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There are many different types of leather used for shoes, all with different looks, character and properties. In this substantial guide most types of leathers used for footwear are listed and briefly explained.
In the field of quality footwear, there are some terms that can be a bit confusing and unclear, especially for those who have recently become interested in the topic. Here I go through several of them and try to clarify and explain.
Candle wax is a problematic stain to get on clothes and shoes, as it tends to stick to the surface and can be a real pain to remove completely. With the right methods you should be able to solve it though, at least on regular leather shoes. Here’s a guide on how to rescue shoes from stearin.
The upper leathers available in the first half of the 1900’s was in many ways far superior to what was around before that, and to what we have today, in terms of quality. Learn the complex reasons for this, in an odyssey through the history of leather tanning, with the main focus on the golden age.
There’s many leathers that are durable in various ways, but most fall short to the natural armour, the stingray skin. Here’s a black wholecut which is about to be finished in the Gaziano & Girling factory in Kettering, Northampton. Below a crash course on the properties of this special leather.
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The fact that how shoes fit affects how shoes crease is sort of common knowledge among shoe interested. However, it’s common to see misconceptions where people confuse excess creasing due to fit issues with pronounced creasing due to the properties of the leather or because of bad leather quality. Here I try to pin out the differences.
How much finishing that is applied on leathers from the tannery varies vastly, some casein finished box calf can be really shiny and have a nice depth already from the start, but most leathers are actually more or less dull and lifeless when delivered. Especially unfinished (note, not the same as undyed) crust calf or similar, which are left for the maker to burnish in a desired direction. Above shows the huge difference between unfinished and burnished.
Most rarely think about it, but in many cases there are practical, utilitarian reasons that shoes look the way they do nowadays, and we’ve been used to it and think it’s the right and beautiful way. Learn the historic functional reasons why we have derby shoes, a lot of brown shoes, built-up bevelled waists, natural sole edges on workwear boots and why rugged boots have high toe spring and sleek dress shoes low toe spring.
We live in an age where soft sneakers is the norm on people’s feet, and unfortunately this cushioning slowly seem to gain traction also in the classic shoe world. The problem is that our feet are not built to be walking around in that environment, and this risk leading to serious feet health issues.
Recently a user on the Goodyear welt forum on Reddit finished a really ambitious test where he had leather strips from four different leather types hang outside for two years, where all types of leathers received none or a varied amount of different types of conditioners. The result is quite interesting.
