Stretching leather shoes up 1 size?

[mrjameskent]

Hi,

I have a really nice pair of white leather Buddahood shoes that have been sitting in my wardrobe for over a year, because the left foot is too tight.

Does anyone know of a way to stretch a leather shoe by up to a size, without wearing them.

Reason i ask is that there is 2 layers of leather on a seam, in exactly the same place as a weird bone lump on my big toe 'knuckle' and its too painful to wear them in.

I took them to a cobbler who left them on a stretching machine for 1 night, but I've heard if you leave them like that for a week then it does the job, and you can get special sprays etc.

Please help!

J

[damnIam]

I have worn redwing boots for years and have had to stretch my right boot on every pair I have ever bought. I use a shoe tree with removeable/adustable "knobs" that fit into the shoe tree at different places. This allows me to stretch out one spot on the boot rather than spreading the entire last. I also use the spray you are talking about. It smells like it is mostly alcohol and may alittle silicone. I usually leave the shoe tree in for a few days and tighten it one twist each day and spray it each time with the stretching stuff. Be careful because if you have a quality shoe tree (best are made of wood) it can split the seams of the shoe if you stretch too much at once. I bought my shoe tree off ebay and it was cheap but really good quality.

[blackgrass]

I'm curious about the Red Wing boots. I have been looking at both them and Chippewa and trying to make up my mind on which to go with....Do the Red Wings tend to run pretty close to true sizing? Meaning....if you normally wear an 11 would you wear an 11 in Red Wing? Do they run narrow or any other thing you might think of letting me know?

Supposidly they have a line they only sell in Europe and Japan and are more like the old school classic work boots your grandfather would probably wear. I would love to get my hands on a pair of those!

[damnIam]

The style 8130 (black leather with absolutely white crepe soles) are the ones you are talking about I think. Hard to get but really nice. The are just like the tradional 875 but with a white sole instead of the cream kinda color. The only place I have ever seen them is ebay in small sizes. it is my experience that all the "moc toe" style run kind of narrow. I usually wear an 11E but with moc toe red wings I always get the 11EE. They take a while to break in but man are they sweet! There is an ebay seller called Susamy that sells them periodically but she is a real cunt. I got some from her that said fac seconds with an explanation that there was minor stitching or color variations. The pair she sent me (paid 150 bucks) had half of tongue ripped off one of the boots. When I sent her positive feedback (but with a small disclamer about the tear) she sent back neg feedback to me and blocked me from her auctions.

Anyway I think red wings are far superior to Chippewa and I have owned both.