Normal Shoe Creasing?

[MattJB]

Hi All,

I was wondering if the attached pictures represent normal creasing after 1 day of wearing? These are my first pair of half decent quality dress shoes. They're AE's; I'm a little new when it comes to proper dress shoe fitment, and am hoping these aren't too big.

In addition to that, I picked up some Venetian shoe cream. I had already used AE's color polish in the tube, do these products essentially do the same thing, or should I be using each in different ways? and how/when?


Thanks in advance!

 

[madhat]

Hi All,

I was wondering if the attached pictures represent normal creasing after 1 day of wearing? These are my first pair of half decent quality dress shoes. They're AE's; I'm a little new when it comes to proper dress shoe fitment, and am hoping these aren't too big.

In addition to that, I picked up some Venetian shoe cream. I had already used AE's color polish in the tube, do these products essentially do the same thing, or should I be using each in different ways? and how/when?
View attachment 1188404 View attachment 1188405

Thanks in advance!

Creasing is well within normal. They will crease during first wear, but the creases won't necessarily grow every wear. They'll probably end out a bit more than this though, unless you just love squatting and flexing your shoes to the max daily. Do they feel too big or are you just second guessing for some reason? Here's a link showing that proper fit doesn't always mean no creasing.

Mythbuster Part 1 - Leather Creasing Means Something is Wrong - The Shoe Snob Blog

Leather creases. Plain and simple. There is no such thing as crease free leather. Frankly the thought of people thinking that leather should not crease is just absurd. So many times have I heard people complaining about wrinkled leather and thus blaming either the leather or the maker for this...

www.theshoesnobblog.com

VSC is a conditioner (won't affect color); color polish is as it sounds. Two different functions. Remember less is more. You don't need to be piling on VSC and polish after every wear. It depends on how often they get worn and how hard they are to decide how often the products are needed.

 

[Reiver]

That creasing looks quite minimal to me, if you make sure you use shoe trees they shouldn’t get any worse.

I haven’t used Venetian shoe cream but I think that’s more of a conditioner to be used once in a while. The AE shoe cream is for more frequent use and covering scuffs etc. It should also nourish the leather but possibly to a lesser extent.

 

[MattJB]

Great, thanks to both of you. I think I was a little concerned when I initially tied them up and my heel seemed to be slipping a bit.

I ended up tightening the laces and it was okay but there seems to be more of a gap in between the top of my foot and the leather. However I'm flat footed so it's probably exactly the case like in the article @madhat linked.

As for the VSC, I was thinking to use my AE polish when needed and then before a special occasion use VSC and then another polish. Does that sound like the right way to do it? Or should I be using something else, like a cleaner or some other suggestion. Apologies for the ignorance, there's just a lot of conflicting info out there.

Thanks again

 

[madhat]

You can hand flex the sole a bit to get it to loosen up; that might cure the heel slip.

I'm a wide but lower volume foot; I typically get full lace closure after break in even on the 65 last. When you say a gap between the top of foot and leather, you mean down at the vamp or you have full closure and still isn't tight? If this is the case, that particular model might have too high a cone height. Since they're now worn, and 100% yours to keep, you can add a tongue pad and/or an insert if needed to absorb the excess volume. I prefer the solid leather footbeds, so I tend to favor tongue pads on lasts that have a bit too much volume but are good elsewhere. I have used a Saphir leather/cork insert on a pair of loafers though.

I would use the VSC exclusively as it has some shine effects to it and can be used as a clear polish of sorts, unless you're trying to even up the finish where you've gotten a scuff. You can certainly use the colored polish, but being partial to shell I tend to use as little polish even on calf as possible. I probably still wouldn't be applying VSC but once month or more if you're heavily wearing (assuming at most every other day for full work week), except to clean up finish (or add a bit more shine) as I mentioned. My conditioning routine is much more spaced than that now (once a year is plenty for me), as my pairs really only get worn 7-8 times a year due to the quantity involved.

 

[MattJB]

When you say a gap between the top of foot and leather, you mean down at the vamp or you have full closure and still isn't tight?

I meant down at the vamp, should've made that more clear. I noticed that the eyelet facings (if that's the correct terminology) almost closed right up on one shoe; however, I probably could've loosened them a little and still not had any heel slippage so they're probably okay.

I would use the VSC exclusively as it has some shine effects to it and can be used as a clear polish of sorts, unless you're trying to even up the finish where you've gotten a scuff.

I'll go with that advice, and just use the color polish to fix scuffs.

I wont need to polish much anyways at the moment. Currently I'm not wearing dress shoes very often at all (jeans / polo shirt type of office), but I'm in the process of learning, and hoping to refine my wardrobe so the eventual plan is to wear them more often.

 

[KtSty]

leather shoes go quite well with jeans and polo shirts.

 

[aaamax]

leather shoes go quite well with jeans and polo shirts.

This^
I am wearing jeans nowadays at about 50% of the time. A nice pair of socks (read: borderline loud) with a cuff on the pants and I am loving life. Much to the chagrin to my (in)significant other.
Not sure why some women really don't like this look... I am allowing for that it is maybe just on me they don't dig it... lol.
Cheers

 

[borussky]

conditioner or shoe grease is a several times a year effort. rain especially increases the frequency of oil necessity.

Leather is skin and the rule is to treat it like skin.

the most important thing is to saddle-soap the leather before treating it. otherwise the oil will carry grit into the leather. Grit is an abrasive and will increase wear.

After soaping, perhaps with murphy’s oil soap or commercial saddle soap, then you can oil the shoes. Shoe trees are helpful here, because they stretch the creases flat so the soaping and oiling get to all the surface more effectively. trees make handling the shoe easier.

i soap the shoe up well including the soles and then rinse them off and apply oil while the shoes are still wet. loggers think the wetness pulls the oil in as the water evaporates.

the oiling will darken the leather. then you can apply a thin coat of colored polish and buff or not depending on the level of shine you want. adding a bit of water gives a spit shine which is high gloss. i dont care for high gloss.

I usually put a bit of polish on before oiling instead of after so the color gets carried into the leather

always use cream polish because KIWI and paste polishes use a drying agent.

some of this, perhaps is overthinking. some of the advice is tough to prove. feel free to ignore everything except the saddlesoap.

I like Obenaufs conditioner. All the Rivendell bicycle guys swear by Obenaufs.

time wise it is most efficient to do a bunch of shoes at once.

best wishes

Bo Richardson
Ravensburg Germany right now.

 

[MattJB]

leather shoes go quite well with jeans and polo shirts.

Right. Actually I did try that first and it really didn't look right at all. I'm pretty sure it's due to the fact that most of my jeans are a straight or bootcut so it just covers most of the shoe and looks large in comparison.

I'll see if I can dig up some tapered/slimmer leg jeans, I think it would be the way to go if wearing dress shoes with jeans.

 

[The Shoe Snob]

normal creasing is a myth, but if there was 'normal' creasing, this looks quite on point to me.

 

[Kivi D]

Hi guys, I was wondering if this was acceptable creasing? All my other pairs of shoes don't pinch like you see in the pictures below. Having said that, it's not actually pinching my toe as the toe box is generous.This is my first time encountering this, so I wanted to get an opinion.