Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[woofmang]

Wearing my mid-90s AE Black Cherry Shell Bristols today:

 

[woofmang]

Questions about conditioning (particularly for shell):

After seeing @davidVC's heartbreaking post the other day, I decided I'd better condition the shoes above before their next wear, and so, last night, I combined advice from Kirby Allison with advice from Nick Horween: I gave them a light coat of Renovateur, which I let sit for about an hour, then brushed them vigorously and let them sit for another 20 minutes before wiping them down with a soft cloth. Then I gave them a light coat of neutral cordovan cream, let them sit overnight, then brushed them vigorously this morning and wiped them down with a soft cloth.

There are a still a couple of places (where the rolls meet the edge of the top of the vamp) that feel a lot like dry skin: is there something else you'd suggest I do with them?

Also, how often would you condition vintage shell? These came beautifully conditioned (thanks again @Lmrjfud!), and today is the 15th wear since I started keeping track at the beginning of August 2019 (I'm not sure how many wears they had before I started keeping track, maybe another 2 or 3).

Thanks!

 

[Hotel Cali]

Joy of joys, the British Boot Shop of Calgary, McHale built gunboats that @Dit_rich posted last week in the Canadian Vintage Shoe thread arrived at noon today. They are Size 10.5EE and they will end up with my wide-footed son, who was born about two kilometers from the factory in which these shoes were made. They really didn't require much work, but I washed them and cleaned the welts, removed a bit of old polish with Renomat, moisturized with Bicks 4, dressed the edges, and polished with a bit of clear Collonil Supreme Creme de Lux. I also put in some new laces, put they may get changed to a darker pair.

The shoes were a private label offering by the British Boot Shop (BBS) but they are for all intents and purposes the Canadian version of the Florsheim Imperial that was built by McHale. These shoes have the Made in Canada maple leaf printed mid-sole on the sock-liner indicating they were manufactured in the 70's or early 80's. For interest's sake, the last few pictures show one of the "Florsheim/BBS" shoes side-by side with a John McHale signature shoe from the same era. Both have thick double soles, with the McHales being perhaps a 32nd of an inch thicker. The McHales have nailed leather heels and the BBS shoes have Goodyear heels, however many Florsheims by McHale had leather soles. In this case the choice of soles would have been determined by the British Boot Shop.

The McHale shoes have a deeper reddish brown colour and larger brogue holes on the toe box, while the Mchales are short-wing Bluchers and the BBS are long-wings. The McHales have their signature John McHale "box-barring" on the base of the lace stays and have gold 360 storm welt versus the black 360 storm welt on the BBS shoes. Both shoes have the classic McHale doubled and stitched sock-liners, and both have the MIC maple leaf. The heel height is almost identical, with perhaps a very slight nod to the McHales. Overall both shoes are of a wonderful quality.

Thank you so much @Dit_rich for passing these on to me. They will be in the family for many years to come!

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We need the mantle update shot.

 

[Nealjpage]

At the DMV this morning. First wearing of the $2.00 Bally boots. Ouch. Boy are they snug, especially in the instep. I might need to stop home to change. Any tips for stretching the vamp a bit?

 

[Nobleprofessor]

Thankfully it wasn’t raining today. My selection this morning was my vintage towncraft that I customized in an experiment.

I like how they turned out.

 

[suitforcourt]

2020 styleforum shoe revival challenge

Dear members, The competition you've all been waiting for. Get out your wallets, polishing cloths, and gas masks. The 2020 shoe revival challenge is about to commence. The 2020 competition will amalgamate the 2018 and 2019 formats. Rules of the challenge: Shoes can only be worked on AFTER...

www.styleforum.net

@instigateur - as you can see, I incorporated your request. No limit on when shoes were bought.

 

[Raimar]

At the DMV this morning. First wearing of the $2.00 Bally boots. Ouch. Boy are they snug, especially in the instep. I might need to stop home to change. Any tips for stretching the vamp a bit?

That is what I use. There are wooden and metal versions as well. Also some made for boots.

