Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[wasmisterfu]

@CWOyaji

These landed yesterday. I am 99% sure that these are from 1984. I was my son's age when these were produced. They are definitely in better shape than my old pair, which I am most likely going to dye green. Coincidentally, there is a tiny nick on the toe of this pair as well and I have not decided what, if anything, to do about it. For now, I am going to leave it as is since I will never see it in real life. Anyway, I had a chance to do some work on them today.

1. Clean / Sanitize insole and linings.
2. Wipe down upper with Lexol cleaner and a wet microfiber.
3. Two coats of Bick 4 on upper, lining, and insole.
4. Cleaned the welts with a sonicare toothbrush (wife's brush head, shhhhh) and some bar soap.
5. One coat of VSC.
6. One thin coat of saphir neutral wax polish.

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Man, those came out looking mint.

 

[happypebble]

@CWOyaji

These landed yesterday. I am 99% sure that these are from 1984. I was my son's age when these were produced. They are definitely in better shape than my old pair, which I am most likely going to dye green. Coincidentally, there is a tiny nick on the toe of this pair as well and I have not decided what, if anything, to do about it. For now, I am going to leave it as is since I will never see it in real life. Anyway, I had a chance to do some work on them today.

1. Clean / Sanitize insole and linings.
2. Wipe down upper with Lexol cleaner and a wet microfiber.
3. Two coats of Bick 4 on upper, lining, and insole.
4. Cleaned the welts with a sonicare toothbrush (wife's brush head, shhhhh) and some bar soap.
5. One coat of VSC.
6. One thin coat of saphir neutral wax polish.

View attachment 1397892 View attachment 1397891

View attachment 1397894

View attachment 1397895

very nice looking. Simple and elegant, plus the color is quite nice. ***winning***

 

[stook1]

Thanks gentlemen. This is a 2 birds / 1 stone upgrade since it frees up my old pair for a fun project.

Here's a very nice pair of NOS 9D Nettleton longwings that I just found for sale. I really like Nettletons and would try to grab these if they were my size. They are not mine, just to be 100% clear.

Nettleton Men's Shoes Light Brown Wingtip 9 D Vintage never worn | eBay

New without box. Nettleton Mens Shoes Light Brown Wingtip size 9 D Vintage around 40 years old. Never been worn. Retailed between $200-$300.00 back then. Has a small area on the side picture #5 The quality of this American made shoe is second to none. Shipping USPS Priority Mail...

www.ebay.com

 

[suitforcourt]

@friendlygoz got me all paranoid about whether I would fit into my shoes. So on a cool and windy day, I pulled out my Hanover LB Sheppards in 8.5eee size. Thank goodness, they still fit without issue. Teaches me to listen to some random person on styleforum.

These were rebuilt with GR soles, cat paw heels, and a rubber sole protector. Perfect casual or dressy shoe, IMHO.

Enjoy the weekend ahead, gents.

 

[friendlygoz]

@friendlygoz got me all paranoid about whether I would fit into my shoes. So on a cool and windy day, I pulled out my Hanover LB Sheppards in 8.5eee size. Thank goodness, they still fit without issue. Teaches me to listen to some random person on styleforum.

These were rebuilt with GR soles, cat paw heels, and a rubber sole protector. Perfect casual or dressy shoe, IMHO.

Enjoy the weekend ahead, gents. View attachment 1397953 View attachment 1397954

Sorry to infect you with my paranoia. I’m not that random, am I? Those look fantastic by the way.

 

[Nealjpage]

Ok, AE expert @wasmisterfu, have you ever seen Strands with a blind-stitched sole?

 

[stook1]

Ok, AE expert @wasmisterfu, have you ever seen Strands with a blind-stitched sole?

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Not original soles. Probably glued on leather.

 

[mormonopoly]

Ok, AE expert @wasmisterfu, have you ever seen Strands with a blind-stitched sole?

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To my knowledge, AE has never done a shoe with a blind-stitched sole.

 

[madhat]

Ok, AE expert @wasmisterfu, have you ever seen Strands with a blind-stitched sole?

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Non original soles and heels, as others have said.
Those have a lot more wear than I think you realize

 

[wasmisterfu]

Ok, AE expert @wasmisterfu, have you ever seen Strands with a blind-stitched sole?

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Nope, AE never did; they didn’t even channel the bottom stitch until 1999 or so. Those aren’t factory soles or heels.

Sadly, those mid 80’s Strands appear to have been the victim of a glue and go cobbler. The channeled welt top-stitch appears to be original, which means the cobbler just skivved down the old sole and glued on a new one, along with tacking on a heel. I’m pretty sure there’s no feather hiding a bottom outsole stitch; doesn’t look like Bedo’s grade work or anything.

I wouldn’t pay much for those because, depending on how whacked out the work is that was done, AE might reject them for factory recrafting. Sure Bedo’s or BNelson can do a better than factory recraft, but my feeling is that I should have the option of a factory recraft and I won’t pay much for shoes that were worked on incorrectly.

 

[Nealjpage]

Not original soles. Probably glued on leather.

To my knowledge, AE has never done a shoe with a blind-stitched sole.

Non original soles and heels, as others have said.
Those have a lot more wear than I think you realize

Nope, AE never did; they didn’t even channel the bottom stitch until 1999 or so. Those aren’t factory soles or heels.

Sadly, those mid 80’s Strands appear to have been the victim of a glue and go cobbler. The channeled welt top-stitch appears to be original, which means the cobbler just skivved down the old sole and glued on a new one, along with tacking on a heel. I’m pretty sure there’s no feather hiding a bottom outsole stitch; doesn’t look like Bedo’s grade work or anything.

I wouldn’t pay much for those because, depending on how whacked out the work is that was done, AE might reject them for factory recrafting. Sure Bedo’s or BNelson can do a better than factory recraft, but my feeling is that I should have the option of a factory recraft and I won’t pay much for shoes that were worked on incorrectly.

Thanks, guys!

 

[wasmisterfu]

Non original soles and heels, as others have said.
Those have a lot more wear than I think you realize

I’d say that’s only the second set of soles, but they’ve been worn hard on both the factory soles, and this set.

However, the uppers and welt are still in good shape, the insoles are okay (especially if they start getting some regular hydration). The heel linings look suspect, but some conditioning for the linings might slow that deterioration (though fit will play a role in that also).

There’s definitely life left in these shoes (with care, probably quite a lot in my experience), but I’d go super low-ball on any offer for these shoes.

 

[stook1]

I’d say that’s only the second set of soles, but they’ve been worn hard on both the factory soles, and this set.

However, the uppers and welt are still in good shape, the insoles are okay (especially if they start getting some regular hydration). The heel linings look suspect, but some conditioning for the linings might slow that deterioration (though fit will play a role in that also).

There’s definitely life left in these shoes (with care, probably quite a lot in my experience), but I’d go super low-ball on any offer for these shoes.

I wouldn't buy those shoes either. Strands are readily available and there is nothing special about this pair in my view. The hacked soles would bug me and I'm not sure it's even worth the cost to properly resole them given that one could probably find a pretty mint pair for around $100 without a great deal of effort. ie. less than the cost of even an AE resole. Had they been MY shoes originally, it very well might change the calculus since they'd be molded to my feet but in that case they wouldn't have been hacked in the first place.

By the way, I will admit that I am somewhat curious about whether AE would resole these. I think they might since it's not like the insoles have been stitched through or some really bad hack.

 

[CWOyaji]

Tassel loafer is best loafer

 

[CWOyaji]

Weren't we just talking about this brand?