Going the Extra Mile for Their Shoes : For a fraction of the cost of a new pair of fine dress brogues, most makers will rebuild them and double their life.

When President Clinton’s Size 13-D dress shoes from Allen Edmonds begin to show their age, the Wisconsin company will rebuild them for significantly less than their original $230 cost and even pay the postage.

But you don’t have to be President to get this kind of service.

For a fraction of the cost of a new pair of dress shoes--anywhere from $15 to $105, depending on what condition your shoes are in--Allen Edmonds, Johnston & Murphy and most other fine men’s shoemakers will put your tired, worn-out brogues back on the assembly line and rebuild them. The shoes go through dozens of the roughly 200 steps of the manufacturing cycle and take four to six weeks to complete.

By comparison, most local cobblers will rebuild heels, toes and soles but lack the facilities or blueprints to match the manufacturers’ original design specifications. (That’s why you sometimes end up with heels that are too large or don’t match.)

Most shoe companies do not advertise this service, because they don’t want their customers to stop buying new shoes.

Yet through word of mouth, Allen Edmonds receives 600 to 800 pairs of broken-down shoes a week. Virginia Riddle, a company spokeswoman, said it makes no difference if the shoes are six months or 60 years old. The only requirement for re-crafting is that the upper leather not be split or torn.

“The majority of men send back their shoes after six to 10 years, and after the re-crafting they can probably get another six to 10 years out of them if they take care of them,” Riddle said.

What’s the best way to extend the life of shoes?

Lightly brush them clean (dirt eats through leather the way smog damages a car’s paint finish). Added Riddle: “Always allow the shoes to rest 24 hours between wearings to air out the leather. And keep cedar shoe trees in your shoes to absorb moisture when they aren’t being worn.”