Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[sam67]

In honor of the successful conclusion (skip to the recap at 24:45 if needed) today of this year’s Tour de France, and of finally having some clean air to breathe, I did a hilly ride on my road bike just now wearing these thrifted Shimano SPD road shoes for the first time.
View attachment 1462225 Alberto Contador rode this Trek Madone frame in a smaller size to victory in the TDF, Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta de Espana, hence the colored stripes on the seatpost. I bought it new locally at a scandalously low close out price of about $2500 five years ago and love the compact gear set. Four fewer teeth on each of the front chainrings make it easier to climb hills, at the expense of less top speed in sprints, which I don’t do anyway.

Super cool. I still ride my Bridgestone RB-1, occasionally (Long live Greg LeMond!)

 

[suitforcourt]

A sunny week and relatively warm weather means the summer may hang around for a bit more. Here's hoping.

My efforts to add to the mood - Golden Harvests that were custom made to 9eee. They fit more like 8.5eee or 9ee, which gives the snug feel.

A cobbler rebuilt with JR soles, toe plates, and cat paw heels.

Have a great week, shoe brothers. I have 3 pairs incoming - blue suede Florsheims dating from the 1940s, a pair of Florsheim Duckie Brown boots that are NOS, and a pair of LL Bean Katahdin boots (made by Chippewa).

My new purchases are mostly boots these days. I am still purging my collection to rid of pairs I rarely wear. Or have forgotten about.

 

[jpm1]

Vintage 1960s/70s era Cordwainer Wright Shortwing Balmoral. Made in Rockland, MA.

 

[kilowatts]

A sunny week and relatively warm weather means the summer may hang around for a bit more. Here's hoping.

My efforts to add to the mood - Golden Harvests that were custom made to 9eee. They fit more like 8.5eee or 9ee, which gives the snug feel.

A cobbler rebuilt with JR soles, toe plates, and cat paw heels.

Have a great week, shoe brothers. I have 3 pairs incoming - blue suede Florsheims dating from the 1940s, a pair of Florsheim Duckie Brown boots that are NOS, and a pair of LL Bean Katahdin boots (made by Chippewa).

My new purchases are mostly boots these days. I am still purging my collection to rid of pairs I rarely wear. Or have forgotten about.

View attachment 1462400 View attachment 1462401

I'd sure like to see your new Duckies.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

Working from home often means very few chances to wear 90% of my collection. I usually end up in Flip Flops or Sperry or something equally casual. I wore the Sperry A/O Topsider when I was in middle school (it was the 80’s). But, I never really liked the flat sole and lack of support.

Quoddy and Rancourt are very well regarded and they use a similar vibram flat sole, but I THINK they have more support.

I’m not convinced I like either of these. I like the brown leather on the Quoddy, but I like the style of the Rancourt better (which are blue by the way).

Im pretty sure I would not pay retail prices for these. But, with the quality construction and vibram sole, I’m sure they will last for a LONG time.

I have also heard complaints about Rancourt sizing. But, now I know what my size is for their shoes 10.5B (they are a tiny bit narrow, but they should stretch a tad). I think they only sell B, D, and E width.

 

[Nealjpage]

Heartbreak coming.

 

[suitforcourt]

Heartbreak coming.

View attachment 1462567

Very sorry, brother.

I have sworn off vintage shell, no matter the condition in the pics. Too many heartbreaks. And I condition like crazy.

I know @CWOyaji had a cobbler patch a heel crack. He might be able to offer some consolation.

 

[Nobleprofessor]

Heartbreak coming.

View attachment 1462567

Very sorry, brother.

I have sworn off vintage shell, no matter the condition in the pics. Too many heartbreaks. And I condition like crazy.

I know @CWOyaji had a cobbler patch a heel crack. He might be able to offer some consolation.

For this exact reason, I ordered TWO bottles of Bick 4 and they arrived today. I am going to condition all the NOS pairs that I am keeping for myself.

I guess I need to condition my Golden Harvest too. They have been worn and maintained over the years so it’s not as if they haven’t had any conditioning.

So, @suitforcourt and anyone else with Golden Harvest, after conditioning, I might put a little polish on. But, I assume any typical color polish will be more like brown or tan. Is the only safe polish a clear/neutral?

 

[Nealjpage]

Very sorry, brother.

I have sworn off vintage shell, no matter the condition in the pics. Too many heartbreaks. And I condition like crazy.

I know @CWOyaji had a cobbler patch a heel crack. He might be able to offer some consolation.

For this exact reason, I ordered TWO bottles of Bick 4 and they arrived today. I am going to condition all the NOS pairs that I am keeping for myself.

