• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • We would like to welcome House of Huntington as an official Affiliate Vendor. Shop past season Drake's, Nigel Cabourn, Private White V.C. and other menswear luxury brands at exceptional prices below retail. Please visit the Houise of Huntington thread and welcome them to the forum.

  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

WANTED: Devastatingly Dark Brown Shoes

ZTG

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2019
Messages
7
Reaction score
1
Hello! I'm new to SF with a specific question: Where can I find—or how can I create—the ABSOLUTE DARKEST possible pair of brown leather dress shoes? Brogueing or other shoe details don't matter to me; I'm just looking for a brown that's verging on black, without any hint of redness remaining.

If I'm purchasing new shoes, my budget maxes out around $700 USD, but I'd prefer to pay half that. I'm also a relative novice with polishes, and don't know what techniques are available to darken a brown shoe that may be close, but not quite there.
  • The now-discontinued Allen Edmonds "Brown" wasn't dark enough.
  • Meermin "Dark Brown" may have been dark enough in the past (see photo below), but I just spoke with a rep at the NYC store that stated newer batches of their dark brown look much closer to their "Expresso."
  • I haven't seen Carmina "Brown" yet.
Any real-life photos you could share with your suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Meermin Dark Brown.PNG
 

Anachronist

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2017
Messages
454
Reaction score
230
Super dark brown shoes bordering on black are extremely rare, so I'm afraid you'll need to go the way of polishing.

My advice: decide on the cut or type of the shoe first. I'm sure you have a look or certain garments in mind you want to pair this shoe with, so the type of shoe does make difference. Check out the shoe brands that fall in your budget (Crockett & Jones, Carmina, Barker, Loake, JFitzpatrick will all fit the bill, just to name a few) and try to find the type of shoe you are looking for in a dark brown.

For the polishing, buy yourself a very dark brown (e.g. Saphir shoe cream in the color sanglier = means wild boar is a black/brown) as well as a black shoe cream and possibly a black shoe wax. Evenly spread the dark brown shoe cream over the shoes and let it dry over night. Polish it out the next day and repeat with the black shoe cream. Finish with a polish of black shoe wax for lustre and protection. You may need to repeat the procedure with the cream a couple of times till the shoe reaches the desired darkness. If you want to spice it up and create a kind of "museum calf" look, apply the shoe creme in dabs instead of evenly.

The more radical alternative is using leather color, however I would go to a good cobbler to have this done, as they will have more experience and chances are higher that the result turns out better than if you do this yourself.
 

ZTG

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2019
Messages
7
Reaction score
1
Thank you for such a thorough response! Yes, I'll undoubtedly have more qualifications for the shoe's style once I'm preparing to purchase, but I just wanted to take a general polling to see what's out there. I have no one in my social circle that I could turn to to learn the polishing procedure you described, so I'm very grateful for your outline. I'd also never noticed the Boar Brown Saphir before; that could be a great help. Thanks again.
 

stylish_raven

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2018
Messages
266
Reaction score
67
definitely cover the darkening process via polishing/creams. more often than not shoes get darker over time wether you like them to or not. on purpose it should be a tad easy. best regards and best of luck!
 

Miles R.

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2019
Messages
203
Reaction score
538
I have no information to contribute; just want to say that you have my sympathies! I love dark-dark brown, but it is hard to find in shoes---and even harder to find in belts!
 
  • Like
Reactions: ZTG

ZTG

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2019
Messages
7
Reaction score
1
I have no information to contribute; just want to say that you have my sympathies! I love dark-dark brown, but it is hard to find in shoes---and even harder to find in belts!
Thank you, haha! I'll do my best ;)
 

ZTG

Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2019
Messages
7
Reaction score
1
This single-monk from Fratelli Rossetti also caught my eye; it fits the hue I'm looking for. 40% off today ;)

ri43110-010-1x-t.jpg
 
Last edited:

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 55 35.5%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 60 38.7%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 17 11.0%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 27 17.4%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 28 18.1%

Forum statistics

Threads
505,170
Messages
10,579,188
Members
223,889
Latest member
bakadoni
Top