My dad's moldy JLP loafers, cleaned, revived, and resized (for me)

A while ago, my dad pulled out a pair of moldy shoes, and asked me if I wanted it. It was a JLP Romeo loafer (never heard), that he purchased 30 years ago or so (probably from Hermes Hong Kong). Barely worn, but again, sat in the shoe cabinet for couple of decades, quite moldy The upper leather was in a bad shape too, sticky with a layer of expired wax polish

Aside from the mold, the shoes were also 1 1/2 size too big for me. So I set my goal to clean it and resize them, on course to become my first ever pair of John Lobb

1. Cleaning

Step 1: I removed the surface mold with a bunch of dry paper towels, careful not to spread them around.
Step 2: Sprayed on mold-killer / disinfectant all over the shoes, 3 to 4 times, several hours apart.
Step 3: Aired out the shoes for 2 days, waiting for the mold to die/dry out.
Step 4: Applied cleaning lotion/solution to remove old layers of wax polish. Took several tries to strip the sticky layers.
Step 5: Washed the shoes inside out with Saddle Soap/water to remove dead mold, and clean/ deodorize the leather.
Step 6: Air dried until the shoes were completely dried.
Step 7: Leather seemed limp and dead, so I used a very mild moisturizer (Colonil Diamant) to rejuvenate it, worked like magic!
Step 8: Applied black cream and wax polish.

Shoe now looked great and shiny! Still had lots of mold-stains on the insole, but that was pretty much solved in the next step






Resizing

I took shoes to the John Lobb boutique at Bella Vita Mall in Taipei. The clerk was quite amazed looking at the old JLP shoes, and was awesome enough to give me a pair of John Lobb leather insole sheets for free.


Returning to Japan, I took the shoes and the JL insoles to my neighbor in Tokyo, a shoe-repair shop called Rifare. http://www.rifare.jp/
They agreed to make me a custom insole cut from thick urethane foam, topped with my JL insoles, the new insole will adjust the fitting a full size down (by making the shoe tighter).








The new insole fits perfectly in the shoes, and the once baggy shoes now fit me snuggly like magic. The boys there at Rifare did an excellent job . They were really happy to see an old vintage JLP shoes in near unworn condition. The owner actually offered to sell the pair for me to his shoe collector friend for 180,000 yen (2000+ USD)

nice job. would have been cool to see a before flick...

Excellent work!

Is getting a 1.5 size too-large loafer to fit really as easy as adding an insole?



bbaquiran said:

Excellent work!

Is getting a 1.5 size too-large loafer to fit really as easy as adding an insole?

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The breadth of the shoe may be an issue, but length shouldn't. When you think about it, rarely do your toes touch the end of the toe-box.

My only reservation would be that the beauty of a well made shoe is often the foot-bed being more comfortable and shaped than normal which you may have lost.

Amazing job cleaning them up, but on balance you may have been better advised to take the $2k and spend them on a new par in a correct size. Obviously this can't account for the heirloom value though.



ter1413 said:

nice job. would have been cool to see a before flick...

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yeah, the whole cleaning ordeal happened last Summer/Fall, before I joined SF ....

bbaquiran said:

Excellent work!

Is getting a 1.5 size too-large loafer to fit really as easy as adding an insole?

Click to expand...

It's kinda hard to get a perfect fit from off the shelf insoles though......the place I went will measure your fitting, and add width to where needed, up to 5mm thick. usually, half a sheet (either toe or heel area) is sufficient, but I opted for the full sheet. I'm quite surprised how well it works, actually feels a bit tight. Cost me like 2000 yen I think ($24 USD).

Blackhood said:

The breadth of the shoe may be an issue, but length shouldn't. When you think about it, rarely do your toes touch the end of the toe-box.

My only reservation would be that the beauty of a well made shoe is often the foot-bed being more comfortable and shaped than normal which you may have lost.

Amazing job cleaning them up, but on balance you may have been better advised to take the $2k and spend them on a new par in a correct size. Obviously this can't account for the heirloom value though.

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Actually, my biggest reservation for adding an extra insole was that the old JL Paris logo would be covered up. Then I thought of asking the local John Lobb boutique for a brand new insole sheet with hte new JL logo on, and pasting it on the thicker insole.

Yeah, $2000 would have gotten me a brand new Lopez + extra

2000 USD would get you more than a Lopez. Dont know the Prestige prices in Japan for JL but you should get a real nice pair of JLs there, oxfords or derbys.
You should have sold it to the shoe collector.
I don't know what is so collectible about an old pair of Lobbs that does not look anything remotely special.

Very nice. Venetian loafers are one of my favorite styles. And I'm a sentimental fool, so I don't think I'd have sold them either. I hope they wear well.



Jangofett said:

2000 USD would get you more than a Lopez. Dont know the Prestige prices in Japan for JL but you should get a real nice pair of JLs there, oxfords or derbys.
You should have sold it to the shoe collector.
I don't know what is so collectible about an old pair of Lobbs that does not look anything remotely special.

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lololol yeah, it did cross my mind, except these were given to me from my dad

he's happy to see the shoes brought back to life though....

as far as I am concerned, I spent $20 or so for the upgrade, and now it fits just fine

Lopez costs a bit over 160,000 yen in Japan grossly expensive

JL Chester loafer should be the current equivalent to this Romeo (both have cobra vamps)

they look great - good job!

Fantastic job. The business of renovating those old shoes and the feeling of satisfaction you must have in saving them and making them wearable again is worth it as far as I'm concerned. It cost only $24 so where's the loss?



nutcracker said:

lololol yeah, it did cross my mind, except these were given to me from my dad

he's happy to see the shoes brought back to life though....

as far as I am concerned, I spent $20 or so for the upgrade, and now it fits just fine

Lopez costs a bit over 160,000 yen in Japan grossly expensive

JL Chester loafer should be the current equivalent to this Romeo (both have cobra vamps)

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I would still took the money if I were you, though can't replace sentimental value I suppose.



nutcracker said:

lololol yeah, it did cross my mind, except these were given to me from my dad

he's happy to see the shoes brought back to life though....

as far as I am concerned, I spent $20 or so for the upgrade, and now it fits just fine

Lopez costs a bit over 160,000 yen in Japan grossly expensive

JL Chester loafer should be the current equivalent to this Romeo (both have cobra vamps)

Click to expand...

Well, you can have my Lopez for 1000 USD. Seriously. You can keep your old JLP loafers.
I am sure your dad would be proud of your entrepeneurial skills if you could make a tidy profit from his old shoes.

The nicest pair of shoes my dad ever owned were a pair of Florsheims back when they weren't crappy.

I like Venetian loafers as well. There's more to life than getting another 2k selling shoes given by one's father. Wear them in good health.



kolecho said:

There's more to life than getting another 2k selling shoes given by one's father. Wear them in good health.

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