Every time I watch his videos and see him polishing a suit, I cringe a little, hoping nothing gets on his attire. Brave man. I'd forgive him, if he came on with sweats, but even a apron seems too much. The man is a true professional.
Needless to say, I'm very carefully and don't have the full freedom to move around while shining the shoe. One of the things I'll do when shining a pair of shoes more casually (aka. not in a suit for a video) is to hold the shoe against my chest. Clearly I'm not doing this in a suit... the risks I take to look good for you guys...
Kirby, great video, thank you! While restoring shoes of my own, I discovered a trick for the pieces of leather hanging off a gouge or scratch. Rather than cutting them off, you should flatten them out (the tiny flaps of leather usually curl and ball up) with a toothpick or your fingers. Once they've gotten back to the original shape and will lay flat in the scrape or gouge, they should be glued down. The trick of this is, you squirt super glue onto a piece of cardboard or something, then apply little dabs of it with a toothpick to the underside of the little flaps. Press it down flat and allow to dry. Then, sand with an extremely fine grit of sandpaper. Voilà! Gouge has disappeared or been greatly diminished! Then use the amazing Saphir products. Please keep up the great work oon these videos! I always enjoy watching!
Hi Kirby, I been following you since you started with the RUclips channel, and your videos get better and better. Not many know how to raise a dress shoe from the death, but you do. It's a good thing that you share this knowledge with us so that we can also teach others in the future. Keep up the great work.
This video would be much much more helpful -- if the videographer had added close-up shots of the shoes at each stage of repair. A viewer has no way to view the real change in shoe at the camera distance used.
Excellent instructional video, Kirby! I ruined a suit a few years ago trying to buff my shoes before heading off to a wedding. At the time I wasn't familiar with Saphir's products and used a cheap liquid dabber for quick buffing. The bottle leaked on to my suit. Saphir products are more expensive but they deliver exceptional quality and results.
Just stumbled on your site this evening and am very impressed. As a guy that has a huge fetish for leather dress shoes and loafers, I'm always interested in how others go about reconditioning shoes. I've bought shoes off of Ebay for years and am always looking for great deals. I set a limit on how much I'm willing to spend on a pair and I tend to head for the cheaper side of things. Figure that if I can't bring the shoes back to life with a little elbow grease than I haven't really wasted a large amount of money and figure that I now have a semi-nice pair of dress shoes that I can just wear without having to worry about doing any damage to. Looking forward to watching other of your videos.
I just scuffed my Alden loafers while on thanksgiving holiday. Immediately, I thought to myself that I need to see if Kirby has video on how to fix it. Will be using this video to repair my shoes. Thanks Kirby!!
I appreciate this video. I own a few pairs of shoes and always enjoyed cleaning and polishing them. I take pride in knowing I can maintain a pair of leather shoes for decades. I recently learned that I could own high quality, pre-owned shoes that are in great condition from Ebay. I just never considered owning a pair of shoes worn by someone else. However, I am now hooked and with the fact that I like to restore and maintain my shoes, this may be a way to challenge myself to restore some great quality shoes that I can acquire for very little money.
Great video, not rushed, all steps explained and expectations managed. I learned something thank you. I did not expect the shoes to turn out as well as they did.
Great video! On an unrelated note - your shirt and jacket are just so well fitted and paired. Looks great. No daylight is coming between the collar of the shirt and the lapel.
It always surprises me to see shoes of a higher quality that hold a higher retail value when new, show such a rough life. More people have to watch your channel to learn how to take care of their shoes obviously. I just wouldn't bother spending $300 plus on shoes if I was knowingly going to neglect their maintanence.
Kirby, seems like it was a bigger challenge than you thought. But I like that the video wasn’t edited to where you had a perfect solution. Meaning, you tried it, and while it came out looking much better, it wasn’t perfect. Lol, I like seeing the human aspect in things. But I really like the way they cane out. Your antiquing idea was great!
"This represents really kind of the worst condition that you could find a pair of shoes in": Yeeeeeeeeah sure it does /quietly puts away beat up leather boots/
That's a great pair to demonstrate a full strip and dye? Possibly a 3-4 part series in the future? Maybe a color change or burnished look? Thanks for the great video
I polished more shoes and boots in the Army than I care to remember. I could've told you right up front you needed leather dye. No way you were gonna get those back to looking new without it, but you did a great job nonetheless. I salute your effort!
I just reviewed Saphirs MSDS for the RenoMat. Its extrmely toxic and they stronly recommend proper ventilation and to handle with safety gear such as gloves and glasses.
