Is corrected grain leather that bad?
Found this really nice pair of Loake Royals going around for $60. I heard they're made of bookbinder/corrected grain leather, I'm a bit concerned if these are as bad as they say.
52 Replies
$60 is a good deal for loakes. The leather will be much better than anything else at that price point
Hell yeah!
I am currently debating between these loakes or a pair of Berwicks of which I am unsure in size
I'm sure you have read plenty about bookbinder, so I will skip to the part where I share my experiences. Bookbinder is cool until it is uncool, then there is no coming back.
Here's a pair of beaters–that's been used meanly–I have laying around, you can clearly see the vertical strips of the cracked acrylic coating, distinct from the wrinkling, that is present mostly on the vamp of the right shoe.
That happens sooner or later, mainly due to temperature change from your body heat heating the shoes up when worn and them then cooling down when unworn (heat stress, don't try to iron bookbinder shoes, you'll crack the coating) and once it's done, it's done.
Actually, you can try to get the dye job as well as the coating dissolved with tons of acetone and then some more elbow grease and go on from there, but I'd say it's not worth it in the end.
So, beware, friend! Also, nice shoes.
to speak to this, i stripped, re-dyed and protected a pair of derbies; the shoes were only $20 beaters but the process of stripping took a toll on the leather and i spent some extra effort resealing them
I'm not sure if you have any posted, but please do post your restoration attemps if you haven't already! Y'know, from now on! Would love to see 'em.
i usually post my efforts in #DIY or on ig (same name)
on topic, +1 to everything raisin said; at $60 i'd get them and spend the extra on any preventative maintenance (shoe trees, etc)
Thank you everyone! Let me sit on it for bit, on one hand I would prefer something that ages better than these but on the other I'm the type of guy who treats their shoes like shit and something like this that I could just bust out in the rain seems appealing to me.
@neonblessed those are some goodlooking shoes, idk if it's just me but I dont mind the look, my beater tassel loafers look a lot worse than that lol
Should one attempt this once the shoe starts to look like shit or should I try to diy it asap?
If I were in your position, I wouldn't attempt to strip the shoes even if it got to the cracked coating state. My experience leads me to say that it seriously requires a lot of elbow grease and tons of acetone, under it's vapour you don't want to be sitting for prolonged periods mind you. You can indeed bust bookbinder out in the rain, as long as the soles are donned out with rubberized armour, and it is overall a low maintenance leather! They "shine" up with a quick proper brush and you don't need to do much else, in fact, you can't do much else.
The coating (might as well say) essentially forbids leather conditioner and dye (through cream polish) to penetrate. You can get wax polish on them for a mirror shine, but it'll dissipate quickly.
Is it something that can I use for a long time tho?
Im more concerned about how much use I can get out of it
I'm broke and $60 is pretty big for a thrifted shoe😭😭😭
Well, if you take good care of them! Put them in their trees after every wear, don't be wearing them day after day 24/7, brush them properly, and sure!
It won't last 30 years though.
I'm not very experienced with Loake, but 60$ is a good find.
But then, you can search further for a better deal everytime.
That's good enough for me
Uhh
Though I will also give a tip.
Do you mind if I send a pic of the sole? I dont really know how to check how much usage it has gone through
Please do