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SirITMan•

I have to say I like the kind of burnished looking toe caps.

15
Stpbmw•

The toe caps were antiqued. Some like that, some don't. Which camp you fall into depends on whether you should keep them.

If you wanted a small project you could probably remove some of that without too much trouble.

7
oceansidereefOP•

I may keep them, what would be the best way to remove it?

1
Wyzen•

Lightly use 90% isopropyl alcohol, or better/less harsh/extreme and more expensive use Renomat, with cotton balls to remove and fade into the toe leaving the tip alone. However, if these were properly burnished, and not just antiqued they are gunna stay this way unless you use sunlight to lighten them. Burnished leather is done using heat and pressure to achieve this look, antiquing the leather uses dye which can be removed/lightened using acetone/rubbing alcohol/renomat.

Edit:if there was no reference to burnishing, or "made with burnished European leather" then they should just be dyed and my referenced method should work just fine.

4
Stpbmw•

This. Only thing to add is that you can test the alcohol in an inconspicuous spot,looks like the burnishing or antiquing was done in other areas too not just the toe. I have a pair of strands where I am pretty sure it was just sprayed on and it was removable.

5
Wyzen•

Interesting. Did yours say burnished? I have a pair of cigar strands, said burnished, I decided to test it, and it was not removable which led me to believe they were actually burnished and not just dyed. Which made me happy as I hate it when companies say one thing but do another. But now you are making me wonder if I went too easy because of confirmation bias.

2
SpaceFaceAce•

If they were cheap, I’d keep ‘em and lighten up the toes with Renovateur.

4
oceansidereefOP•

I may keep them and try this. Thanks!

1
AndrewNoonan•

This is definitely a stylistic preference: the burnishing might’ve been too heavily pigmented, but personally I like this artistic effect and would even go as far as making the very tip a black and have it gradually fade into a dark brown on the captoe and progress to ultimately the existing coffee brown on the shoe body.

4
Stpbmw•

Ha- this probably the direction I would take as well.

2
hjordan28141•

Personally I think those are great. Maybe just a little over done but for 2nds I'd definitely keep. Still it is your money, if you don't like the look return them.

3
oceansidereefOP•

I may keep the the, and try to lighten up them a bit, just need to figure out what the best method would be.

1
mhdena•

I would, I'm not a fan of burnishing anyway.

3
kingintheyunk•

I would keep. Seems they are a unique, one of a kind pair.

2
AnonScreenname•

I agree that the caps are too dark. They stand out waaaaaay to much and look terrible. But those toe caps are why they ended up as seconds.

Eh, I kind of feel like something like this ought to be made aware to the buyer. It's just too much. So I'd say this is an exceptional case that justifies exceptions to the norm. If you don't like them then send them back. Yes, it's within bounds for seconds. But it's so drastic of an aesthetic compared to what one would normally expect that I feel like a buyer deserves to see exactly what they'd be getting into when making a buying decision.

Of course, if you're up to it, you could balance the color out. But unlike those recommending you try to tame down the toe, I would suggest closing the difference by going darker with the rest of the shoe. It's a lot easier to add darkness than to take it off.

2
SpaceFaceAce•

I also wonder if the burnishing was applied to try and cover up that scratch on the left toe.

2
TigerDude33•

This is a feature that some people like. I'm not a fan of the saddle shoe look.

2
rggendro•

Check out The Elegant Oxford on youtube. There are many videos of him removing Allen Edmonds factory finish using Acetone, then applying a dye color, followed by saphir renovateur, then polished with cream polish and wax-based mirror shine for the toe cap. His shoes look amazing afterwards.

This video shows him fixing a really bad burnishing job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekdlgDwSxV8&t=181s

I bought a pair of Alpine boots that had a very similar look. I stripped off the finish, then dyed the entire boot from "milk chocolate" (my description) to undiluted Saphir medium brown. The toe and heel are still a little darker but now almost imperceptible in normal light. Just in time for the slippery winter conditions.

Good Luck

2
Hessarian99•

Not at all.

You can stop the finish and re dye

2
poleofbobdole•

I'm kinda in the same boat myself, I bought a pair of Boulevards in walnut, they came in and I was hoping for a nice natural light brown looking leather, what I got was between that and a cardboard almost spray painted looking color, really cheap looking in my opinion but the toes were the same as yours, looked like they were airbrushed hastily to give them a burnished appearance. Deciding on taking them back or not

1