These are soft sole side-seam moccasins made from one piece of hide. Holes in the soles would be patched and eventually new ones would have to be made. The quillwork on these would be removed and used on a new pair. On an everyday pair of moccasins the soles wear out fairly quickly. These would more than likely be ceremonial so they would last much longer. I have seen pairs of soft sole moccasins that had a hard rawhide sole added on the bottom of them with the rawhide going a little ways up the side of them. I don’t believe most pairs of soft soles moccasins were done that way. The members of Lewis and Clark expedition would often have multiple pairs made and in fact, during the winter before heading back east they made many, many pairs of moccasins for the trip back.
