With a new pair of kicks calling to you from the box, you may be tempted to wear them right out of the store. But to keep them for the long haul, have rubber soles glued on before you set feet to pavement, says Jim McFarland, a cobbler in Lakeland, Florida, and a board member of the Shoe Service Institute of America. The extra layer adds traction and protection from the elements, he says; getting it early is best because shoes wear unevenly, so new ones have the flattest bases. Most repair shops stock soles in 1/8 - or 1/16 -inch thicknesses. The thicker ones last longer, but the thinner ones are less obvious, says Howard Davis, a professor of footwear design at the Parsons School of Design, in New York City, and a onetime designer for Ferragamo. Add toe plates and heel guards to flats as reinforcement before wearing them down, advises McFarland, and replace clicky plastic high-heel tips with rubber ones for up to five times more wear. Caring for your soles, he says, “is like putting quality tires on your car.”