Shoes that look better with age...

[familyman]

I wore the smokejumpers the rest of the day and I think I'm really going to like them. I even did some work in them. Sort of. I changed the battery in my wife's car. It's sort of work anyway.

After I took them off tonight I hit them with some mink oil and I noticed that in some of the seams and especialy around the welt there is quit a bit of old polish/wax/oil buildup. What's the best way to go about removing this and getting back to square one. I'm thinking of picking up some saddle soap tomorrow and starting with that but if anyone has any other suggestions I'd love to hear them.

[Tarmac]

buk buk bo bo bo

[soda]

^^ Paul Smith, Ralph Lauren, ??, ??

[moykky]

Interesting... do you think it's trickers commando soles in particular? I do notice how they don't like to shake off dog shit very easily.....

I've seen the same sole on on C&J, but I have only experience on Tricker's.

[lenn]

bored so i took some pics of my red wings 8131... i've had them for like 1,5 years, but they got like 3 months of solid wear

[jufros]

buk buk bo bo bo

details......

[MrBurns]

Thanks for the help GregNYC

[dunkin deeznuts]

buk buk bo bo bo

the brown wingtip on the top looks like trickers

the brown wingtip on the bottom looks like paul smith,,,,

of which i am selling an OLIVE pair...peep the sig

[fre-co]

Yeah I thought the top one would be a trickers Stow.

[GregNYC]

bored so i took some pics of my red wings 8131... i've had them for like 1,5 years, but they got like 3 months of solid wear

Wow, a lot of wear to the uppers, yet not too much on the sole....

[GregNYC]

New Indy project - dress Indies.

I'm gonna try to find a good fitting pair of new Indies, then put Alden double-leather soles and heels on them. But it's gonna be total leather heel with metal V-plates. Sort of like this, but all leather on the heel. Why not just order a pair of cigar shell Indies?, you might ask. For two reasons. One is, I want to be able to try several pair on before buying, and I can do this right at the Alden store. There are so many ways that they can fail to fit me (uncomfortable flat heel counters, or binding at the ankle are two things I've found). As we all know, the details differ from shoe-to-handmade shoe. Even within the same size. The other reason is, I like to polish shoes to a high shine, and shell cordo isn't the best for this. Its shine is its own, not from polish. I want to try polishing these while keeping the stitching white and the welts natural colored. If that doesn't work, I can always revert to a darker color with polish like my Cat's Paw pair.

The Alden leather sole+heel I have in mind is like this, but with no rubber. Real old-skool! Ralph at the NYC Indy shop is gonna hook me up on this.

[amlai]

The Alden leather sole+heel I have in mind is like this, but with no rubber. Real old-skool! Ralph at the NYC Indy shop is gonna hook me up on this.

There's an Indy shop in NYC? Or do you really mean Alden shop? I like the project. If I ever wear down a pair of 405s, maybe I'll ask Alden to resole to leather.

[fre-co]

Can't wait to see those Greg. Make sure to keep us up to date.

[coleslawyum]

I wore the smokejumpers the rest of the day and I think I'm really going to like them. I even did some work in them. Sort of. I changed the battery in my wife's car. It's sort of work anyway.

After I took them off tonight I hit them with some mink oil and I noticed that in some of the seams and especialy around the welt there is quit a bit of old polish/wax/oil buildup. What's the best way to go about removing this and getting back to square one. I'm thinking of picking up some saddle soap tomorrow and starting with that but if anyone has any other suggestions I'd love to hear them.

A pretty stiff brush is very helpful for these matters. Usually I use a softer brush for my shiny leather. It takes off most caked and dried wax and the little pebbles that get stuck in the place where the welt meets the upper.

[Chicken]

i use a small nylon brush to take out unwanted dirt and buildups first, before getting to a saddle soap. nylon brush is also useful to help smooth out scuff marks before appyling cream and polish.

then i always finish things off with a horse hair brush now.

btw, greg, another insane and cool project.

[terutt]

i use a small nylon brush to take out unwanted dirt and buildups first, before getting to a saddle soap. nylon brush is also useful to help smooth out scuff marks before appyling cream and polish.

then i always finish things off with a horse hair brush now.

I wouldn't use saddlesoap, it's alkaline (bad mojo for leather), and miniscule soap residue hangs about after rinsing. The best thing is Lexol-pH for a leather soap.

[GregNYC]

There's an Indy shop in NYC? Or do you really mean Alden shop? I like the project. If I ever wear down a pair of 405s, maybe I'll ask Alden to resole to leather.

Freudian typing.....

[mrpenguin354]

Anyone have any suggestions for dealing with hard water stains on leather? My school salted the roads to death today and my Clarks look like they're getting stained from all the salt. Is there something that can keep the salt off or maybe touch up some spots?

[GregNYC]

I don't have very much experience with suede, so I googled it. Here's a link that has several suede cleaning ideas from real people:

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/02/02dec09a.cfm

[shut up alex]

my everyday set up...lately.

[familyman]

I wouldn't use saddlesoap, it's alkaline (bad mojo for leather), and miniscule soap residue hangs about after rinsing. The best thing is Lexol-pH for a leather soap.

I've read this a couple of times about saddlesoap and I'm sure it's a reasonable line of thinking but I've also personally ridden on saddles that are over 50 years old that have saddlesoap used on them whenever they get dirty. It's hard to know what to think sometimes.

[Chicken]

my guess is that most things in moderation should be fine.

i've only used saddle soaps for vintage boots i bought where the leather themselves were pretty dirty. otherwise, i try to get rid of buildups with nylon brush and stuff, then polish the rest of the boots as usual.

man, i feel like we need myth busters for leather and denim care.

[jubei]

Alfred Sargent x Evisu:

http://www.hypebeast.com/2008/01/evisu-by-alfred-sargent-brogue

must kkkkkkopppp?

[Chicken]

aha, there's the gull.

funny stuff.

[GregNYC]

^I sorta like that these kinds of shoes are entering the awareness of folks who are more fashion forward.

Chicken - good catch, the gull

[Chicken]

when jubei made the post, i was envisioning something quite hideous with a painted gull or something. surprised how subtle they branded them.

[percy]

quite cool. especially as i have been looking at brogued shoes recently

[Tarmac]

Alfred Sargent: the Whore Of Northampton. Just kidding. They would be cooler if the wingtip alone was gullied out. Not the laces too...

the brown wingtip on the top looks like trickers

the brown wingtip on the bottom looks like paul smith,,,,

of which i am selling an OLIVE pair...peep the sig

Dunkin is right. But I think I have the more trendwhore pointy-toe leprechaun version of the Paul Smiths which aren't as versatile. I thought about buying yours off you but I gotta hold off. The 2 in the middle are Alfred Sargent/Lands End chukkas ($37.50 w00t) and Crockett and Jones for Polo "Holland".

[grilled cheese]

I apologize for the low quality, but I thought I'd throw up these pics because I have the opportunity and promised that I would provide some pics of the RM Williams Forum Special in Chestnut. The sole photos were just too blurry to post, perhaps some other time...

And one brief dress boot posse shot while I was organizing. L to R: C&J Tetbury, RM Williams Forum Special, Franceschetti.

[edmond]

the whites are really nice shoes

datasupa how much did you get yours for? and where? and whats the leather and sole? thank you much appreciated!