I made these I have discovered barrel bolts which probably would have worked much easier!

It was harder to rivet the buckle fasteners to the other side of the shoe because some of the rivets had to go through fabric rather then shoelace eyelets. In retrospect I think it would have been better to reinforce the fabric with iron on canvas patches such as those used to mend the knees of jeans in the old days...

I hope you enjoy your new shoes!