The London Lounge

does anybody have what they feel is are espeically good shoe care items? waxes, creams etc?

edhayes wrote:does anybody have what they feel is are espeically good shoe care items? waxes, creams etc?

I don't know who makes it for them but John Lobb's shoe cream is like Pond's cold cream for shoes. Really good stuff. JM Weston's beeswax polish is also very good. I have also had excellent results using Meltonian cream and Kiwi polish. I've heard people rave about Saphir's offerings, though I haven't gotten my hands on any yet.

On another forum, several posters have mentioned a cream for cordovan shoes. Has any Lounger knowledge of or experience with such a product?

RWS wrote:On another forum, several posters have mentioned a cream for cordovan shoes. Has any Lounger knowledge of or experience with such a product?

Both Alden and Allen Edmonds offer care products for shell cordovan. Alden has a paste wax which I use in sparing amounts whereas AE offers a cream for shell cordovan which I have never tried.

Link to AE cream
Link to Alden Paste wax

mpolanthan wrote:I've heard people rave about Saphir's offerings, though I haven't gotten my hands on any yet.

Aren't Weston's polishes made by Saphir?

jcusey wrote:

mpolanthan wrote:I've heard people rave about Saphir's offerings, though I haven't gotten my hands on any yet.

Aren't Weston's polishes made by Saphir?

Yes they are. Even in their website video of how to polish shoes, they use Saphir branded products instead of their own.

T4phage wrote:

jcusey wrote:

mpolanthan wrote:I've heard people rave about Saphir's offerings, though I haven't gotten my hands on any yet.

Aren't Weston's polishes made by Saphir?

Yes they are. Even in their website video of how to polish shoes, they use Saphir branded products instead of their own.

Good to know. Thanks.

For the last year and a half, I have been polishing my shoes with Goddard's Saddlers Wax, which is frankly magnificent. Goddard's is better known for silver polishes -- there's a Royal Warrant to that effect on the tin -- but the saddler's wax gives a lovely deep shine, which with a tiny amount of water and some gentle buffing turns into the sort of "cirage" you see on the French websites.

It turned up in a high-end hardware shop here in Singapore, so I have no idea if it's widely available, but the addresses on the tin are:

J. Goddard & Sons Ltd.,
Frimley Green, Surrey, England

US Distributor:
J. Goddard & Sons Division
S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.,
Racine, Wisconsin 53403.

Canadian Distributor:
S.C. Johnson & Son Ltd.
Brantford, Ontario.

John Lobb's shoe polish is produced by Saphir as well as Eduard Meier's shoe polish!

I prefer the medaille d'or 1925 from Saphir. I am going to post some pictues of the shoe polish and my polished shoes on saturday as I am very busy now.

So long,

Raphael

I just loaded some pics of Saphir shoe polish at the photojournal...

I just loaded some pics of Saphir shoe polish at the photojournal...

The next polish I am going to use is Saphir Pate de Luxe. It has a slightly higher amount of terpentinte and pure bee wax I think. For more information please see www.avel.fr
Unfortunately the English version seems to be out of work - so all the Frenchman and Spanish speaking people do have a clear advantage

Does anyone have any experience with the Brummel approach (also favoured, I understand, by Berlutti enthusiasts) of polishing shoes with Champagne (or Methode
Champagnoise, in any event!)? I'm intrigued by the idea, but I wonder if it's done as an affectation, or a sort of voodoo-ritual, or whether there are merits for the leather. I can see how this might be the case.

Regards,

Eden

How do you go about polishing shoes with extensive broguing?

Polish your brogued shoes the same way you do polish you plain ones. Additionally use brushes to get something of the polish inside the broguing holes. But it is very important to remove all the polish residues from the broguing holes at the end of the polish session. I use a soft toothbrush! Sounds strange, but the small bristles are the best and easiest tool to remove all polish residues.

Bye