Dear Hanger Project, I am a 20 year old who has always had a fascination with the traditional and classy, especially clothing... I've been inspired lately to give all my shoes a thorough polishing and one thing that has come to my attention lately is the quality of shoes - I haven't been particularly wise to this, with the only option that had been available to me being cheaper shoes found in a major clothing chain store. I've managed to get a surprisingly pleasant mirror shine on a pair of brown brogues. However, I do own a pair of vintage (handed down) black shoes, with proper leather soles. A major difference that has occured to me is in the leather - higher quality vintage shoes have a nice stiffness to them, while the cheaper new shoes seem to have a less satisfying (and harder to polish!) soft flabiness about them. Is this to do with the quality and price of the shoes, or simply the type of leather used? If so, is there a particular price range necessary and are there any particular brands recommended to find shoes that have that good sturdy strong feel? Many thanks, Zeb. :)
ZJStrudwick Price varies according to the availability of materials. Good yardsticks of quality are type of stitching (know your cemented, Blake stitch and Goodyear welt soles) and leather grades (top grain being the best). Best and most expensive is shell cordovan, save up and it’ll cost next to nothing if you wear it often for many many years.
Kirby, great job sir with this video I love the POV shots with the camera angel that helps show the point you are trying to make. Question, if the shoes that you are trying to repair are not as bad as the ones you showed (they have light discoloration but not deep scuffs), would you recommend the repair cream or just use the polish? I love the before and after shots and would love to see more videos like this. When seeing the restoration process it helps me understand what I need to do. Lastly, would you be so kind as to show a video on how to restore a mirror shine once the mirror shine starts to crack and fade from your last polish. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Thanks for the helpful info! Those shoes look shot, even after repair....time to get a new pair of shoes! I would suggest wearing an old T shirt so you don't get your nice suit dirty.
Another great one Kirby! In regards to purchasing and wearing used shoes off eBay...do you recommend a process for disinfecting the used shoe before wearing?
Unfortunately we don't have anything at this moment, but I'm having something made up. You can also use anything marketed towards deodorizing / disinfecting athletic shoes.
Now I love the antiqued condition of those shoes Kirby! I’d put some clear on them and be done. Leave edges! Great looks with pair of jeans and a dress shirt on a causal weekend jaunt.
Thank you. Having recently invested in a number of quality pairs of shoes, I am educating myself about the best way to care for them. What I found most informative was learning the specific purposes and application of the Saphir products. I recently visited your website to shop for shoe care products. I was a little overwhelmed. There are many. Have you made a video that demonstrates the various products in the same way that is presented in this video? Perhaps I would learn about all of the products through their different purposes. I would appreciate learning how best to proceed.
Selecting a color is tough. I chose mahogany from the description online. Made the affected area a different shade. Now uncertain how to correct it. Needs to be a burgundy, but no available colors seem to match a true burgundy.
The polish is a good match for the furniture in your office. I. personally, would use a little lighter fluid to clean the surface. I have never done any harm doing so. It's just naphtha. I have also had good luck with deeper scratches using a spoon or smooth surfaced item like it to "burnish" the area. Again, i have had very good results. Pocks and gouges, are like rust on steel. You can can remove the rust, but you can not remove the damage. By burnishing the leather, you make the scratch or gouge more level to the rest of the surrounding area and that makes the repair look more even.
I am watching this because my $200 Conklin Tanker boots have been pretty badly scuffed and scraped at the toes, and, somehow, on the inside left heel of my left boot. If any of my description is confusing, I would recommend looking around online for pictures of these types of boots. I wish to repair them back to original condition. This will be a big problem not because of the scrapes, but because the steel that the buckles on the right boot were made of must have had a severe flaw or defect, because after 2 years of off and on use, the foot buckle had half the loop, the side opposite of where the prong holds the strap down against one end of the frame(not the part that broke), so the half where you tuck the strap under after putting the prong into one of the holes in the strap. And the shin buckle was doing very well... until the weld joint snapped and the steel frame tore (or perhaps snapped, but the ragged edge to me implied a tear) couple of places. The shin buckle is beyond repair, and I don’t have the tools to repair the foot buckle. I need to rebuild both of them. So I literally need to carefully pull them apart by undoing the stitching, which is very intricate, fabricate each buckle out of steel, I am thinking that I will not do any bending to shape the buckles to avoid weakening the steel in any way, and instead probably going to get a ~2.5” x ~3” x ~0.5” steel block and carefully carve out the frame, bar, and tang as they would be when in the leather loops that secure the buckles to the boots. If I am going to do this, I might as well replace the soles as well, they are getting very worn down. It is a very good thing that the boots are meant to last a long time in Active Military Service, and as such have replaceable soles. They are literally down onto the leather body of the shoe. I am not sure if the entire boot is leather apart from the sewn on sole, buckles, and thread, but sit is my best guess so far. The insole is to firm to be felt from what I can tell. By now, if you read this entirely, you would probably be wondering why I don’t take them into a boot repair shop. I could do that, there are a few within easy reach of me, but that is just a one time fix. Eventually I will need to go back in again to get them repaired again, and that doesn’t make any sense to me at all. I would rather learn to fix them myself. And no, I will not buy a replacement pair just because the buckles broke. I am planning on getting a second pair for storage until my current pair are beyond my abilities to repair, and beyond the abilities of boot repair shops to repair them, or I outgrow them(unlikely; my feet were pretty much done growing when I got them, and I got a size larger than my feet were at the time). At that time, I will start using the second pair. I personally more than recommend these boots, even for a desk job as long as you are ok with callouses on the back of your heels, and a 2 week break in period where you will probably need to wear a heavy wool sock over a normal sock to prevent blisters. If you get the boots, but they appear too big, or the straps are pulled to their tightest hole and they are still a bit too big, I would recommend getting some wool foot insoles. I forget which brand mine are, but I got mine at the same place I got my boots, and are of a type that are/were supposedly used by the US Military. Try too get them in the same size of your boot. If you can’t, you can get them a size or two larger and trim them down. At least that is what the Veteran who owned the shop told me. He is also the guy who gave me the idea of replacing the soles, as when I got my pair, he said that during the time he was over in Iraq, he said he was a tank crewman by the way, he and other crewmen took off the standard soles they had on their boots, and put on scale pattern soles to give them better traction on sand.
