Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[Nealjpage]

What are these? That outside heel counter looks like a Varsity but the sock liner says Imperial. I contacted the seller but the interior markings are mostly worn away.

Soles and heels look like replacements.

Impostors?

 

[davidVC]

May I ask why you would want corfam, though? Like, corfam is kind of ****. It's a novelty, but....it's ****.

I am not argue with you on that. It's the DeLorean of shoes.

 

[davidVC]

What are these? That outside heel counter looks like a Varsity but the sock liner says Imperial. I contacted the seller but the interior markings are mostly worn away.

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Soles and heels look like replacements.
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Impostors?

I have looked at this pair a number of times. They look like a lower end Hanover pair. Maybe someone swapped the heel pads? But why?

 

[ashynastyclassy]

^Looks like the time-travel portal is in Opa-Locka, FL. Could be useful for trading stocks, or any situation where a little advance knowledge would be helpful.

Wish I could use it to go back to the 25th share prices for GME :- )

 

[happypebble]

I am not argue with you on that. It's the DeLorean of shoes.

Now that's funny (and true). I'm gonna egg you on here, I think you should grab them. If they were just a skosh bigger I would. And this kind of resonates with me: every time I wear my Charles Chester shoes (which are awesome) I get this feeling like they've got to be some sort of Corfam-ish Frankenstein material.

 

[Oshare]

This is the sorriest pair of Golden Harvests I have ever seen.

$100 BiN price and not for the faint of heart.

 

[smfdoc]

I am not argue with you on that. It's the DeLorean of shoes.

And if you can get them up to 88 mph they will take you back in time to the year they were made.

 

[Quantum17]

Heading back to campus in my Dacks black water bison wholecuts. It’s an awesome day. Let’s GOOOOOO ?

 

[smfdoc]

For you 11.5B guys, some NOS shell LWB Nettletons. Pricey, and not my listing. Link.

 

[JFWR]

Can anyone tell me what properly cleaned and conditioned shell cordovan should feel like? I've got a pair of AE Leeds that feels smooth and silky, and other pairs that feel almost waxy. What's your experience? Can you use feel as an indicator for proper shell health?

New cordovan that is nicely moisturized is supple enough, but definitely harder than calf. I wouldn't call it "silky", but "pliable" and "smooth".

I wouldn't be too worried about waxy. I'd be worried about too much stiffness.

 

[JFWR]

This is the sorriest pair of Golden Harvests I have ever seen.

$100 BiN price and not for the faint of heart.

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...Those shoes are worth about 5 dollars. Their condition is absolute garbage.

They'll need resoling, relining, redying, and that wouldn't even get rid of the dessicated leather issues.

Honestly, as much as it sucks? Those babies belong at the dump. They're done.

 

[Nealjpage]

New cordovan that is nicely moisturized is supple enough, but definitely harder than calf. I wouldn't call it "silky", but "pliable" and "smooth".

I wouldn't be too worried about waxy. I'd be worried about too much stiffness.

I'm not 'worried' about the waxiness; it's just hard to keep a shine. The brush leaves fine scratches and they show fingerprints. I don't know if this pair needs heavier stripping or if this is as good as it gets.

 

[JFWR]

I'm not 'worried' about the waxiness; it's just hard to keep a shine. The brush leaves fine scratches and they show fingerprints. I don't know if this pair needs heavier stripping or if this is as good as it gets.

Yes, I'd definitely give them a cleaning if finger prints are showing up. It might be the case that they have far too much wax build up.

My first suggestion is always to use neutral polish to see how much you can rub off with a lot of elbow grease. I have even heard of people using baby shampoo to get rid of wax.

 

[JFWR]

To be clear: Neutral polish should be basically applied as if you were using it to rub stuff off. So you aren't lightly putting it on to glaze the shoe, but literally rubbing it in to strip the previous wax.

I've taken off coloured cream polish pigment by using this technique and find it a nice, simple way to clean shoes.

 

[Nealjpage]

Yes, I'd definitely give them a cleaning if finger prints are showing up. It might be the case that they have far too much wax build up.

My first suggestion is always to use neutral polish to see how much you can rub off with a lot of elbow grease. I have even heard of people using baby shampoo to get rid of wax.

Yeah, I've used saddle soap, Renomat, naptha, and VSC on this pair. The polish cloth keeps turning burgundy. And once I think I'm done, I can still scrape wax off with my fingernail.

It might be time for acetone.