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Are US made Johnston & Murphy dress shoes well made/worth re-crafting?

patrick_b

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I was gathering old clothes for donation recently and came across these J&M cap toes. I bought them in 1994 for my 1st job out of college. I wore the crap out of them for 5-6 yrs. While I did use shoe trees (~75% of the time) , they saw no regular cleaning/polishing and I'd wear them several days in a row without rotation.

DSC_7136.jpg


They've been in a closet for for almost ten yrs. The soles are worn through in spots but the calf-skin actually polished up fairly well. I'm considering getting them re-crafted but I don't know much about J&M's. Were they well made and worth re-soling? The sole is stamped Johnston & Murphy, Made in USA. Other than that, I don't know which model or series. Nor do I know what to look for to determine if they are worth re-crafting.

DSC_7153.jpg


DSC_7154bb.jpg
 

fritzl

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wonderful shoe, congrats

they deserve to see the daylight again.
 

Trompe le Monde

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if you like them, and the way they look (i do), why wouldnt you?
 

cioni2k

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They look pretty nice to me for J&M shoes. I'd say resole em
 

Harold falcon

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Those shoes look great. Definitely renew and keep them alive. My understanding is the J&M of 15 years ago that were Made in the USA are a quality shoe.
 

tonylumpkin

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USA made J&Ms of that vintage are well worth recrafting.

If you decide to donate them, please PM me with the location.
smile.gif
 

Bandit44

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They are well-worth refurbishing. I'd have J & M do it since by 1994, they were using the "trampoline" cushioning system that will probably need to be replaced. J&M will still have the same lasts available to turn your shoes into like new.

My parents used to live a few miles away from the Genesco plant in Nashville and I'd stop by there once a year and buy shoes. I wish I had taken better care of my J & Ms; I never rotated my shoes, never used trees, and wore them rain or shine, so they rarely lasted more than a few years per pair.
 

patrick_b

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Originally Posted by harvey_birdman
...My understanding is the J&M of 15 years ago that were Made in the USA are a quality shoe.

Originally Posted by tonylumpkin
USA made J&Ms of that vintage are well worth recrafting.

That's what I'd hoped to hear, as they are a classic design and the leather really popped back to life nicely with just a good cleaning & polishing. I wish I'd taken a 'before' picture.

I used some J&M shoe cream (that I bought with the shoes 15 yrs ago) then buffed. They cleaned up but didn't get a shine at all. I subsequently put a few real thin coats of brown Kiwi and brushed for a good 10-15 min. The leather really really came back to life after the wax polish. Given that they've been in a shoe box w/no trees since 2001, I'm really pleased.

Once I saw the shine they took, I really felt the need to get them re-crafted and start wearing them again.

Thanks for the feedback all.


Originally Posted by Bandit44
They are well-worth refurbishing. I'd have J & M do it since by 1994, they were using the "trampoline" cushioning system that will probably need to be replaced. J&M will still have the same lasts available to turn your shoes into like new.


Thanks, appreciate the specifics. I hadn't thought about any proprietary cushioning.

Originally Posted by Bandit44
I wish I had taken better care of my J & Ms; I never rotated my shoes, never used trees, and wore them rain or shine, so they rarely lasted more than a few years per pair.

Sadly, that's exactly how I treated these. I'm looking forward to wearing them again with a new sole.
 

kirbya

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Are these cordovan? They have quite a good shine.

I think that long-term storage of shoes w/o shoe trees (at least cedar) is actually preferred. I read that the cedar can dry the leather out if left in a pair of shoes for a prolonged time. Anyone else hear this? I'm currently trying to come across some non-cedar shoe trees. Will probably add these to our product lineup, also, once I find some of an acceptable standard.
 

pebblegrain

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They look like corrected grain.

If you like them, sure resole them.

On the other hand, a standard resole is about $100. You could easily buy new JM US-mades for that much on ebay. The current top-lines are not corrected grain
 

poissa

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i suggest bnelson shoe corp. they've done a wonderful job installing sunken toe plates, english heels for me. There ability to recraft is likely excellent. Those shoes are beautiful- if they are corrected grain I wouldn't spend $100 to recraft them..
 

patrick_b

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Originally Posted by poissa
i suggest bnelson shoe corp. they've done a wonderful job installing sunken toe plates, english heels for me. There ability to recraft is likely excellent. Those shoes are beautiful- if they are corrected grain I wouldn't spend $100 to recraft them..

How can I tell if they are corrected grain? Either way, I think they look good cleaned up. I look forward to getting them back in the rotation.


DSC_7140.jpg
 

Yika

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Originally Posted by patrick_b
How can I tell if they are corrected grain? Either way, I think they look good cleaned up. I look forward to getting them back in the rotation.


DSC_7140.jpg


Looks good, wear it in good health.

Corrected grain tends to be shinier and very plasticky looking.

Up close, you would not see the tiny pores of the leather.
 

Henry Boogers

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Did you apply some something to these to give them such a shiny appearance? CG would tend to have a more 'plasticy' look, as was mentioned, and due to the tendency of J&M CG to crack I could not recommend having them refinished. Their calfskin shoes, on the other hand, are reasonably well made shoes and will last quite some time if treated well.

Given the fact that these haven't shown cracking yet I would assume they are calf with something applied to give it this luster and can endorse having them resoled. Enjoy!
 

MyOtherLife

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Worth a resole if you are still enjoying them. Very nice shoes and nice colour.
 

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