Discussion: OROC 340: Early fraying/fuzzing on inside of heel?

I've recently gotten a pair of Inov-8 OROC 340's, which I've been enjoying very much. With less than 40 miles on them, though, I'm already noticing some fraying of the fabric on the inside of the heel area (on both shoes). The fit seems great, and I try to keep them clean and use appropriate socks.

Anybody else see this with new shoes and have a remedy? I would really hate to see these heels wear through before the fall season even gets started up. Thanks much.

My 340's have a little over 700 logged miles on them and are still in great shape. One lace has worn through and been replaced and the plastic logo overlay on the upper has peeled, but functionally they are doing fine. No sign of any serious wear on the inside of the heel.

Many of my shoes, no matter the brand, end up with the fabric worn away on the inside of the heel. However, by the time that happens, the shoes are worn out elsewhere, and it's not really an issue.

However, I have a pair of Patagonia hiking shoes that started fraying almost immediately. From what I've read, the wear and tear on shoes here is from the heel moving up and down inside the shoe. In other words, the shoe isn't tied tight enough around the top, so your foot is moving around a bit inside the shoe. I have really low volume feet for my length, so as my shoes stretch out as they age, it's hard for me to cinch them up well, even if it feels that they are tight.

The homemade solution I made with my Patagonias is that I added two layers of duct tape, cut into ovals, and taped over the fraying area (nipping it in the bud, so to speak). I did that 9 months ago, and the tape has stayed in, even though I wear these shoes most days. I've worn through the tape somewhat, but it's easy to add a layer when necessary.

I will try to be more conscious about my lacing technique, and pay more attention to the tightness of the heel fit when I’m tightening up. I went a lot tighter with the laces on the trail this afternoon, and it felt pretty good. The fraying didn’t look any worse that I could tell, so maybe that’s part of my solution.

Thanks for the tip on the taping, Patrick! I used a similar technique on a pair of Montrails that had already developed holes in each heel, just to get some more milage out of them.

This looks like a more hi-tech implementation of the duct tape approach:

http://www.goengo.com/

It's marketed as a blister remedy, but it could also serve to protect the inside of a heel before it wears completely through. The protection of duct tape with a low-friction interface thrown in.