Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[sam67]

So having recently acquired some shell shoes, I decided to get some of the cordovan polish from saphir. Ordered some from eBay, the listing was titled “Saphir Medaille D'or Creme Cordovan Shoe Polish, 75 ml, 37 Medium Brown” from a seller who seems to sell lots of shoe care items.
Not knowing the entire saphir product line, I assumed this was a medium brown polish designed for cordovan shoes, but it isn’t, it’s their regular medium brown polish.

Who is at fault here? Seller for improperly titling the listing or me for not knowing the product line well enough? Should I request a return? Further, is this stuff okay to use on shell or should I buy the right stuff?

I can always use this on other brown shoes, but I wouldn’t have spent nearly $30 on it if I had known it wasn’t the polish specifically designed for shell.

I'd go by what the ad said and if the jar had 'cordovan' pictured on the lid. I think the polish has 'creme 1925' on the lid. Rereading your description above, sound like they mixed terms. Their mistake.
I had one of the well known eBay sellers send me the wrong stuff and they exchanged it.

 

[heathenist]

I'd go by what the ad said and if the jar had 'cordovan' pictured on the lid. I think the polish has 'creme 1925' on the lid. Rereading your description above, sound like they mixed terms. Their mistake.
I had one of the well known eBay sellers send me the wrong stuff and they exchanged it.

Well the pictures were of the item I received, but the title made it out to be polish for shell cordovan, I was just too ignorant to be able to tell from the photos that it isn’t the stuff actually made for shell.

 

[smfdoc]

So having recently acquired some shell shoes, I decided to get some of the cordovan polish from saphir. Ordered some from eBay, the listing was titled “Saphir Medaille D'or Creme Cordovan Shoe Polish, 75 ml, 37 Medium Brown” from a seller who seems to sell lots of shoe care items.
Not knowing the entire saphir product line, I assumed this was a medium brown polish designed for cordovan shoes, but it isn’t, it’s their regular medium brown polish.

Who is at fault here? Seller for improperly titling the listing or me for not knowing the product line well enough? Should I request a return? Further, is this stuff okay to use on shell or should I buy the right stuff?

I can always use this on other brown shoes, but I wouldn’t have spent nearly $30 on it if I had known it wasn’t the polish specifically designed for shell.

In general, shell shoes do not require polish, but some makers do develop colored creme products for shell cordovan. Allen Edmonds, for example, has a selection of products they recommend for shell. Link. I never found it to be required or useful, but it is certainly cheaper than Saphir. It is always an area for potential confusion since cordovan is a type of leather AND a color. This results in problems you are encountering. I personally only use color on shell if there is a real problem that cannot be resolved with brushing. I do recommend Collinil 1909 in neutral. Link. Only a tiny amount is needed for a shoe and it does not affect the underlying color. Plus, it creates a nice shine when the tiny amount drys and is buffed off.

 

[eTrojan]

1985 Allen Edmonds Polo with a kudu saddle.

 

[friendlygoz]

So having recently acquired some shell shoes, I decided to get some of the cordovan polish from saphir. Ordered some from eBay, the listing was titled “Saphir Medaille D'or Creme Cordovan Shoe Polish, 75 ml, 37 Medium Brown” from a seller who seems to sell lots of shoe care items.
Not knowing the entire saphir product line, I assumed this was a medium brown polish designed for cordovan shoes, but it isn’t, it’s their regular medium brown polish.

Who is at fault here? Seller for improperly titling the listing or me for not knowing the product line well enough? Should I request a return? Further, is this stuff okay to use on shell or should I buy the right stuff?

I can always use this on other brown shoes, but I wouldn’t have spent nearly $30 on it if I had known it wasn’t the polish specifically designed for shell.

I would request a refund. Try Pure Polish. Their cream polish works for both calf and cordovan. The patina artists on Facebook swear by it. I’ve used some of their products and they are fantastic. Same price if not cheaper than Saphir.

 

[smfdoc]

Yesterday, while wearing my old school Hanover PTBs, I went to my old school barber. George is about 80 and runs a one man barber shop. He likes things the way they were. No multiple screen TVs showing sports. No array of hot girls wearing umpire uniform tops and black short, shorts. Old floor to ceiling paneling, his old uniform pressed and on a hanger. Several bottles of various brown liquids intended for internal consumption and a stack of Playboys if you need to wait. Old school. He gives a good haircut.

 

[happypebble]

So the wife and I were out at the strip mall; she was busy in a fabric store, which is a foreign language to me, so to kill time while she was finding craft stuff I walked down a couple spaces to the DSW shoe store, which was kind of an eye opener. Cringey shoes made in Vietnam, China, India, Brazil--Rockport, Steve Madden, Cole Haan, Chinese made Florsheim. Florsheim belts marked "BONDED LEATHER." All of it lightweight and cheap feeling as could be. Disposable. $90, $100, $120 for this? Wow. I thought back to the quality of my USA made vintage pairs and got the hell out of there.

 

[happypebble]

Oh, and happy Canada Day/Independence Day to all here. Take advantage of the long weekend.

