This is for those of us who've tried to turn cheap modern Weejun-style loafers (Sebagos, Bass, etc.) into something more closely resembling the good old Weejuns from the 50s (i.e. nicer leather, better brown color, non-plasticky finish).
Awhile back I bought two pairs of Sebago Cayman 2 loafers from eBay after reading the good reviews here. The first pair I hacked using the standard method of removing the plasticky finish with rubbing alcohol and a rag, applying liberal coats of brown shoe cream as a "dye", and then polishing with dark brown wax shoe polish.
The result was a distinct improvement over the original clown's nose red color. This pair of Sebagos is now a deep reddish brown and looks very much like the mahogany color Alden used to use:
For the 2nd pair of Sebagos I wanted a darker, more chocolatey brown, which is what I was originally after for the 1st pair. You can only go so far with the alcohol/polish method, as it really only strips away the plasticky finish and a small bit of the red dye, allowing you to darken the color but never really cover up that cheezy red dye #2.
So this time, instead of sending in cream and polish to do a dye's job, I got real shoe dye. Fiebing's Shoe Dye, $6 a bottle at my local cobbler's. As it happened, he had one bottle of dark brown dye on hand -- "Chocolate". I call that kismet.
So I took the shoes and stripped the plasticky finish with rubbing alcohol and a rag. Let them dry for an hour, then placed them on some newspaper, opened the bottle of Feibing's, and got dark brown dye on my hand (unavoidable and fully expected).
Used the little foam dauber my cobbler gave me to wipe the dye on the shoes, taking care not to get any on the interior of the shoes (he said not to worry about getting any dye on the soles since they're already quite dark, and he was right, it made no difference, which is a good thing since I was not exactly artisanal in my shoe dyeing technique). The dye is quite thin, like black water, so coverage was not an issue. It just Goes On, and Spreads Everywhere You Sponge It. Then you let it dry overnight. Then you rub the shoes with a clean rag to smooth the finish, dye them all over again, and leave them to dry overnight again.
In the morning you give them another once-over with the rag, and then polish them up with your favorite dark brown wax polish. I use Saphir and swear by it, but Kiwi's fine too.
When I was done, I couldn't believe how good the 2nd pair of Sebagos looked. The perfect chocolate brown. What every guy who buys Cigar Shell Aldens thinks they're going to look like, except that they never quite nail it. Me included. I wish my Cigar chukkas were this color. I wish all my shoes were this color. My furniture too.
I have a pair of Alden's now-discontinued 725 long vamp loafers in dark brown calf, and their brown is truly sublime. That's what these re-dyed Sebagos look like. Of course, you put your nose right up to the leather and the Aldens have a more uniform and refined appearance -- the Sebagos are, after all, a cheap $6 dye job by a guy who doesn't know what the hell he's doing. But they come a lot closer than they should. Like, 90% close. Farther than a few feet, you can't really tell one from the other. And compared to the dye job on the orginal Weejuns, forget it, no contest, these look better. Weejuns weren't high-end loafers and neither are these $50 eBay Sebagos. But with a $6 dye job, they look like $600 loafers. Nothing AE's selling these days looks as good as this brown.
Moral of story: if you've got a pair of cheap Sebagos/Bass/etc. and just want to dull the plasticky finish and brown them up a bit, do the alcohol/polish routine. Takes less than an hour, makes the shoes look a lot better. But if you want the real thing -- rich, deep, chocolate brown -- get some Feibing's dye and prepare to be stunned.
Awhile back I bought two pairs of Sebago Cayman 2 loafers from eBay after reading the good reviews here. The first pair I hacked using the standard method of removing the plasticky finish with rubbing alcohol and a rag, applying liberal coats of brown shoe cream as a "dye", and then polishing with dark brown wax shoe polish.
The result was a distinct improvement over the original clown's nose red color. This pair of Sebagos is now a deep reddish brown and looks very much like the mahogany color Alden used to use:
For the 2nd pair of Sebagos I wanted a darker, more chocolatey brown, which is what I was originally after for the 1st pair. You can only go so far with the alcohol/polish method, as it really only strips away the plasticky finish and a small bit of the red dye, allowing you to darken the color but never really cover up that cheezy red dye #2.
So this time, instead of sending in cream and polish to do a dye's job, I got real shoe dye. Fiebing's Shoe Dye, $6 a bottle at my local cobbler's. As it happened, he had one bottle of dark brown dye on hand -- "Chocolate". I call that kismet.
So I took the shoes and stripped the plasticky finish with rubbing alcohol and a rag. Let them dry for an hour, then placed them on some newspaper, opened the bottle of Feibing's, and got dark brown dye on my hand (unavoidable and fully expected).
Used the little foam dauber my cobbler gave me to wipe the dye on the shoes, taking care not to get any on the interior of the shoes (he said not to worry about getting any dye on the soles since they're already quite dark, and he was right, it made no difference, which is a good thing since I was not exactly artisanal in my shoe dyeing technique). The dye is quite thin, like black water, so coverage was not an issue. It just Goes On, and Spreads Everywhere You Sponge It. Then you let it dry overnight. Then you rub the shoes with a clean rag to smooth the finish, dye them all over again, and leave them to dry overnight again.
In the morning you give them another once-over with the rag, and then polish them up with your favorite dark brown wax polish. I use Saphir and swear by it, but Kiwi's fine too.
When I was done, I couldn't believe how good the 2nd pair of Sebagos looked. The perfect chocolate brown. What every guy who buys Cigar Shell Aldens thinks they're going to look like, except that they never quite nail it. Me included. I wish my Cigar chukkas were this color. I wish all my shoes were this color. My furniture too.
I have a pair of Alden's now-discontinued 725 long vamp loafers in dark brown calf, and their brown is truly sublime. That's what these re-dyed Sebagos look like. Of course, you put your nose right up to the leather and the Aldens have a more uniform and refined appearance -- the Sebagos are, after all, a cheap $6 dye job by a guy who doesn't know what the hell he's doing. But they come a lot closer than they should. Like, 90% close. Farther than a few feet, you can't really tell one from the other. And compared to the dye job on the orginal Weejuns, forget it, no contest, these look better. Weejuns weren't high-end loafers and neither are these $50 eBay Sebagos. But with a $6 dye job, they look like $600 loafers. Nothing AE's selling these days looks as good as this brown.
Moral of story: if you've got a pair of cheap Sebagos/Bass/etc. and just want to dull the plasticky finish and brown them up a bit, do the alcohol/polish routine. Takes less than an hour, makes the shoes look a lot better. But if you want the real thing -- rich, deep, chocolate brown -- get some Feibing's dye and prepare to be stunned.