Vintage Dress shoe appreciation, tips, maintenance and advice

[Bopper]

So, black shoes with black rubber soles and heels is a no-brainer.

But my brown shoes. I much prefer a better-than-new, tanned leather look. I generally clean, strip, smooth, dye, and sometimes wax the edges in order to approximate or compliment the uppers. Yes, I wax my edges while using no wax on the uppers. It’s “my thing” (for now). The problem is, I am hard on heels. I burn through steel cleats in no time. So, what’s my solution? I’m considering going to a machine shop to have maybe a dozen, larger-sized v-cleats made up. Like, say, maybe triple the length of the arc on the radius, and screw them on to some new leather heals. What do y’all think?

 

[PSU John]

Just guard against slip-falls with such oversized cleats!

 

[actionjbone]

So, black shoes with black rubber soles and heels is a no-brainer.

But my brown shoes. I much prefer a better-than-new, tanned leather look. I generally clean, strip, smooth, dye, and sometimes wax the edges in order to approximate or compliment the uppers. Yes, I wax my edges while using no wax on the uppers. It’s “my thing” (for now). The problem is, I am hard on heels. I burn through steel cleats in no time. So, what’s my solution? I’m considering going to a machine shop to have maybe a dozen, larger-sized v-cleats made up. Like, say, maybe triple the length of the arc on the radius, and screw them on to some new leather heals. What do y’all think?

People who own floors are going to hate you! 🤣

 

[friendlygoz]

AE Chester in suede yesterday…

 

[eTrojan]

Almost 5 years ago, @Jiqea reached out to me because he’d found a pair of RCMP boots in my size. I bought them, because “why not?”.

In the ensuing years, I have been slowly accumulating other RCMP gear. The Sam Browne. A campaign hat. A dress shirt. But it all came together a few months ago when I found a red serge tunic in my size. So today — for Halloween — I came to work a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman.

I arranged a deal with the tunic owner to also acquire 4 dress jackets, one pair of dress pants and one pair of cavalry pants, but I haven’t made my way through that box yet, so I just subbed in some regular navy pants today. But there are the vintage RCMP boots in action.