They actually don't look bad! Nice restoration considering how jacked up they were from the beginning. Except for that "aerial view"; that was looking really bad from that angle
Hi there. Great video! Used it as a guide to polish my pair of black derby shoes that had some mild scuffs and scratches. Went with your recommended Saphir Black creme polish. Took care of everything with one go. Wish I had some better brushes though, I used one from a Dolce & Gabbana promo kit that I got from work. Bristles everywhere. Thanks for the vid mate. Cheers!
I want to party with this guy! Seriously... There is some good information in this clip. Part of me still wants to invite friends over and take a shot every time he says, "Sapphira." Party on and I appreciate the tips. My boots have never looked better!
Well done Kirby ! I would tell just that, imho, it would be better first of all to use black cream for the edges of soles, because otherwise they get burgundy/red like the uppers. That's what I do with my Churchs. Pier
I think the video is very useful. Even just to present that there are limitations on what you can do in home refurbishing! I am expecting my first ebay bought preowned, AE next week. Lets see!!!
Dear Mr Allison. Thank you very much indeed for this video and for the others which I find extremely helpful. I would like to ask you for a piece of advice: I have a pair of cordovan shoes and my impression is that they get scratched more easily than calf. Moreover I find when I brush calf, scratches are more easily hidden that when I brush cordovan. I use to apply Saphir cordovan cream to treat these scratches but perhaps I'm using it too scarcely that I find they do not disappear completely. I would be very grateful if you could give me any advice on this topic. Thank you very much and best regards. Federico.
Love this!! Would you recommend this same process for leather midsole repairs?? My scuffs seem to always appear on the soles rather the upper/tor box area
Something I've been wondering about matching creams: Is it more about always trying to get as close to your shoe's color as possible, or what would be the result of using a not-near match of the shoe? Like having a super dark brown pair, and using a lighter brown cream? Would the outcome be highlighting lighter tones, or just an ugly mess?
Thanks and I just bought a used pair of To Boot burgundy oxfords off eBay for a great price. They have some surface smudges and surface scratches on the toe area that looks like it can be easily fixed I’m just getting into dress shoes and don’t own any polishes or conditioners yet. So I wanted to know what I needed. But I also was wondering if shoe repair places fixed or removed the smudges if I took them there. Now I have to do some research and see which polish and conditioner brands to get. I’m not afraid to dix them myself and actually love doing stuff on my own, but I’m also a perfectionist and like to know of the best options before making my attempts. Anyway, thanks for your video and it’s helpful.
I enjoyed the timely info. on how render repair on shoes. It has been very helpful for me. Are the Saphir products the only creams and polish you use? If so why?
Hello Kirby, your channel is phenomenal, top quality content for people who want to look after their footwear. I wanted to ask, as this video is five years old. Have you any additional tips for removing scratches, scuffs and marks? I usually clean with a leather cleaner or saddle soap, followed by conditioning and then apply cream polish. I have seen improvement but I would like to see more improvement, I have heard and read recommendations such as using nail polish remover, baking soda paste, toothpaste, sandpaper, vaseline etc.. Have you any additional tips/tools in your arsenal for this particular issue? Also is Saphir Pommadier the best cream polish on the market? I accidently purchased Saphir Beaute Du Cuir Creme Surfine.
Great video! I have a few questions comparing your methods with military footwear. Granted, I'm sure you do not need to travel in the woods with shoes on, but we have to maintain a certain level of appearance. With that, here's my questions: 1. Considering that are sold almost exclusively on military bases, what is your opinion with Kiwi products? 2. How applicable are these methods to a military boot? Some people still use a black boots that require a mild shine... 3. What is your opinion regarding the "military spit shine" for a more inspection-ready shine? 4. What are some don'ts you would recommend with military boots that require maintenance?
This is a great question and could really warrant it's own video... which is an interesting idea. Kiwi wax is okay for producing a mirror shine. It doesn't do anything to feed or help the leather. But as far as waxes go, it's oaky stuff. It's got a good, hard wax (especially the Parade Gloss). It just isn't very healthy for the leather. The Mirror Shine process is the same for dress shoes as it is military boots. There are tons of different techniques to achieve the same end result. Military spit shine just one of those techniques. Wax and water (spit). For military boots, I don't think I'd recommend anything different than what we show here... at least that I can think of without being too familiar with the unique requirements of military boots.
