Show us your SHOES !!!

[Isshinryu101]

Good Man!

 

[Mr. Speakeasy]

My Two-tone Johnston & Murphys

Here is my pair of 1930's Johnston & Murphy spectators, in a size 9
Still in very good condition

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Here is my pair of 1930's Johnston & Murphy spectators, in a size 9
Still in very good condition.

Wow, those are dynamite looking! I do not post on this section of the forum very much, but can not resist commenting. Smashing rides for the feet sir!

Eric -

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Those spectators are in fairly nice shape as old as they are and being worn no less. Nice find. I would sure be using a ton of conditioner on them if you have not already done so....and I wrong to say the white is suede and not shiny finished leather? I can't tell by my monitor but it looks like it and then does not look like it! lol!

 

[Mr. Speakeasy]

Yes its suede, and i'm a little weary of using conditioner, the leather is still so buttery soft and supple and i wear them so little, are there any risks of using conditioner on shoes this old?

 

[LoveMyHats2]

Yes its suede, and i'm a little weary of using conditioner, the leather is still so buttery soft and supple and i wear them so little, are there any risks of using conditioner on shoes this old?

I also at one time felt to use a high quality white shoe liquid dressing would be good for keeping the white suede white, but it will ruin the appearance and texture of the suede. Sort of like putting house pant on your hair, and letting it dry...you won't like it...well...normally you would not....I have used the best white liquid(s) more or less testing, and decided that Hoffco is not so bad for normal leather finish, has waxes and oils for your white leather that most other liquid whites do not have. Some white liquid shoe dressing can actually dry out the leather and more or less speed up the leather cracking and falling apart. Hoffco will not do that and you can shine it if you want, after several applications it will shine up just like any other wax or polish you use on black or brown or what ever color shoe/boot you have.....it works, seals leather fairly well, feeds the leather and shines....does the job it was designed to do.

Well here is the thing with white suede....you can sort of ruin it with leather conditioner....from what I am aware of you need a kit for suede, a brush and eraser they come together, you brush that suede more than using don't be shy about using the brush... be sparing when you use the eraser carefully and don't rub hard with it. You can get a bunny bag for the white, dab it on with care as it does not take much to make the suede white again. Now the shoe conditioner may be carefully applied on the inside (and inside of the uppers which is now the back side of the suede) but do not put too much on at any one time, you don't want it to blob up the surface of the suede by having it penetrate all the way through, just lightly on the suede area but any place else not suede you can slobber up right nicely with rubbing it in with your fingers. If the shoes have leather soles....slobber some on them as well, on the face of the bottoms and carefully on the sides of leather soles and heels. Remember shoe trees please. Shoe cream or wax polish on non- white leather areas, and those shoes can look new again.

I was able to use a number of products made available to me at my cobbler, and we concluded that as some spray products claim to clean suede on shoes, it does not work. I would say even one product was claimed to really work and they claimed the others did not work....well...that one was a dud also...did nothing to clean the suede other than to darken and spot the white suede. I was then given the rule of thumb that my cobbler originally told me, use the brush like crazy and the eraser, brush some more, then bunny bag. It works.

 

[Isshinryu101]

Here is my pair of 1930's Johnston & Murphy spectators, in a size 9
Still in very good condition

can we see a sole/ heel pic, please? Very nice J&M shoes. Conditioner on the black leather... just be careful to keep it off the suede. Do you keep them in trees? Thanks for sharing!

EDIT: about the suede... just leave it as is. Erasers and the like are fine with modern suede. However, that stuff is 75+ years old. There is fine white powder mixed into the suede that was originally used to keep it ultra-white. It is starting to cake and dry a bit, but that is OK and natural.

 

[Mr. Speakeasy]

LoveMyHats2 Thanks for the great info on shoe care, I have to confess I have never really done much upkeep on my collection apart from the odd slather of the old shoe cream now and again, and I thought working with suede wasn't possible to me, good to know someone else's experience

Isshinryu101 Thanks for the info as well, here's a picture of the sole of one shoe, and I always keep these puppies in a tree

 

[Isshinryu101]

LoveMyHats2 Thanks for the great info on shoe care, I have to confess I have never really done much upkeep on my collection apart from the odd slather of the old shoe cream now and again, and I thought working with suede wasn't possible to me, good to know someone else's experience

Isshinryu101 Thanks for the info as well, here's a picture of the sole of one shoe, and I always keep these puppies in a tree

excellent handmades. In the 80's, they were the USA's last legit $1000 handmade calf shoe. That pair is 1950's or 60's. Interesting because J&M kept this last and put it on different sole shapes through 6 decades. True Classic

 

[cookie]

As someone who has the last of the J&M handmades you are a lucky guy to have specs in those.

 

[Isshinryu101]

As someone who has the last of the J&M handmades you are a lucky guy to have specs in those.

And you're also a Spec Nut, so you know what you're talkin about.

 

[Egoïste]

Swell shoes, everyone. What's the name of that wooden object inside some of you guys' shoes? Thank you.

 

[Isshinryu101]

here's a picture of the sole of one shoe, and I always keep these puppies in a tree

Good. But, I see some pairs in the background that show empty footbeds... crying for some trees.

 

[Tomasso]

crying for some trees.

It makes me want to cry....seriously, it really is painful for me to see the results of storing un-treed shoes.Cue: Nancy Kerrigan "Why, why, why..." audio

 

[jamespowers]

It makes me want to cry....seriously, it really is painful for me to see the results of storing un-treed shoes.Cue: Nancy Kerrigan "Why, why, why..." audio

[video=youtube_share;NjUQMs0kVEI]http://youtu.be/NjUQMs0kVEI[/video]

 

[Mr. Speakeasy]

[video=youtube_share;NjUQMs0kVEI]http://youtu.be/NjUQMs0kVEI[/video]

Haha, too good. Ideally I would have all my shoes stored with trees but its hard to come by as many as I need as I am now pushing 25 pairs

 

[fluteplayer07]

Have I shown these here before? 40's Crosby Squares:

 

[Isshinryu101]

Bad policy to ignore trees. The Vintage pairs, especially will suffer greatly. Vamp cracking will definitely come without them. Ebay has many bulk lots with inexpensive trees and even the plastic ones can be had for $2- $4 per pair. Better than nothing at all.

 

[Isshinryu101]

Have I shown these here before? 40's Crosby Squares:

Very nice. Could we see a sole pic, please? And, is the interior writing in hand, or is it stamped?

PS: 7 eyelets are fantastic!

 

[fluteplayer07]

Issh - I was looking through my old pictures on my computer, for some reason I had not photographed these with trees in them at the time, however they are otherwise always taken care of with my cedar trees. I'm not near them right now as they're currently stored at another location, so I can't take any new pictures of them. I can't recall the interior writing off the top of my head, and unfortunately these are the only pictures I took of them... When I'm around with my camera next time I will try to remember to do so.