Brooks Brothers Gatsby Collection Footwear
I wish I had six feet.
Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.
I’ve had these shoes for a while, but never thought to put them on.
Maybe I shouldn’t have cuffed my pants so high?
Have you ever wanted to be king of the #menswear blog-o-sphere?
Imagine waking up to a text message from Nick Wooster asking if you want to get brunch. “Nah braj,” you think to yourself. You and Michael Bastian already have plans to hit up Clinton St. Bakery because the pancakes are bomb and having a third risks you having to wait an additional 30 minutes to get seated. Maybe you can schedule him later to get some pork buns at Ippudo.
You get out of bed and throw on your favorite pair of McNairy camo trousers and your worn out Brooks Brothers ESF OCBD to start the day.
All you need now is the perfect pair of shoes.
The Single Most Important Shoe Care Tip
I accepted some time ago that few people – including the people I know who are as interested in men’s style as I am – take the time to polish their shoes. Which is a shame because much of the value in good leather shoes is tied into how well you take care of them. The richness and depth of the leather, and the patina that builds over time, are all really brought out with routine polishing. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that a well-taken pair of mid-quality, full-grain leather shoes will always look better than a neglected pair made by some world-class cordwainer.
If you’re not going to polish your shoes, however, then I encourage you to at least take one step: every once in a while, when your shoes start to look a little dry, apply a coat of leather conditioner. Routine application of this lotion will do more for the health and appearance of your shoes than anything else. It will help bring out the suppleness and richness in the leather, give the color some depth, and most importantly, prevent your uppers from drying out and cracking.
Many shoe enthusiasts prefer to condition their shoes with Saphir Renovateur. Indeed, it’s pretty nice stuff, but also a bit expensive. You’d be perfectly fine, in my opinion, with many of the cheaper options on the market. I prefer Allen Edmonds’ Conditioner and Cleaner, though Lexol is also pretty good (they have it broken up into separate conditioner and cleaner bottles). I’ve used all three and they do the job just fine. The real advantage of Saphir, from what I can tell, is that it smells a bit nicer and comes in a prettier container. Not a totally trivial thing, since it’s nice to make the activity as enjoyable as possible, but if you can’t afford it, don’t sweat it. The most important thing is that you put some conditioner on once every month or two, even if you can’t be bothered to polish.
(Photo via The William Brown Project)
Seriously, condition your shoes. I know I do. A little bit of love goes a long way.
A few tips for waterproofing (Bean) boots
I highly recommend you scope out this thread. It’s got lots of useful information. Now, I didn’t have to break in my Bean Boots like the OP did, but I ran into difficulties of my own.
Now, not everything is readily obvious to everyone, so I’m going to start by saying it took a LOT to lift up the bit of leather sitting on top of the rubber to get the Welt-Seal in there properly. Maybe the soak in water was what enabled the OP to get in there with a pencil, but it took me a horribly messy application of Welt-Seal, a removal of said sealant after a few days, and running a cartridge-free pen through the gap to get my boots set up properly. I probably did something wrong. It’s all good now, though.
A few words about applying Sno-Seal: the stuff’s safe for your hands… relatively speaking, anyway. It just doesn’t apply that well with a cloth. It’s also really fun to apply a few coats. You’re gonna want to get the very top of your Bean boots, too, if you go that route. Wax is going to accumulate along ridges and stuff, and you really shouldn’t do anything about that until your boots have fully soaked in the Sno-Seal. I gave my boots a little over a day before I checked them for excess wax. I think if you don’t have SOME excess wax, your boots probably need more. I wiped them down with a wet cloth and my heart nearly broke at how easily the wax smeared. I’ve no idea if this is normal, but the Sno-Seal seemed to reset after a few minutes. I ran a little water over my Bean Boots and the water beaded instead of pooling and spreading out, which meant they were waterproofed.
Oh, and wash your hands. God damn.
Replacement boot laces
For several years now I’ve appreciated the ruggedness of my L.L. Bean Boots for winter. They’ve held up quite well in rain, snow, slush and that slurry of dirt, melted snow and rock salt that seems to stick around well after the storms are gone.
But I can’t say I’ve been impressed with the stock laces that came with my Bean Boots. Perhaps I was an outlier, but both began to fray and fail the very first winter I wore them. In a pinch, I decided to pick up a pair of Kiwi leather laces at the local Walmart. Those lasted at least a winter until a few weeks ago when I went to lace up my boots and one of them snapped in my hand while tightening them. Perhaps that accounts for their 2-star rating on Amazon.
I spent a bit more time doing some research and came across an old, 2009 post from Sartorially Inclined (R.I.P.) on Danner boot laces. Price has gone up a buck (now $6), but I figured they’re worth a shot. I’m hoping they’ll stay together for more than a year. Perhaps I should’ve just bought two pairs to have a spare.
My friend also recommended a good idea: paracord, which was used by the U.S. military for their parachute lines. You can usually buy a significant length of it for a few bucks at your local military surplus store. Simply cut to length and burn the ends with a lighter to keep them from fraying at the tip.
-Kiyoshi
Nah, you’re not alone. Most people who use Bean boots regularly recognize that their taslan laces suck nowadays. Nice recommendations. I put rawhide laces on mine and swap them out for other laces when it’s too wet/snowy out.
Completely waterproofed Bean boots.
Welt-Seal + Sno-Seal. Still soaking in the beeswax.
Scarpa Modello DoppiaFibbia Esclusiva “Edoardo Cortese”- fatta a mano.
#menswear shoe porn. Iffy on the camo, but by GOD, that herringbone is fantastic. They make me think of slippers, so I guess they’d make a good weekend shoe.
I found something pretty sweet for all you Allen Edmonds fans out there- brand new Woodlore shoe trees, half off, on ebay. They seem to carry shoe trees for each size, and they’re ~50% off the regular price for these shoe trees.
Allen Edmonds x Ball & Buck Double Monk
Nasty. I’d wear these every day if I could.
(via daurbannerd)
Just shined my Allen Edmonds for the first time
I got them on ebay for cheap and I used LL Bean’s Shoe Care Kit to clean them and raise a shine. Nothing fancy (yet), but they look so much nicer now with the slightest touch-up. I can’t wait to start doing the full leather care routine.
Saphir Shoe Polishing Kit for $45
Several years ago, my parents bought me a shoe-polishing kit for Christmas that sat unused in my closet until I finally bought a real pair of dress shoes that required polishing. Since then, it’s been a practice that I’ve found enjoyable and really ought to do more often.
If you’re looking for a way to get a start on polishing your shoes and don’t have the basics yet, consider picking up this shoe polishing starter kit from Bespoke Post that features Saphir products.
For $45 you get a tins of Saphir Renovateur, black and brown polish, pate de luxe neutral wax, two applicator brushes, a buffing brush, a shoe bag and some spare laces.
The tins are two-thirds the size of the jars you typically see Saphir sold in, but it’s more than enough to get you started. If you begin to run out, then you can always pick up more from Hanger Project or A Suitable Wardrobe Store. And, of course, if you need a quick primer on how to shine your shoes, check out Put This On Episode 2 of Season 1.
-Kiyoshi
(Thanks to sashu for the head’s up on this deal.)
Definitely something everyone should pull the trigger on.
WIWT Handcoloured Green Monks by Santoni per Oger
The ugliest green shoes I’ve ever seen. They’re like leather plantains or someshit.
Gothic lolita punk stuff can be kind of boring when it’s confined to the black-white-red motif, so I think that any pastel stuff with studs on it is automatically a lot cooler.
At this point in time, anyway.
(Source: foxglovetea, via creepyyeha)