I guess I need to condition my Golden Harvest too. They have been worn and maintained over the years so it’s not as if they haven’t had any conditioning.

So, @suitforcourt and anyone else with Golden Harvest, after conditioning, I might put a little polish on. But, I assume any typical color polish will be more like brown or tan. Is the only safe polish a clear/neutral?

This pair of Leeds isn't all that vintage; I would guess 15 years old, tops. And I've conditioned the hell out of them. I wonder if it's the shoe tree? It seems to put a lot of stress on that small area.

 

[eTrojan]

Working from home often means very few chances to wear 90% of my collection. I usually end up in Flip Flops or Sperry or something equally casual. I wore the Sperry A/O Topsider when I was in middle school (it was the 80’s). But, I never really liked the flat sole and lack of support.

Quoddy and Rancourt are very well regarded and they use a similar vibram flat sole, but I THINK they have more support.

I’m not convinced I like either of these. I like the brown leather on the Quoddy, but I like the style of the Rancourt better (which are blue by the way).

Im pretty sure I would not pay retail prices for these. But, with the quality construction and vibram sole, I’m sure they will last for a LONG time.

I have also heard complaints about Rancourt sizing. But, now I know what my size is for their shoes 10.5B (they are a tiny bit narrow, but they should stretch a tad). I think they only sell B, D, and E width.

View attachment 1462516 View attachment 1462517 View attachment 1462518 View attachment 1462519

I think I've mentioned this before, but I have a friend who grew up in Maine with the Rancourts. He asked one of them about A-width shoes for me, and they laughed. Are you saying that the B-width runs narrow, or are you a C-width and opted for the narrower shoe?

 

[Nobleprofessor]

I think I've mentioned this before, but I have a friend who grew up in Maine with the Rancourts. He asked one of them about A-width shoes for me, and they laughed. Are you saying that the B-width runs narrow, or are you a C-width and opted for the narrower shoe?

Im saying most of the time I wear a C width. But, when I checked last, Rancourt didn’t sell C width. They only sold D, B, or E.

I didnt actually buy these. I did a trade/sale with @Centaurus3200 and these Rancourt were part of the trade. I wasn’t sure they would fit. But, they do except they are a little tight. In fact, now that I have worn them for several hours, they are sort of making my feet feel a little numb. Probably just a tad narrow for me.

by the way, @eTrojan what is the style number of your green LWB? I’m trying to look up the style number to see if I can find another pair.

 

[Centaurus3200]

Shove some over-sized shoe trees in them for an extended period (like a few weeks). usually works for me.

Im saying most of the time I wear a C width. But, when I checked last, Rancourt didn’t sell C width. They only sold D, B, or E.

I didnt actually buy these. I did a trade/sale with @Centaurus3200 and these Rancourt were part of the trade. I wasn’t sure they would fit. But, they do except they are a little tight. In fact, now that I have worn them for several hours, they are sort of making my feet feel a little numb. Probably just a tad narrow for me.

by the way, @eTrojan what is the style number of your green LWB? I’m trying to look up the style number to see if I can find another pair.

 

[suitforcourt]

For this exact reason, I ordered TWO bottles of Bick 4 and they arrived today. I am going to condition all the NOS pairs that I am keeping for myself.

I guess I need to condition my Golden Harvest too. They have been worn and maintained over the years so it’s not as if they haven’t had any conditioning.

So, @suitforcourt and anyone else with Golden Harvest, after conditioning, I might put a little polish on. But, I assume any typical color polish will be more like brown or tan. Is the only safe polish a clear/neutral?

I have only conditioned so far. I would use neutral polish. @davidVC used a Meltonan coloured cream, which was called camel? I will let him correct me.

 

[davidVC]

I have only conditioned so far. I would use neutral polish. @davidVC used a Meltonan coloured cream, which was called camel? I will let him correct me.

Yeah, it was camel. I would just use a neutral cream though on GH.

 

[Centaurus3200]

Yeah, i have 3 pairs of shell. 1960s Kenmoor, Keith highlander short wings and relatively recent Alden 1340 shell Chukkas. All bought or traded for very little investment.

The tongue on one florsheim is splitting at the serrations, and there's the beginning of a heel crack starting on the highlanders. It's not at the exact back, so I don't think it gets that stressed from wearing. Damage most likely from not using horns.

I don't know... Is there basically a shelf life to shell? Even with proper care?

I've never seen a heel repair that wouldn't annoy the crap out of me. Gonna try my hand at reinforcing the back of the heel with self adhesive faux leather tape. And build up layers of Tandy eco flow leather glue. I can still take them to a cobbler if my idea doesn't pan out.

I tried the glue on an old leather eyeglasses case. Dries clear and stays flexible.