Reportedly mend part of shoe (4)
I believe the answer is:
heel
'part of shoe' is the definition.
('heel' is part of 'shoe')
'reportedly mend' is the wordplay.
'reportedly' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'mend' becomes 'heal' ('heal' can be a synonym of 'mend').
'heal' is a homophone of 'HEEL'.
(Other definitions for heel that I've seen before include "Command to a trained dog" , "that may be Cuban" , "horrible person" , "villain" , "Back part of the foot" .)