Thanks, great video. You mentioned sand paper to smooth out deep gouges. What grit? Also, any thoughts on doing this on bookbinder leather like you find on some AE's and Church's? Seems like it's a lot harder to fix scratches on that type of leather. Thanks!
Do you recommend adding a rubber outsole on the forefoot of shoes for those of use who live (and walk) in snowier climates? If not, why not? Thank you.
Thanks Kirby, super videos. I have a question: How do I remove scuffs and scratches on white dress shoes? is there a polish/creme/wax that will help cover the scuffs? Cheers!
I’ve had success removing toe and heel scuffs using 0000 steel wood and shoe polish. I’ve used black automotive RTV sealant to fill gouges and cuts on black shoes and jackets, but it’s not as dark as it used to be, so needs a touch up with black aniline dye.
I have a question. For some time I've been wanting to buy products from Saphir and to invest in these kind of products in order to have nicer shoes and to prolong their life. Now my question is, does this type of cream shoe polish resist over time, and not get dry very fast like the other shoe creams? I mean, I don't need to apply shoe cream everyday. Does this resist over the season without getting dry, or you have to rebuy another cream every season? Thank you.
👞Vlad, treat your shoes like your car. If you care about it use the best products and give it your personal attention. If you know your shoes will end up in the trash in 3 years don't use premium products 👞
Just a thought, have you considered applying the wax, then applying heat to bake-in the wax in order to give it a better shine and adding to the pitina.
The cream didn't seem to actually fill the scuff, it just colored over it. While it was less visible, it was definitely still there, like a crater. I wonder if there is a cream that has some kind of fibers in it that would *actually* fill the hole, like Bondo for a car.
Maybe some kind of leather dust mixed into a silicone-based glue, that dries in a primer-type hue, that you would then polish with a cream to match the color of the shoe.
You could try some of the Reno'Mat, but I'd test it first to make sure doesn't discolor the suit fabric. Otherwise, I'd send it to a good dry cleaner, like Rave Fabricare in Arizona.
or just invest in an apron for cleaning shoes in but your videos are great , you keep making them , and like many , ill keep watching , and liking them.
This guy is so classy, he even matched his shoes to the dresser behind him.
Lol
you mean he matched his dresser to his shoes
He stays fits because he has to change dressers every day to match his shoes
A true gentleman cleans and restores his shoes wearing a suit and tie, sitting at a desk. :)
Polishing shoes in your suit without an apron:
I also like to live dangerously
Edilarin
He is a true master.
Every time I watch his videos and see him polishing a suit, I cringe a little, hoping nothing gets on his attire. Brave man. I'd forgive him, if he came on with sweats, but even a apron seems too much. The man is a true professional.
Just a Thought
Probably not just any cheep suite that I own.
Needless to say, I'm very carefully and don't have the full freedom to move around while shining the shoe. One of the things I'll do when shining a pair of shoes more casually (aka. not in a suit for a video) is to hold the shoe against my chest. Clearly I'm not doing this in a suit... the risks I take to look good for you guys...
He’s being naughty.
There's something cathartic about cleaning a great pair of shoes. Great job fella! 😁
I really love when people have a passion for things. I can tell this person does. Great video, thank you.
Kirby, great video, thank you! While restoring shoes of my own, I discovered a trick for the pieces of leather hanging off a gouge or scratch. Rather than cutting them off, you should flatten them out (the tiny flaps of leather usually curl and ball up) with a toothpick or your fingers. Once they've gotten back to the original shape and will lay flat in the scrape or gouge, they should be glued down. The trick of this is, you squirt super glue onto a piece of cardboard or something, then apply little dabs of it with a toothpick to the underside of the little flaps. Press it down flat and allow to dry. Then, sand with an extremely fine grit of sandpaper. Voilà! Gouge has disappeared or been greatly diminished! Then use the amazing Saphir products.
Please keep up the great work oon these videos! I always enjoy watching!
Thanks for sharing! I've never tried this before, but don't see any reason it shouldn't work.
Great tip
Hi Kirby, I been following you since you started with the RUclips channel, and your videos get better and better. Not many know how to raise a dress shoe from the death, but you do. It's a good thing that you share this knowledge with us so that we can also teach others in the future. Keep up the great work.
This shoe should have been allowed to die... but I wanted something very challenging for the channel!
This video would be much much more helpful -- if the videographer had added close-up shots of the shoes at each stage of repair. A viewer has no way to view the real change in shoe at the camera distance used.
But you are given FOR FREE the process, steps and product information in order to do it yourself. People will complain about anything.
Excellent instructional video, Kirby!
I ruined a suit a few years ago trying to buff my shoes before heading off to a wedding. At the time I wasn't familiar with Saphir's products and used a cheap liquid dabber for quick buffing. The bottle leaked on to my suit. Saphir products are more expensive but they deliver exceptional quality and results.
