Dear god help me save my shoes.....

[PhilKenSebben]

Hello All,

Went to new york this weekend, ad forgot how terrible the rain can get there. I was wearing my Brown EG's, and this is the result. I am actually speechless add I haven't a clue where to even begin. Please help me save my babies....
Does EG offer restoration service? for these it would be worth investing in....


the leather is bubbling? for a lack of a better term at places, the shoes have been drying for going on 24 hours, but I think they may still be wet. I just put fresh trees in them.

Thank you all in advance!

Marc V.

 

[circumspice]

They could easily still be wet. The photos indicate this is exactly the case.

I am not an expert here, but I am in a similar predicament - I am carting around a pair of brogues that got soaked end to end. I did not have any newspaper to stuff them with to hold their shape. With no trees inside them, they took at least 48 hours to dry out. I didn't put trees inside them as I figured they needed as much open surface area as possible to dry out.

They are now bone dry - as in, the issue is not that the polish job I put them on got dinged up, but rather all the moisture / oils / life has been pulled from the leather.

I will attempt a recondition job or two once I return home.

 

[inimitable]

Completely soaking wet shoes can easily take over 48hrs to dry. I would tree them, swapping for fresh (dry) trees if possible after 24 hrs. Condition with Lexol once dry, Polish and you should be good to go.

Leather is much more resilient than you might think. I think these just look bad because they are still wet...

 

[OzzyJones]

Yup, still wet. Let's see if @patrickBOOTH can clarify but I think I recall someone suggesting lexol before they're fully dry. I certainly don't think all is lost tho.
Edit; lie them on their sides to let the soles dry faster and if the soles are leather, condition them too

 

[ino68]

I feel your pain! I had my pair of Carminas get thoroughly soaked in a downpour, and they appeared to dry in 48 hours, but were only back to their usual form after a week or so (they felt strangely loose when worn).

At worst your pair will need some TLC with renovatuer or similar, but give them a good amount of time!

 

[lee_44106]

Stuff with absorbent paper towel

Leave alone until visibly dry (flip shoe occasionally so that the sole gets aired out too)

When visibly dry, insert tree

Begin nourishment, polishing regimen

 

[PhilKenSebben]

Hey guys, thank you for talking me down off of the edge a bit. They have dried quite a bit in the past few hours. I ave two questions,

1) Should I be actively encouraging them to dry faster? sticking them in a bag of rice or something?

2) What, when things are dry, am I able to do about the bubbling (or spalling maybe?) on the leather to get it to smooth back out? Will the lexol help with that? will nothing really ever fix that? it isn't horribly noticeable,and probably after a good polish you will never be able to see it, but feeling it you will notice immediately.

Thanks again all...of all of the days to forget my over-soles....

Marc

 

[jdanielca]

Once they are dry send them to dandyshoecare over in Italy problem solved.... That's what I would do, you wanna diy can't help you there

 

[jeffd]

Hey guys, thank you for talking me down off of the edge a bit. They have dried quite a bit in the past few hours. I ave two questions,

1) Should I be actively encouraging them to dry faster? sticking them in a bag of rice or something?

2) What, when things are dry, am I able to do about the bubbling (or spalling maybe?) on the leather to get it to smooth back out? Will the lexol help with that? will nothing really ever fix that? it isn't horribly noticeable,and probably after a good polish you will never be able to see it, but feeling it you will notice immediately.

Thanks again all...of all of the days to forget my over-soles....

Marc

1. No - you want them to dry slowly, not quickly. Either leave the trees in or stuff the dickens out of them with newspaper. The leather will shrink as it dries and you want the shoes to keep their shape as it does. The concern is allowing mold or mildew to take hold while they dry. Some say that's why it's best to use newspaper, changing it out occasionally. I suppose you could do the same with shoe trees if you have an extra pair.

2. Hard to tell from the photos, but I suspect you're just seeing the wax flaking off. After they dry, you might need to remove the remaining wax with RenoMat or something similar, then hit them with your preferred conditioner and wax. Should be fine.

 

[PhilKenSebben]

ey all, thanks for the help! I let the dry a few days before fiddling with the . sadly, the leather is certainly damaged in some spots. I had hoped for a while that it would have just been wax flaking or some such but alas. I have decided to send them back to EG and have them completely restore them. this coincides with me needing new heels anyway, so meh. let them deal with it.

thanks again all!

 

[inimitable]

I'm surprised that the leather appears damaged. Water should not do this. I've completely soaked pairs in water before and they suffer no ill effect.

Would be good if you could post pics and perhaps also when they come back from EG.

 

[cptjeff]



I feel your pain! I had my pair of Carminas get thoroughly soaked in a downpour, and they appeared to dry in 48 hours, but were only back to their usual form after a week or so (they felt strangely loose when worn).

At worst your pair will need some TLC with renovatuer or similar, but give them a good amount of time!

Leather stretches much more easily when wet. Your trees probably stretched them out, which is one of the reasons you're supposed to use newspaper, not trees, for wet shoes.

 

[JubeiSpiegel]

This has happened to me.
Stuff the shoes with news print, swap about every 8 hours or so. Keep the shoes on their sides, rotate sides every 8 hours as well.

Once completely dry, add trees and some kind of leather lotion or conditioner, don't add polish just yet. After you let the lotion add some much needed moisture back to your shoes (give it a day), add some shoe cream, let them stand for a bit, then some polish.

I would not advise Reno mat or shoe shampoo on these. They are crust leather after all, the burnishing is only surface deep, you risk stripping the finish all together if you don't know what you are doing with solvents.

 

[marcodalondra]

Do not put them near a Heath source e.g. Heathers, but you could stuff them with paper kitchen towels and also loosly wrap them in the same paper towel, changing the paper every so often. This will help with evenly dry in and out... Done this many times living in London before buying galoshes, and still some time I get caught not carrying them around.

 

[Patek14]

As others have said DO NOT FORCE DRY WITH HEAT

1. I would jam trees in them and let them sit for a while to ensure full drying
2. If the bottoms are wet and the insoles put them on their side to dry. But I hope you have a shoe rack
3. Coat in a cleaner/conditioner. Use saphir if you are a shoe snob and went the best [heck, you have EGs]. Being a poor shmuck, I would just use my AE cleaner/conditioner. You may want to do a first pass for cleaning and a heavier pass for conditioning. let it sit for 24 hours
4. Use some dye heavy shoe cream to further condition and even color. let dry for 24 hours
5. Polish

If this doesn't help the surfacing and restore even color then I don't know...

PS: If this works, I assume your soles got soaked. You may want to use cleaner/conditioner on the soles as well, wait 24-48 hours for a full dry, and then apply a neutral wax polish