Mens Shoes

[Dr T]

If you are ever in Holland - visit Sir Max Shoes in Amsterdam - good range of traditional brands - also his own made shoes and bespoke St Crispin - Just a great shop.
I brought some shoes their last year and wasvery impress with them -wear them more than my Lobbs.

[Dr T]

I forgot to mention -I still feel that the very best shoes are still made in England

[Dr T]

Shoe care - with Prince Charle's Lobb shoes over 45 years old - the secret to great shoes is regular polishing and care. I have shoes 15 years old that look like new. With out doubt one of the best shoe polishes and creams are made by a firm called Saphir - all natural ingredients.

[rodes]

Dr. T, Thank you for the tip on Saphir. Can't wait to try it. Any advice on cream vs. polish, conditioner etc.?

[Dr T]

Rodes - normally polish three times then the forth time you clean your shoes do them with the cream. With new shoes always apply creme first before wearing - this prevents any early cracking. Shoes are normally very dry when you purchase them.
With both polish and cream - if you can, leave on the shoe for an hour or so before polishing ;it allows time to soak into the leather.

[theoldesouth]

Wouldn't have guessed that new shoes would need conditioning before wearing. Interesting.

Good to know.

[Dr T]

Is this the latest in Bespoke. A company called The Cobbler, in Dubai do bespoke shoe laces -available round or flat - in an amazing range of colours and to the exact length you want. Neeedless to say i had some - colour - black.

[Dr T]

Getting the best from you shoes. Six tips

1. New shoes – get them fitted and checked by an expert. The best I have found is Marcel who owns Sir Max Shoes in Amsterdam.

2 Remove the laces, and apply cream polish (non silicone) at least two applications over the entire upper surface, including the tongue and work into the joint with the sole. The shoes should be warm and the cream polish also. Leave at least 30 mins between applications. This is to ensure that the leather has a good feed before any use.

3.Take your new shoes to a good cobbler and have then soled with a rubber stick on sole and a rubber heel applied over the new one. This vastly improves the wear characteristics.


4. When step three is completed, wax polish your shoes including the under bottom arch and around the heel. Two to three applications will be necessary then polish using a little water to a sheen. Replace your shoelaces and most importantly put the trees into the shoes.


5.After step four the rest is years of happy polishing.
Before polishing always ensure the shoes are spotlessly clean. Immediately after using your shoes, place the trees into the shoes. This is so important to avoid the leather creasing. Hope this is of interest and use.

6. Ever brought a pair of shoes you really like – only to find out the local shoe shop has no polish to match. The very cleaver people at saphir, have a colour chart jut hold it on the shoe and you can get a great match – the you can order exactly the right colour in cream or polish.

[Elch]

Dr T,

good advice. Although I don't quite see a need to apply rubber soles - why hide the leather from daylight? The greatest improvement in wear characteristics from my point of view is keeping the upper (and soles!) properly creamed. This way I enjoy dry feet wellington-alike even in the heaviest rain.

Best wishes

[Gido]

An additional tip for some,

My shoes soles get a lot of wear on the front, so I routinely get steel toe plates fitted under the tip of the soles when the shoes are new. Just take any old pair and inspect the soles. It depends on the way you walk. If the front tip has taken a great deal of damage, then this might be a good idea for you too.

[raykalendek]

Gido makes an important point. Dependent on your gait and the areas of the heel/sole that get the most wear, metal toe/heel plates (less noisy composite also may be available) can significantly extend wear between rather expensive recrafts. Because few RTW makers factory-install these items, it would be necessary for you to find a competent service, preferrably one recommended by someone who is both knowledgeable and trusted. My Gaziano & Girling from Bespoke-England come with inset metal toe plates for a modest up-charge of about £50. Whether these are added at the factory or by an after-market service that Nick Anderson uses, I couldn't say. I've been told by others, i.e. John Lobb in NYC, Edward Green, and Crockett & Jones that they don't offer this service at all, which, of course, makes it necessary to find it after-market. This work done poorly can have a number of undesirable results, including possible refusal by the original maker to do later recrafts. So please proceed with caution.

[Dr T]

Good point Gido, I believe St Crispin shoes have steel tips incorporated in some of their shoes.

[Dr T]

Difficulty with getting polish to match your brown shoes? Saphir do a cream that is superb - Its a called neutral renovateur which contains Mink Oil - the results are very good.

[Dr T]

Shoe laces. With the never ending standardisation of product. Shoe laces are often too long, with your shoe on , tie a neat bow, snip off the excessive lace, a tiny dob of superglue on the ends with stop fraying and you will have bespoke and very neat laces. Make sure the shoes are well covered, super glue is nasty stuff if it gets on leather.