I can imagine the unedited cut for this video where Kirby is trying to fix the scuffs and just saying “damn, these shoes are really messed up.”
Haha. Yeah. It was a tough pair.
Just stumbled on your site this evening and am very impressed. As a guy that has a huge fetish for leather dress shoes and loafers, I'm always interested in how others go about reconditioning shoes. I've bought shoes off of Ebay for years and am always looking for great deals. I set a limit on how much I'm willing to spend on a pair and I tend to head for the cheaper side of things. Figure that if I can't bring the shoes back to life with a little elbow grease than I haven't really wasted a large amount of money and figure that I now have a semi-nice pair of dress shoes that I can just wear without having to worry about doing any damage to. Looking forward to watching other of your videos.
Great! Welcome to the channel.
An amazing video. I really had no idea a pair of shoes that bad could be repaired to the extent you showed.
I just scuffed my Alden loafers while on thanksgiving holiday. Immediately, I thought to myself that I need to see if Kirby has video on how to fix it. Will be using this video to repair my shoes. Thanks Kirby!!
I appreciate this video. I own a few pairs of shoes and always enjoyed cleaning and polishing them. I take pride in knowing I can maintain a pair of leather shoes for decades. I recently learned that I could own high quality, pre-owned shoes that are in great condition from Ebay. I just never considered owning a pair of shoes worn by someone else. However, I am now hooked and with the fact that I like to restore and maintain my shoes, this may be a way to challenge myself to restore some great quality shoes that I can acquire for very little money.
Great video, not rushed, all steps explained and expectations managed.
I learned something thank you.
I did not expect the shoes to turn out as well as they did.
Great video! On an unrelated note - your shirt and jacket are just so well fitted and paired. Looks great. No daylight is coming between the collar of the shirt and the lapel.
It always surprises me to see shoes of a higher quality that hold a higher retail value when new, show such a rough life. More people have to watch your channel to learn how to take care of their shoes obviously. I just wouldn't bother spending $300 plus on shoes if I was knowingly going to neglect their maintanence.
Thank you! At work I'm on my feet all day and often lift door stops with my feet which can lead to scuffs. Superb demonstration!
Basically a long ad for Saphir...but a good one!
They looked great at the end! Idk what you were so disappointed with. You did a great job! I'd wear those all day.
your background is awesome!!! you look great making the video. Thank you for your effort on helping to know more about life!!
Amazing. This speaks to the quality of Allen Edmonds.
Kirby, seems like it was a bigger challenge than you thought. But I like that the video wasn’t edited to where you had a perfect solution. Meaning, you tried it, and while it came out looking much better, it wasn’t perfect. Lol, I like seeing the human aspect in things. But I really like the way they cane out. Your antiquing idea was great!
Been waiting a long time for this video. Glad to know that there will be more!
"This represents really kind of the worst condition that you could find a pair of shoes in":
Yeeeeeeeeah sure it does
/quietly puts away beat up leather boots/
Lol! Some kittens got into my relatively new Martens, so I’m using sooo many layers of black shoe polish for the poor boot snoots 😖
I have a pair of boots in about similar condition to these shoes. I'm feeling less intimidated after your video. I learned a lot, cheers!
That's a great pair to demonstrate a full strip and dye? Possibly a 3-4 part series in the future? Maybe a color change or burnished look? Thanks for the great video
Yes, stripping all wax and color with cheap acetone should have been the first step, but it's hard to sell acetone for 500% markup.
I polished more shoes and boots in the Army than I care to remember. I could've told you right up front you needed leather dye. No way you were gonna get those back to looking new without it, but you did a great job nonetheless. I salute your effort!
Thank you for your service!
I just reviewed Saphirs MSDS for the RenoMat. Its extrmely toxic and they stronly recommend proper ventilation and to handle with safety gear such as gloves and glasses.
Dear Hanger Project,
I am a 20 year old who has always had a fascination with the traditional and classy, especially clothing... I've been inspired lately to give all my shoes a thorough polishing and one thing that has come to my attention lately is the quality of shoes - I haven't been particularly wise to this, with the only option that had been available to me being cheaper shoes found in a major clothing chain store. I've managed to get a surprisingly pleasant mirror shine on a pair of brown brogues. However, I do own a pair of vintage (handed down) black shoes, with proper leather soles. A major difference that has occured to me is in the leather - higher quality vintage shoes have a nice stiffness to them, while the cheaper new shoes seem to have a less satisfying (and harder to polish!) soft flabiness about them. Is this to do with the quality and price of the shoes, or simply the type of leather used? If so, is there a particular price range necessary and are there any particular brands recommended to find shoes that have that good sturdy strong feel?
Many thanks,
Zeb. :)
ZJStrudwick Price varies according to the availability of materials. Good yardsticks of quality are type of stitching (know your cemented, Blake stitch and Goodyear welt soles) and leather grades (top grain being the best). Best and most expensive is shell cordovan, save up and it’ll cost next to nothing if you wear it often for many many years.
