Altering Shoe Color

[lpresq]

While there are plenty of shoes avail in tan or dark(er) brown, I'm having difficulty finding a pair in Chili/Burgundy to pair with a Navy suit. Is it a good idea, or even possible, to alter the color from beechnut or dark brown to burgundy? Hence, I would like to alter a pair of C&J Weymouths. Any tips would be much appreciated.

 

[JeffsWood]

Don't take my advice here as I am interested in the answer to this question as you are. I can say that in recent years, I have stopped being anal about my shoe polish matching the shoe colour, and I rotate in a few diffrent shades of polish on some shoes. The result has been a slight variation in colour that is very rich. I would guess that it would take several polishing to have any major change in colour.

 

[Cary Grant]

Originally Posted by lpresq

While there are plenty of shoes avail in tan or dark(er) brown, I'm having difficulty finding a pair in Chili/Burgundy to pair with a Navy suit. Is it a good idea, or even possible, to alter the color from beechnut or dark brown to burgundy? Hence, I would like to alter a pair of C&J Weymouths. Any tips would be much appreciated.

Chili and burgundy or quite different colors, at least in AE lingo, with burgundy being much darker ala cordovan. Which did you mean?

Martegani's in "cognac":

 

[base615]

I recently used Kiwi dark tan polish on a tan pair of shoes which I think gave a nice rich colour with a red tinge. I did a moderate amount of spit shining and I think it's come up quite nice (although it needs re-doing now to go over the scratches)

 

[MaxJones]

Originally Posted by lpresq

While there are plenty of shoes avail in tan or dark(er) brown, I'm having difficulty finding a pair in Chili/Burgundy to pair with a Navy suit. Is it a good idea, or even possible, to alter the color from beechnut or dark brown to burgundy? Hence, I would like to alter a pair of C&J Weymouths. Any tips would be much appreciated.

I don't believe that changing the color of shoes isn't as difficult as you might think. I spent a few afternoons at Berluti and Lobb in Paris talking to the workers and watching them work, and when they changed the color of shoes it really didn't look too scary.
I even stripped and dyed a pair of Canali's a few years back. Originally they were beautiful but for their pimptasticly glowing-plum color. Now they are dark walnut and gorgeous, at least to me. I used acetone and rum to strip, Lincoln to dye, lots of conditioner, lots of cream and lots of wax. For me it was an interesting project and I'd encourage anyone with an interest in shoes to try it.
I'd be curious to hear what a pro like Marcel in Hungary would have to say.