Patina & Why Cheap Italian Shoes Are Useful: Part II

I wrote an article awhile back about Patina or shoes and why cheap shoes are good as practice for home made shoe patina. Anyway, according to the webpage analytics, it is one of the most popular posts in here. Not that this blog is popular in the first place but it does get a majority of the hits herein. That article is here.

Anyway, the shoe is still alive and kicking even after being used for almost a decade at almost once a week (7-8 years old shoes). Why so? Because it isn't blake stitched or goodyear welted but only stuck together with glue. Of course occasional gluing of its sole helped. But it has lasted this long. So much for those that say glued shoes do not last. 

So since you last saw it here it looked quite fabulous (above). But the years have taken its toll again. Three years have passed and the thin, cheap leather loses its luster more quickly and stains quite easily. So this time around, it wasn't just nail polish remover and some polish that was used  to revive it. I decided to use shoe dye to cover the stain spots this time around.

I firstly used some nail polish remover to remove any excess polish built up and then applied shoe dye with a small brush. I could have used a piece of cloth to dab the dye in instead of the brush but this is one of those times when I was a little lazy in trying to look for some cloth to do so. So the brush it was. After applying the dye, I let it dry and then apply polish over it. The dye cost me less than RM20 and was bought at ACE Hardware, the local hardware chain of stores. Just some ordinary brand. Heck, I'm experimenting over here.

It turned out fine again. Lucky me. Now this pair of Andrea Cammelli branded derby shoes have a darkened cap toe with brush stroke patina all round. There was a stain on the cap toe which is why I made the front darker to hide the stain. It has been slightly darkened all round because of the dark brown dye used. I also added in flat shoelaces to give it a nicer look. I cannot deny that the leather is indeed cheap looking up close, but I do think this RM150 shoe (less than USD50 with the current exchange rate) looks pretty good when polished, placed in a nice setting and photographed as in the photograph in the beginning of this article. It looks like something much more. Yes? No?

So, yes. This pair of supposedly cheap Italian shoes let me practice as and when I am in the mood to do DIY patina.