Kirby, great job sir with this video I love the POV shots with the camera angel that helps show the point you are trying to make. Question, if the shoes that you are trying to repair are not as bad as the ones you showed (they have light discoloration but not deep scuffs), would you recommend the repair cream or just use the polish? I love the before and after shots and would love to see more videos like this. When seeing the restoration process it helps me understand what I need to do. Lastly, would you be so kind as to show a video on how to restore a mirror shine once the mirror shine starts to crack and fade from your last polish. Thank you and keep up the good work!
Love those Allen Edmonds, it's a shame they aren't as popular in the UK,i would love to pick a used pair up like them!
2 years from now: Kirby abandones the Hanger Project and starts flipping shoes for $$$!
Awesome informative video Kirby! Loving the intro music as well it’s really classy!
@11:55 - "Embrace the condition of the shoes." That was funny. You are quite the diplomat, Mr. Allison!
Thanks for the helpful info! Those shoes look shot, even after repair....time to get a new pair of shoes! I would suggest wearing an old T shirt so you don't get your nice suit dirty.
Kirby: A great video with terrific tips. I'll give your suggestions a try next time I scuff my shoes. Thanks much.
Thank you. I have a pair of leather hiking boots with a bad nick at the front. I confess I don't know much about shoe wax so I learned so much today.
They look good! They have character.
This Man's a *Kingsman*
I guarantee it.
"Tired of your shoes looking old and weathered? Kick them to the Kirb" Congratulations on 100K followers Kirby.
I like the patina idea! Really cool way to work with a material and make the best of it, for a great result!
I would try some very dark brown or even black cream polish on those toes to further conceal the discoloration. Then dress the edges of the outsoles.
Another great one Kirby! In regards to purchasing and wearing used shoes off eBay...do you recommend a process for disinfecting the used shoe before wearing?
Unfortunately we don't have anything at this moment, but I'm having something made up. You can also use anything marketed towards deodorizing / disinfecting athletic shoes.
Now I love the antiqued condition of those shoes Kirby! I’d put some clear on them and be done. Leave edges! Great looks with pair of jeans and a dress shirt on a causal weekend jaunt.
reviewbrah's long lost brother
Underrated comment
Thank you. Having recently invested in a number of quality pairs of shoes, I am educating myself about the best way to care for them. What I found most informative was learning the specific purposes and application of the Saphir products. I recently visited your website to shop for shoe care products. I was a little overwhelmed. There are many. Have you made a video that demonstrates the various products in the same way that is presented in this video? Perhaps I would learn about all of the products through their different purposes. I would appreciate learning how best to proceed.
Selecting a color is tough. I chose mahogany from the description online.
Made the affected area a different shade. Now uncertain how to correct it.
Needs to be a burgundy, but no available colors seem to match a true burgundy.
The polish is a good match for the furniture in your office. I. personally, would use a little lighter fluid to clean the surface. I have never done any harm doing so. It's just naphtha. I have also had good luck with deeper scratches using a spoon or smooth surfaced item like it to "burnish" the area. Again, i have had very good results. Pocks and gouges, are like rust on steel. You can can remove the rust, but you can not remove the damage. By burnishing the leather, you make the scratch or gouge more level to the rest of the surrounding area and that makes the repair look more even.
would cleaning the shoes with a saddle soap suffice to remove any wax build up?
I am watching this because my $200 Conklin Tanker boots have been pretty badly scuffed and scraped at the toes, and, somehow, on the inside left heel of my left boot. If any of my description is confusing, I would recommend looking around online for pictures of these types of boots. I wish to repair them back to original condition. This will be a big problem not because of the scrapes, but because the steel that the buckles on the right boot were made of must have had a severe flaw or defect, because after 2 years of off and on use, the foot buckle had half the loop, the side opposite of where the prong holds the strap down against one end of the frame(not the part that broke), so the half where you tuck the strap under after putting the prong into one of the holes in the strap. And the shin buckle was doing very well... until the weld joint snapped and the steel frame tore (or perhaps snapped, but the ragged edge to me implied a tear) couple of places. The shin buckle is beyond repair, and I don’t have the tools to repair the foot buckle. I need to rebuild both of them. So I literally need to carefully pull them apart by undoing the stitching, which is very intricate, fabricate each buckle out of steel, I am thinking that I will not do any bending to shape the buckles to avoid weakening the steel in any way, and instead probably going to get a ~2.5” x ~3” x ~0.5” steel block and carefully carve out the frame, bar, and tang as they would be when in the leather loops that secure the buckles to the boots. If I am going to do this, I might as well replace the soles as well, they are getting very worn down. It is a very good thing that the boots are meant to last a long time in Active Military Service, and as such have replaceable soles. They are literally down onto the leather body of the shoe. I am not sure if the entire boot is leather apart from the sewn on sole, buckles, and thread, but sit is my best guess so far. The insole is to firm to be felt from what I can tell.