 

[eTrojan]

1979 Allen Edmonds MacNeil. Standing in an SRO meeting of media relations practitioners for the university and its assorted schools.

 

[Patrologia]

Spoiler: Not exactly vintage, just a request for assistance, so spoilered

I picked up a pair of Ferragamo loafers (to resell, not for personal) a few days ago in which the size stamp wore away, so I don't know what size they are. My estimate, based on comparison with a couple of eBay listings with measurements is that they are 9 D. On the off chance that one or several of my shoe brethren has a similar pair near that size, would you mind measuring and letting me know?
These are the shoes:

And these are the measurements I have ~11 7/8” by 4”


Thanks

 

[Nobleprofessor]

1979 Allen Edmonds MacNeil. Standing in an SRO meeting of media relations practitioners for the university and its assorted schools.

View attachment 1345313

Nice shoes AND pants!

 

[friendlygoz]

At the DMV this morning. First wearing of the $2.00 Bally boots. Ouch. Boy are they snug, especially in the instep. I might need to stop home to change. Any tips for stretching the vamp a bit? View attachment 1345209

View attachment 1345210

I got some shoe stretchers on amazon that work really well. None of my shoes are unbearably tight, but the modest investment in the stretchers was well worth it.

 

[friendlygoz]

Wearing my mid-90s AE Black Cherry Shell Bristols today:

View attachment 1345204

Questions about conditioning (particularly for shell):

After seeing @davidVC's heartbreaking post the other day, I decided I'd better condition the shoes above before their next wear, and so, last night, I combined advice from Kirby Allison with advice from Nick Horween: I gave them a light coat of Renovateur, which I let sit for about an hour, then brushed them vigorously and let them sit for another 20 minutes before wiping them down with a soft cloth. Then I gave them a light coat of neutral cordovan cream, let them sit overnight, then brushed them vigorously this morning and wiped them down with a soft cloth.

There are a still a couple of places (where the rolls meet the edge of the top of the vamp) that feel a lot like dry skin: is there something else you'd suggest I do with them?

Also, how often would you condition vintage shell? These came beautifully conditioned (thanks again @Lmrjfud!), and today is the 15th wear since I started keeping track at the beginning of August 2019 (I'm not sure how many wears they had before I started keeping track, maybe another 2 or 3).

Thanks!

for those hard-to-reach places, I think you can just put a generous dollop of Bick4 on your fingers and rub it in.

 

[eTrojan]

Nice shoes AND pants!

Thanks! It's an old Brooks Brothers suit that I've had for 20+ years. Very old school with a high rise waist and a 3-roll-2 lapel. I figured it was stylistically appropriate for my vintage LWB.

 

[eTrojan]

1979 Allen Edmonds MacNeil. Standing in an SRO meeting of media relations practitioners for the university and its assorted schools.

View attachment 1345313

BTW, I really LOVE these shoes. If I ever pare my collection down to a couple dozen, these would definitely make the cut. I would pick these over my 93602s (but the vintage MacNeil last works better for me than the Kenmoor last).

In that same culling pass, I would be torn between my '60s era black MacNeils and my '60s era Foot-Joy LWB. My Florsheim 96624s would be a possible wild card, but only because I had them recrafted with JR soles and heels at B. Nelson and I have much more invested in them than the MacNeils or Foot-Joys. But I prefer the other shoes.

Maybe that's an exercise we should entertain. If you had to distill your collection -- picking absolute winners and losers -- which shoes would you pick over others? What would be the right threshold? A dozen shoes? Two dozen?

 

[Nealjpage]

That is what I use. There are wooden and metal versions as well. Also some made for boots.

View attachment 1345277

I got some shoe stretchers on amazon that work really well. None of my shoes are unbearably tight, but the modest investment in the stretchers was well worth it.

So what is your stretching process? I shoved some shoe trees with high insteps in them and after about 5 minutes I could see the leather of the vamp starting to check and crack. I pulled the trees out and slathered the shoes with Bick 4. Several heavy applications a day for about 3 days. The leather was still soaking up Bick, and I haven't tried the trees again. In short, how do I stretch without tearing thin leather?