by Bobbin.Threadbare » Sun Nov 03, 2013 2:58 pm
Most black shoe polishes are similar, but not all shoe treatments are the same. Depending on your shoe you might want to use a whole host of different things - for example for a pair of very nice dress shoes you would probably remove all polish first with acetone then treat it with a layer of conditioner. After dry you'd put a layer of polish on with a brush, then let it stand before buffing it with a cloth. The really waxy tinned ones create a really good shine, but I find they can crack which is really annoying. The cream/squeezy ones seem pretty crappy when it comes to rain.
For most regular leather shoes the traditional treatment is 'dubbin' which is kind of a common name for a lot of things - I know some people prefer dubbin made of tallow and some like the stuff that has minksfoot oil in it. You can polish up dubbin and it's meant to give quite a good shine. You can get black dubbin and I've found it to be the best middle ground. I spoke to Willam Lennon (bootmakers) a while back and they suggest using dubbin but not letting it really soak in, as it can over condition leather.
For walking shoes and most boots that are oil tanned (not vegetable tanned) a lot of people like to use products that oil the boot up and waterproof it. Obenaufs is the current hype and I'm sure it works pretty well. It'll never shine up all that good though if that's what you're into, but it does make boots look really even if you dent or scrape them. Red wing have different products they suggest for each shoe, and although I've never had any Red Wings it kind of gives you an idea of what you should be looking at.
I use pecards leather dressing. People have pretty strong opinions on this type of thing if you hazard to search through Sufu and styleforum.
Smiles: I love their (vintage) collection -- totally unsurprised that this is a Spitalfields thing. It's kind of what I'm doing with my partner, though a bit different in terms of what they've come up with. I was with them ALL the way until I went on their site and their collection was all on stern looking fashion models. URGH. I have really strong feelings about this, because it's almost part of the branding, and they've styled their product so it's just going to end up looking like Bolongoro Trevor or All Saints. It's like taking product shots with vaseline all over the lens.
Edit: Just spoke to my girlfriend who reminded me we talked about these guys before. She says they're a bit too costume-y and I agree. They sell in this shop in Shoreditch, so you can kind of see the market they're placing themselves in