By now, if you read this entirely, you would probably be wondering why I don’t take them into a boot repair shop. I could do that, there are a few within easy reach of me, but that is just a one time fix. Eventually I will need to go back in again to get them repaired again, and that doesn’t make any sense to me at all. I would rather learn to fix them myself. And no, I will not buy a replacement pair just because the buckles broke. I am planning on getting a second pair for storage until my current pair are beyond my abilities to repair, and beyond the abilities of boot repair shops to repair them, or I outgrow them(unlikely; my feet were pretty much done growing when I got them, and I got a size larger than my feet were at the time). At that time, I will start using the second pair. I personally more than recommend these boots, even for a desk job as long as you are ok with callouses on the back of your heels, and a 2 week break in period where you will probably need to wear a heavy wool sock over a normal sock to prevent blisters. If you get the boots, but they appear too big, or the straps are pulled to their tightest hole and they are still a bit too big, I would recommend getting some wool foot insoles. I forget which brand mine are, but I got mine at the same place I got my boots, and are of a type that are/were supposedly used by the US Military. Try too get them in the same size of your boot. If you can’t, you can get them a size or two larger and trim them down. At least that is what the Veteran who owned the shop told me. He is also the guy who gave me the idea of replacing the soles, as when I got my pair, he said that during the time he was over in Iraq, he said he was a tank crewman by the way, he and other crewmen took off the standard soles they had on their boots, and put on scale pattern soles to give them better traction on sand.
They actually don't look bad! Nice restoration considering how jacked up they were from the beginning. Except for that "aerial view"; that was looking really bad from that angle
JBarber3d
Agree, front on they look very good.
I know is not the topic but I would have love to see a full Restoration, like ending with the glass shine finish, nice videos.
Hi there. Great video! Used it as a guide to polish my pair of black derby shoes that had some mild scuffs and scratches. Went with your recommended Saphir Black creme polish. Took care of everything with one go. Wish I had some better brushes though, I used one from a Dolce & Gabbana promo kit that I got from work. Bristles everywhere. Thanks for the vid mate. Cheers!
Could you do a video on how to remove water spots that form on leather from rain?
Will add it to the list!
I second this. I bought some AE salt remover but haven't used it yet luckily.
Very informative on the use of Saphir products - Renomat, Pommadier Cream and Renovating Cream.
Well done, young man !
Nice presentation. Thank you!
I would just suggest some surgical gloves, that dye is hard to remove from underneath fingernails! A good video...
Well done Kirby.
You'r work was so good man 👍thank you 👍👍👍
I couldn’t do it better. Thank you for your time
I want to party with this guy! Seriously... There is some good information in this clip. Part of me still wants to invite friends over and take a shot every time he says, "Sapphira." Party on and I appreciate the tips. My boots have never looked better!
What a terrific channel!
I’m loving this music.
Thanks for all your great information. I love watching them!
Well done Kirby ! I would tell just that, imho, it would be better first of all to use black cream for the edges of soles, because otherwise they get burgundy/red like the uppers. That's what I do with my Churchs. Pier
I think the video is very useful. Even just to present that there are limitations on what you can do in home refurbishing!
I am expecting my first ebay bought preowned, AE next week. Lets see!!!
Great video. I’ve used similar techniques to refinish leather furniture ❤
Dear Mr Allison. Thank you very much indeed for this video and for the others which I find extremely helpful. I would like to ask you for a piece of advice: I have a pair of cordovan shoes and my impression is that they get scratched more easily than calf. Moreover I find when I brush calf, scratches are more easily hidden that when I brush cordovan. I use to apply Saphir cordovan cream to treat these scratches but perhaps I'm using it too scarcely that I find they do not disappear completely. I would be very grateful if you could give me any advice on this topic. Thank you very much and best regards. Federico.
Love this!!
Would you recommend this same process for leather midsole repairs?? My scuffs seem to always appear on the soles rather the upper/tor box area
Something I've been wondering about matching creams: Is it more about always trying to get as close to your shoe's color as possible, or what would be the result of using a not-near match of the shoe? Like having a super dark brown pair, and using a lighter brown cream? Would the outcome be highlighting lighter tones, or just an ugly mess?
I would think that these would become a great pair of casual shoes...nice pair of jeans, nice belt, nice shirt and a leather jacket and you are set...
You are thinking of Doc Martens
@@yogeebear2599 I think that's not Kirby's idea of the "well dressed"
Been waiting for this (another ebay magic) great job kirby! :)
Thanks and I just bought a used pair of To Boot burgundy oxfords off eBay for a great price. They have some surface smudges and surface scratches on the toe area that looks like it can be easily fixed
I’m just getting into dress shoes and don’t own any polishes or conditioners yet. So I wanted to know what I needed. But I also was wondering if shoe repair places fixed or removed the smudges if I took them there.
Now I have to do some research and see which polish and conditioner brands to get. I’m not afraid to dix them myself and actually love doing stuff on my own, but I’m also a perfectionist and like to know of the best options before making my attempts.
Anyway, thanks for your video and it’s helpful.
