Johnston & Murphy - Never seen this discoloring before..

[SFA]

So I am not too impressed now. This shoe is from their "Handcrafted in Italy" line, which I've thought was a little higher in quality. Unfortunately the store I bought this shoe from went into closure, otherwise I would have gone back to them for some recourse.

The shoe is about 2 years old, rotated very often and I've used the shoe trees and creams. The part where the shoe is discoloring is where my foot flexes. I've already emailed J&M about this, but I highly doubt anything will happen.

Is this shoe garbage/scraped now, or can my local shoe repair guy perhaps dye the leather so this discoloring goes away and it is all one color? I've already tried using 2 high quality neutral color shoe creams, including a brown color shoe cream. It is as soon as I wear them and I walk/flex my foot, the color flakes off.

 

[Threadbearer]

Holy crap! Two years old and regularly maintained? There's no way they should look like that. You don't work at a toxic waste dump by any chance, do you?

 

[MyOtherLife]

The short answer is yes. A cobbler can make them look like new for about $20

 

[Threadbearer]



The short answer is yes. A cobbler can make them look like new for about $20

I'm not saying you're wrong, MoL, but I would REALLY like to see that borne out with some pics.

 

[Quadcammer]

what a pos

 

[MyOtherLife]

The short answer is yes. A cobbler can make them look like new for about $20

I'm not saying you're wrong, MoL, but I would REALLY like to see that borne out with some pics.

Well as long as the leather integrity is sound they can be brought back to life again. I know, I know...is it worth it for these shoes, but I'll leave that for someone with more energy than I have today...lol...I gave him the answer he wanted to read. You guys take over from here and tell him why he doesn't want to keep these shoes.

 

[SFA]



Well as long as the leather integrity is sound they can be brought back to life again. I know, I know...is it worth it for these shoes, but I'll leave that for someone with more energy than I have today...lol...I gave him the answer he wanted to read. You guys take over from here and tell him why he doesn't want to keep these shoes.

lol. Thanks for the replies guys. Trust me, these JM shoes were bought way back before I stumbled on SF and found out that the quality of JM (and even the hancrafted in Italy line) is garbage. I mean, even my cheapest shoes from Aldo didn't have this sort of cracking/discoloring. The annoying thing is I have another pair of JM (same line, handcrafted in Italy) in black that I've set aside only for formal/special occasions (I wore them to my wedding). I'm almost inclined to start wearing the black pair more often now and seeing if this sort of defect happens to them (which I don't have any doubts they will..). I would rather have the shoes go "bad" on me soon so I can get rid of them.. not point of them taking up closet space/shoe trees if all I will look forward to after a few more wears is that quality.

I will give the local Cobbler ( same guy who put the toppey on my JM - I know I know.. I shouldn't have spent anymore $ on these) a try and see if he can bring them back to life, provided the leather can hold the dye or whatever.

 

[Threadbearer]



...the quality of JM (and even the hancrafted in Italy line) is garbage.

That's not necessarily true. I've owned three pairs of shoes from J&Ms "Handcrafted in Italy" line and have been very happy with them. Something went terribly wrong with yours, though, and I'm still surprised to hear that MoL thinks they're salvageable. (I'm setting aside the issue of whether or not they're worth saving.)

All monitors are different, of course, but on mine it doesn't look like the problem with your shoes is discoloration; it looks like thin layers of leather are peeling away from each other. The shoes seems to be disintegrating, and I don't see how a cobbler could save them. Not my field of expertise, though.

 

[SFA]

Just an update for those interested - I sent an email to JM letting them know about this, and they asked I send the shoes to their Nashville centre. I just got an email from their custoemr service rep and I've been told they cannot repair or replace them. They are willing to give me a $200 credit towards another pair of JM. Unfortunately, all their handcrafted in italy lines are well over $380. I emailed her back and I am asking for more of a credit, seeing how I literally wore these shoes a total of 25 times.

 

[MyOtherLife]

Thank you for the update. Keep us posted. Best of luck.

 

[Threadbearer]



They are willing to give me a $200 credit towards another pair of JM. Unfortunately, all their handcrafted in italy lines are well over $380. I emailed her back and I am asking for more of a credit, seeing how I literally wore these shoes a total of 25 times.

Yeah, you're in a bit of a bind now because (of course) they don't know that you haven't abused the shoes or that you've really only worn them 25 times in the two years that you've had them. You've got nothing to lose by asking for more credit, of course, but you're probably going to have to suck it up and take the $200. Fortunately, J&M sells several kinds of cheap, semi-disposable summer shoes. If worse comes to worst, you could put the credit toward several pairs of those and buy your dress shoes elsewhere.

 

[cptjeff]

Looks like the finish on the corrected grain leather went to hell- and that's probably something a local cobbler could work with. It's not out of the realm of possibility to remove the artificial finish and put a somewhat proper one on there. That's certainly not something J&M's factory would be set up to do, but you might even be able to do it yourself. If you can't get 'em to up the ante (which you should insist on being cash, not store credit) take the $200 and get the shoes back. Use the money for/towards a pair of aldens or Allen Edmonds, and have some fun learning about leather finishes. I would try 50% bleach or acetone to strip the finish, then a generous helping of conditioner, then creams and a couple layers of wax to build a new one.

Or you could have your shoe guy strip, dye and refinish.

I really suspect that the leather is salvageable with a little effort.