 

[JFWR]

So the wife and I were out at the strip mall; she was busy in a fabric store, which is a foreign language to me, so to kill time while she was finding craft stuff I walked down a couple spaces to the DSW shoe store, which was kind of an eye opener. Cringey shoes made in Vietnam, China, India, Brazil--Rockport, Steve Madden, Cole Haan, Chinese made Florsheim. Florsheim belts marked "BONDED LEATHER." All of it lightweight and cheap feeling as could be. Disposable. $90, $100, $120 for this? Wow. I thought back to the quality of my USA made vintage pairs and got the hell out of there.

Isn't it sad?

Rockport has gone especially down hill from "reasonable low-end non gyw shoes" to abominations.

It saddens me deeply that this is what shoes have come to.

 

[heathenist]

Not dress shoes, but vintage and dress shoe adjacent maybe.
I have what I think are Mason Velvet-Eez Chelsea boots that I really love. Found them a few years ago and despite not being super high end shoes, are some of my favorites. I love the patina, they fit like a glove, easy on and off, etc. the down side is the cheap construction and man-made soles.

I stupidly wore through the top lift into the heel. Which means I might need to get new heels put on. But I was wondering if it’s possible to resole these since they don’t appear to be stitch welted?

 

[MathMan314]

Not dress shoes, but vintage and dress shoe adjacent maybe.
I have what I think are Mason Velvet-Eez Chelsea boots that I really love. Found them a few years ago and despite not being super high end shoes, are some of my favorites. I love the patina, they fit like a glove, easy on and off, etc. the down side is the cheap construction and man-made soles.

I stupidly wore through the top lift into the heel. Which means I might need to get new heels put on. But I was wondering if it’s possible to resole these since they don’t appear to be stitch welted? View attachment 1808694 View attachment 1808695 View attachment 1808696

Nice looking pair of boots. I think they could be resoled without much trouble. I'd guess that most people in the shoe repair business these days work on non-stitched shoes quite often.

 

[suitforcourt]

Not dress shoes, but vintage and dress shoe adjacent maybe.
I have what I think are Mason Velvet-Eez Chelsea boots that I really love. Found them a few years ago and despite not being super high end shoes, are some of my favorites. I love the patina, they fit like a glove, easy on and off, etc. the down side is the cheap construction and man-made soles.

I stupidly wore through the top lift into the heel. Which means I might need to get new heels put on. But I was wondering if it’s possible to resole these since they don’t appear to be stitch welted? View attachment 1808694 View attachment 1808695 View attachment 1808696

Nice looking pair of boots. I think they could be resoled without much trouble. I'd guess that most people in the shoe repair business these days work on non-stitched shoes quite often.

I'm not a cobbler but I've had over 40 pairs of footwear rebuilt. Your favourite boots can definitely be rebuilt. In fact, if you want to spend the dough, you can ask the cobbler to add a Goodyear welt, or to convert them to Blake rapid stitch construction.

I would also consider doing this combo: house leather soles, and then a rubber sole protector for added grip and to increase durability on the leather.

A skilled cobbler can do the work. If you need recommendations, let us know.

 

[heathenist]

I'm not a cobbler but I've had over 40 pairs of footwear rebuilt. Your favourite boots can definitely be rebuilt. In fact, if you want to spend the dough, you can ask the cobbler to add a Goodyear welt, or to convert them to Blake rapid stitch construction.

I would also consider doing this combo: house leather soles, and then a rubber sole protector for added grip and to increase durability on the leather.

A skilled cobbler can do the work. If you need recommendations, let us know.

That’s good to hear. Definitely if money wasn’t an object I’d love to add a Goodyear welt with leather soles and a stacked leather heel. I imagine that’s a several hundred dollar job though. And I don’t know if I could justify that right now. Maybe for now I can just add new heels. Definitely open to suggestions for cobblers though, I know of some of the popular internet ones like Bedos. I live in AZ if that matters.

 

[MathMan314]

That’s good to hear. Definitely if money wasn’t an object I’d love to add a Goodyear welt with leather soles and a stacked leather heel. I imagine that’s a several hundred dollar job though. And I don’t know if I could justify that right now. Maybe for now I can just add new heels. Definitely open to suggestions for cobblers though, I know of some of the popular internet ones like Bedos. I live in AZ if that matters.

Do you have many (or any) local cobblers in your area with good reviews?

I don't have any experience with them, but there is a mail-in service called "The Cobblers". It looks like they have changed the site since I last looked, but I know last year they would do a house leather resole for $99 (and that covered shipping as well). I mention them because they have a video consultation service where you can video chat with a cobbler to discuss possibilities, get a quote, etc.

Has anyone here ever used "The Cobblers" for recrafting?

 

[suitforcourt]

Do you have many (or any) local cobblers in your area with good reviews?

I don't have any experience with them, but there is a mail-in service called "The Cobblers". It looks like they have changed the site since I last looked, but I know last year they would do a house leather resole for $99 (and that covered shipping as well). I mention them because they have a video consultation service where you can video chat with a cobbler to discuss possibilities, get a quote, etc.

Has anyone here ever used "The Cobblers" for recrafting?

Can you provide a link for them?