I know it wouldn't be cost-effective to send them to AE, but it would be nice to see how well AE could fix them up.
Btw, great vídeo keep it up
I enjoyed the timely info. on how render repair on shoes. It has been very helpful for me.
Are the Saphir products the only creams and polish you use? If so why?
Do these products work on women's designer shoes? Can it work on soft calf skin leather? Please let me know.
Very instructive. Well done!
Hello Kirby, your channel is phenomenal, top quality content for people who want to look after their footwear. I wanted to ask, as this video is five years old. Have you any additional tips for removing scratches, scuffs and marks?
I usually clean with a leather cleaner or saddle soap, followed by conditioning and then apply cream polish. I have seen improvement but I would like to see more improvement, I have heard and read recommendations such as using nail polish remover, baking soda paste, toothpaste, sandpaper, vaseline etc.. Have you any additional tips/tools in your arsenal for this particular issue? Also is Saphir Pommadier the best cream polish on the market? I accidently purchased Saphir Beaute Du Cuir Creme Surfine.
would you recommend heating the shoe with a heat gun? Some youtube videos show it can fix some leather scratchs.
Is there a concern with high end italian leather vs standard leather when choosing polish and products as well as technique?
Good job, you made the shoes looks nice again.
The colours between your camera setups are very inconsistent.
will using those kind of things will make the leather on the shoes unable to produce patina?
Classiest guy I've ever met. Lol I now understand why rich people used to dress like this.
Super helpful video, Thanks 👍
Great video! I have a few questions comparing your methods with military footwear. Granted, I'm sure you do not need to travel in the woods with shoes on, but we have to maintain a certain level of appearance. With that, here's my questions:
1. Considering that are sold almost exclusively on military bases, what is your opinion with Kiwi products?
2. How applicable are these methods to a military boot? Some people still use a black boots that require a mild shine...
3. What is your opinion regarding the "military spit shine" for a more inspection-ready shine?
4. What are some don'ts you would recommend with military boots that require maintenance?
This is a great question and could really warrant it's own video... which is an interesting idea. Kiwi wax is okay for producing a mirror shine. It doesn't do anything to feed or help the leather. But as far as waxes go, it's oaky stuff. It's got a good, hard wax (especially the Parade Gloss). It just isn't very healthy for the leather.
The Mirror Shine process is the same for dress shoes as it is military boots. There are tons of different techniques to achieve the same end result. Military spit shine just one of those techniques. Wax and water (spit).
For military boots, I don't think I'd recommend anything different than what we show here... at least that I can think of without being too familiar with the unique requirements of military boots.
I like this guy style.
Thanks, great video. You mentioned sand paper to smooth out deep gouges. What grit? Also, any thoughts on doing this on bookbinder leather like you find on some AE's and Church's? Seems like it's a lot harder to fix scratches on that type of leather. Thanks!
Nicely done
Do you recommend adding a rubber outsole on the forefoot of shoes for those of use who live (and walk) in snowier climates? If not, why not? Thank you.
Thanks Kirby, super videos. I have a question: How do I remove scuffs and scratches on white dress shoes? is there a polish/creme/wax that will help cover the scuffs? Cheers!
It would be nice if u did one video without using safir but a cheaper option
I’ve had success removing toe and heel scuffs using 0000 steel wood and shoe polish.
I’ve used black automotive RTV sealant to fill gouges and cuts on black shoes and jackets, but it’s not as dark as it used to be, so needs a touch up with black aniline dye.
I have a question.
For some time I've been wanting to buy products from Saphir and to invest in these kind of products in order to have nicer shoes and to prolong their life.
Now my question is, does this type of cream shoe polish resist over time, and not get dry very fast like the other shoe creams? I mean, I don't need to apply shoe cream everyday. Does this resist over the season without getting dry, or you have to rebuy another cream every season?
Thank you.
👞Vlad, treat your shoes like your car. If you care about it use the best products and give it your personal attention. If you know your shoes will end up in the trash in 3 years don't use premium products 👞
Just a thought, have you considered applying the wax, then applying heat to bake-in the wax in order to give it a better shine and adding to the pitina.
Absolutely. We're actually filming a video next week on this method!
I can't believe that you are actually doing it in suits.
The cream didn't seem to actually fill the scuff, it just colored over it. While it was less visible, it was definitely still there, like a crater. I wonder if there is a cream that has some kind of fibers in it that would *actually* fill the hole, like Bondo for a car.
Maybe some kind of leather dust mixed into a silicone-based glue, that dries in a primer-type hue, that you would then polish with a cream to match the color of the shoe.
This is useful and interesting but for me needed some more close ups and very clear before and afters for viewers to see the differences.
great result ,,, is there a vid on how to get dark shoe cream out of a light suit
You could try some of the Reno'Mat, but I'd test it first to make sure doesn't discolor the suit fabric. Otherwise, I'd send it to a good dry cleaner, like Rave Fabricare in Arizona.
or just invest in an apron for cleaning shoes in
but your videos are great , you keep making them , and like many , ill keep watching , and liking them.