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Help with shoes losing colour

Pandaros

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Hi guys,

So I bought, what are for me, an expensive pair of shoes. They're NPS made in England derby shoes in walnut calf.

I had been polishing them with the cream polish that came with them, but last week I used mahogany beeswax polish to get a better shine. Maybe I'm dumb, but mahogany I found is a good deal lighter than walnut but I didn't notice at the time and the shoes looked fine after polishing.

But when I put them on the following morning, almost immediately I noticed at where the creases are a lighter colour brown was breaking through. So today I polished them with the dark brown cream polish, and still when I put them on the creases showed a lighter colour. Ok, I thought, maybe the cream polish isn't strong enough the overide the beeswax. So I took the dark brown beeswax polish and still I have the same problem: a lighter colour at the creases.

Maybe I'm going insane, and this is what should be the case. But the shoes look discoloured and motley, and I really don't know how to fix the issue. Maybe its cheap leather after 6 weeks of use.

But if anyone has any advice I'd really appreciate your help.
 

JFWR

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Can you post a picture? That would help to evaluate if there is a big problem or no problem at all.
 

Pandaros

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Can you post a picture? That would help to evaluate if there is a big problem or no problem at all.

Thanks for the reply. Here they are:
 

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JFWR

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Thanks for the reply. Here they are:

Absolutely normal.

Creases will always show the lightest colour of the leather v. the darker colour of the polish.

You said you used mahogany on walnut shoes: mahogany is DEFINITELY the darker colour than walnut. (Look at a walnut shell v. some mahogany furniture).

Frankly, they look nice. There's no problem here to worry about.
 

Pandaros

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Thank you so much for your responses. I was freaking out a little because the contrast was really striking on the day after polishing them with mahogany, and I didn't have this issue with the cream polish.

So, I guess the mahogany accentuated the contrast with the creases. The cream polish though seems pretty dark - it doesn't say the colour on the tin, a Saphir brand.

Aside from the cream, I have tan, mahogany, and dark brown beeswax polishes. I did notice an improvement after the dark brown (which I assumed was darker than mahogany, but I guess not). What colour would you recommend?

I'm sorry for the questions but I'm pretty new to this, and haven't had a similar issue to my black Barker boots which are 9 months old and still look like they did the first day I got them.
 

JFWR

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Thank you so much for your responses. I was freaking out a little because the contrast was really striking on the day after wearing them, and I didn't have this issue with the cream polish.

So, I guess the mahogany accentuated the contrast with the creases. The cream polish seems pretty dark - it doesn't say the colour on the tin, a Saphir brand.

I have tan, mahogany, and dark brown polishes. I did notice an improvement after the dark brown (which I assumed was darker than mahogany, but I guess not). What colour would you recommend?

I'm sorry for the questions but I'm pretty new to this, and haven't had a similar issue to my black Barker boots which are 9 months old and still look like they did the first day I got them.

Dark brown should usually be the darkest brown colour. Basically, the creases are always going to lose more colour than the rest of the shoe, though. The crease is going to reject the colour more as it is flaking off it through the flexing of the leather at that point.. Generally, on shoes I antique, after two or three wears the creases begin to show lighter.

Tan < Mahogany < Dark brown is usually how it works.

Yeah, black boots aren't going to ever have this problem as the leather is dyed through black, but even then, you can see creases on your black shoes, which indicates they are (slightly) lighter.
 

Phileas Fogg

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The surface looks a bit dry which could be adding to it.

Do you know if it’s just calfskin or has it been treated somehow? Chromexel for example?

if it’s just regular calfskin, consider a color matched or neutral cream.
 

Pandaros

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I have the link to them here so you can see them out of the box. I think when they say walnut they mean walnut wood, which from what you're saying is likely close to mahogany.


I'm saying this because I haven't meant to antique the shoes - and I'm really hoping that I haven't done so!
 

JFWR

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The surface looks a bit dry which could be adding to it.

Do you know if it’s just calfskin or has it been treated somehow? Chromexel for example?

if it’s just regular calfskin, consider a color matched or neutral cream.

Yeah, the more colour matched, the less the effect will be, as the effect comes about from a mismatch between the dyed colour of the leather and the polish.
 

Pandaros

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The surface looks a bit dry which could be adding to it.

Do you know if it’s just calfskin or has it been treated somehow? Chromexel for example?

if it’s just regular calfskin, consider a color matched or neutral cream.


From the research I had done when buying them, I recall that the NPS heritage range is all just calfskin.
 

Phileas Fogg

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I'm saying this because I haven't meant to antique the shoes - and I'm really hoping that I haven't done so!

what do you mean?
As you wear shoes, the leather and dye will oxidize. Creams and polishes will also add patina and so if that’s what you mean by “antique the shoes” then that’s just a normal process.
 

JFWR

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what do you mean?
As you wear shoes, the leather and dye will oxidize. Creams and polishes will also add patina and so if that’s what you mean by “antique the shoes” then that’s just a normal process.

You can always also "undo" an antiquing by removing the polish if you haven't dyed the shoes.
 

Pandaros

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So just coming back to colour matching and the polishes I have available. If you look at the link to the shoes I posted above, is mahogany a suitable polish for it?
 

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