As a dress shoes lover and a person who cherishes things very much, this is the saddest thing.
Why do we buy welted shoes? Because we are all attracted by one idea “this thing can accompany you for 10 years, 20 years or even longer“. We know that few people who have passed by in life can accompany you for so long, and we naturally feel touched for the items that have given such promises.
It can accompany for so long, because the welting process gives the chance to resole when its original sole worn out, thus prolonging its life.
When can this shoe no longer accompany us? It is the leather of its upper that has been seriously aged, cracked and even detached.
Of course, you can still wear it if you don’t mind, but we all assume that we want it to accompany us in the best condition.
However, it is like this.
When we encounter such a problem, our first thought is whether it can be repaired.
In my experience, the answer is no.
Whether it’s the videos I’ve seen or my own experiments, the answer is no.
The method is to grind it with sandpaper first, remove the scale, and then fill the cracks that still exist. After grinding, leather inside is in grey colour, so you need to use dyes, and then apply care products, colour cream and shoe wax.
Even after such long efforts, the luster and oily texture of leather are lost forever.
Let’s look at the original state of these shoes, John Lobb Warwick.
It’s a pity.
So, how did this irreversible problem come about?
There is only one answer, wear too few times. Too few.
I’m afraid it was two years ago that the shoes were worn last.
Leather is not afraid to wear. The more often it bends, the more often it is given body temperature and a certain amount of moisture (sweat on your feet), it is more healthy.
Then use the care products periodically and add a little oil into the leather fiber, which can keep in good condition for a long time.
The principle of leather cracking, especially at rest, is because the humidity inside the leather is too low, so the leather fibers shrink and break. You can think of the fibers of leather as a net, and then the circumference is all fixed, and every fiber in it is shrinking, and finally it will break somewhere.
The best way must be to wear more often, so that you can always pay attention to the state of shoes.
If you can’t do this, there are too many shoes and you don’t have time to see them often, then give it a constant humidity, but does this sound like a higher requirement?
Gentlemen, buy less and wear more often.