Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[smfdoc]

Happy WTW forum pals. It's smokey here on the east coast, but that's no excuse for not wearing nice shoes.

 

[eTrojan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah… I know it’s wingtip Wednesday, but rules exist to be broken.

Stetson alligator split-toes. It just felt like an alligator day today.

 

[friendlygoz]

AE Dundee in brown shell today…

 

[suitforcourt]

#wingtipwednesday compliance check.

90th anniversary AE Broadstreets for an evening event. But started the day with Florsheim PTBs.

 

[smfdoc]

Happy Thursday forum pals. It was time for some retail therapy and I stumbled on to some NOS Hanover LWBs. Not sure when these were made, but I have been quite pleased with the fit on several other pairs of Hanover shoes I have and it was time they were joined by these. These are a bit of an outlier and not found in the 1970 catalog on Vcleat.com. None of the LWBs in the catalog have 6 eyelets and the shoe size for EEE in the catalog ends at 11. These are 12EEE. The style number is 3312, which apparently went through many design change over the years. I have seen it in their LB Sheppard line, the later comfort arch line, five eyelets and six eyelets and both rubber heel and Vcleat.

Another oddity is the heel design. I have seen rubber heels and nailed leather heels, but this is my first exposure to a nailed rubber heel.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

The Jeopardy Category is Unicorns.

A: Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, A Coherent Fiscal Monetary Strategy for Developing Coutries, and these shoes.

Q: What are things fabled to exist but are rarely seen.

These are vintage Florsheim Yuma with Alligator vamp. Someone on here coined the term “YumaGator” which seems fitting.

 

[JFWR]

Happy Thursday forum pals. It was time for some retail therapy and I stumbled on to some NOS Hanover LWBs. Not sure when these were made, but I have been quite pleased with the fit on several other pairs of Hanover shoes I have and it was time they were joined by these. These are a bit of an outlier and not found in the 1970 catalog on Vcleat.com. None of the LWBs in the catalog have 6 eyelets and the shoe size for EEE in the catalog ends at 11. These are 12EEE. The style number is 3312, which apparently went through many design change over the years. I have seen it in their LB Sheppard line, the later comfort arch line, five eyelets and six eyelets and both rubber heel and Vcleat.

View attachment 1971363


Another oddity is the heel design. I have seen rubber heels and nailed leather heels, but this is my first exposure to a nailed rubber heel.

View attachment 1971367

I had a pair of shell LWB from Hanover like this...and they tore because I didn't realize the shell was dehydrated.

RIP.

I think I like Hanover as much as Florsheim.

 

[smfdoc]

The Jeopardy Category is Unicorns.

A: Bigfoot, The Loch Ness Monster, A Coherent Fiscal Monetary Strategy for Developing Coutries, and these shoes.

Q: What are things fabled to exist but are rarely seen.

These are vintage Florsheim Yuma with Alligator vamp. Someone on here coined the term “YumaGator” which seems fitting.

View attachment 1971517 View attachment 1971519 View attachment 1971521

Those are just really special shoes! Love them.

 

[JFWR]

Vintage Allan temple Black Imperial Wingtip Dress Shoes sz 12 E | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Allan temple Black Imperial Wingtip Dress Shoes sz 12 E at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

For those who like Corfam, a pair is up in 12 E.

 

[eTrojan]

So here’s a question:

A few years ago, I sourced a pair of Church’s saddle oxfords that had layer upon layer upon layer of brown wax on them. “Patina” one person called them, but the wax was cracking and pretty ratchet when you looked at them up close. In the process of removing all that wax, I discovered that it was “polished binder” as Church’s likes to call it, and some of the top layer wore thin while stripping the wax.

I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to do a mild color/polish/wax to cover the thin spots, or if I’m now committed to a full acetone strip of the coating to get back to the original calf underneath.

Thoughts?

 

[smfdoc]

So here’s a question:

A few years ago, I sourced a pair of Church’s saddle oxfords that had layer upon layer upon layer of brown wax on them. “Patina” one person called them, but the wax was cracking and pretty ratchet when you looked at them up close. In the process of removing all that wax, I discovered that it was “polished binder” as Church’s likes to call it, and some of the top layer wore thin while stripping the wax.

I’m trying to figure out if there’s a way to do a mild color/polish/wax to cover the thin spots, or if I’m now committed to a full acetone strip of the coating to get back to the original calf underneath.

Thoughts?

Under the "less is more" theory, you could try the spot fix approach. I think you will be unhappy with the results, but it is worth a try. Then you will likely end up stripping the entire shoe and working your way back.

 

[smfdoc]

It's Florsheim Friday forum pals! My latest unicorn size shell PTBs were just demanding another trip outside.

 

[friendlygoz]

Dack’s kudu wholecuts today…

 

[friendlygoz]

93606s yesterday…

 

[smfdoc]

Happy Saturday forum pals.