I've seen this work well and I've seen it fail quickly, with the significant difference, I believe, in the tread amount and type on the shoe (no one I know hikes in boots, but I assume it's the same thing).

I.e., if you can wrap reasonably tough cord such that it goes inside fairly deep tread so that it's rarely being actually stepped on, you might be able to do quite a number of miles that way. If not, then ... not.