A Guide to Suede Care & Unboxing: Allen Edmonds Strandmok

welcome back to the elegant oxford in today's video i'm going to be teaching you all about suede care and i'm revisiting this topic from a previous video i made a few years ago but felt it was time to check out a really underrated leather type that often gets overlooked in my opinion now just like normal calfskin suede requires some basic care before wearing for the first time with at least one product although there are other helpful steps you can take to make sure your suede is protected so that it lasts for years to come now i think this one's probably obvious but shoe trees are a necessity but i don't think the common person really understands how vital they are in preserving your shoes long term especially on suede which are often beaten up by owners since they're so casual now although suede is versatile and easy to wear you'll often find that you'll get dirt or food debris on the nap from time to time so i always recommend a stiff crepe brush made especially for suede to really lift that nap up gently and remove surface dirt you can find this beechwood crate brush at the elegantoxford.com if the brush isn't sufficient for dirt or marks though the next step is suede care is a suede eraser the saphir gomodin which just means eraser is really great for gently getting at what's on the nap i always try to tell people that before they try anything like soap they should try a suede eraser first it works wonders here's another pair of suede wingtips i have that my daughter drop some egg on the suede eraser will take care of it quickly brush the remaining crumbles off with the crepe brush and you're off to the races now as a side note if things get really nasty on your suede saphir suede shampoo is a gentle cleaner for mud and soil for when things get really nasty just lather with some water and use the brush and clean it off once it's dry use the crate brush and clean excess debris off remember don't be afraid to get your suede wet for cleaning suede is extremely durable and easy to care for this is really a care item for your shoes down the line all right now here's probably my favorite care item for suede and that's suede renovator which acts just like normal calfskin renovator for smooth leather but this one is for suede and comes in a spray form it's fantastic for basic maintenance and to keep it all nourished and healthy and comes in various colors like brown navy blue and neutral just spray on and you'll see a difference this one actually has small amounts of dark pigment and i just got some on my stand so just be slightly careful it's not strong pigment at all it's more akin to what you get on shoe cream so it's not permanent but it will get places you don't want so just be kind of careful alright without further ado here's the one thing you need before you wear your suede shoes for the first time and that's super involver to waterproof your shoes now what i like about invulner is that it does a very good job at repelling water but isn't so powerful that it will prevent cleaning and maintenance in the future it struck the right balance between protecting your shoes from unwanted water and not making your life harder when let's say you want to add suede renovator but no longer can because it's just repelled off it's really easy to use just spray it on until the suede feels damp and let it dry for 30 minutes at the very minimum although among shoe shiners it's commonly suggested to wait overnight for best results now let's see how good of a job it does here with some quick water as you can see water is repelled off quite easily although i see some droplets getting stuck in the brogues but overall i'm really impressed at how it just beads right off and doesn't allow anything to get in really great all-around product for protecting your shoes especially suede but you can use this on calf skin as well but it really is the one thing i recommend for suede shoes before you wear them now as a side note before we start the shoe review for those who want to act quickly i do have a limited amount of suede care kits for 49.99 which include the suede eraser the crepe brush suede renovator and the super in vulner in your choice of color so if you're interested in that which is a really great deal head over to the elegantoxford.com now i'm obviously not sponsored by kirby allison but i absolutely love his laces that he sells i think after i've tried about a million of them i really believe they are the best laces around so i have them on almost all my shoes and they're really hard to beat so if you want a good pair of flat dress laces i think the absolute best are from kirby allison all right now that you know how to take care of your suede let's look at this shoe which is the stranmock by allen edmonds obviously now here's a pair of allen edmonds strands in normal calfskin so they're different styles the strand and the strand mock not to be confused and i think the reason why they're different because this also comes in suede so i don't think it's technically the leather that changes what designates a strand in the strand mock but from what i've come to understand is that this storm welt which is this piece of leather that comes around the entire shoe to make it more waterproof is what designates a strand mock not that it needs it good your welted shoes are already pretty much 100 waterproof aside from that this is basically identical to the strand in every way except for the the storm welt this shoe comes in day night which is this beautiful brick red day night i've never seen it before i've seen olive green which looks equally beautiful but really happy with this i like day night overall really robust it's more casual of course there's no beveled waist or anything like that but it's really great for wearing them outside uh in wet conditions and it's really just more casual and much easier to wear i think when guys are first learning how to dress they might feel uncomfortable wearing a strict dress shoe out with chinos or jeans even a day night and a more casual leather like suede makes that a lot easier it's friendlier you can definitely wear it and you know what this might sound weird but when you're wearing a normal dress shoe they're just really loud when you walk they make that clack lack sound which is really cool if you're wearing a suit but if you're dressed down and have jeans on i think it's just too ostentatious it really draws attention to you negatively i kind of like the silent the silence of day night i know that sounds weird i know it's completely random but i've noticed when i'm wearing a dress shoe that's got a leather sole and i have jeans on and a button up whenever i walk it's so loud people just turn around and look at me and i kind of sometimes don't want that kind of attention i just want this you know kind of casual day night that doesn't make any noise and it's really really great and i love suede i really i can't believe people don't give sway the credit it deserves it's beautiful it's super super easy to maintain it's hard to scuff or destroy it's just really versatile and robust and and really regal i mean aside from wearing it with a suit which i know some guys do and pull off amazingly well it's just a great show overall it's really easy and friendly to wear with pretty much anything and it's fantastic so i really think if you don't own a pair of suede shoes and you should and they come in great colors browns and reds and and navy blue which is a really popular look but i'm happy i got these i'm really bummed i sold my suede brown strands i regretted it the second i sent them out and i've been on the hunt for this pair and i'm super happy i found it now allen edmonds usually retail for 395 dollars but they're on sale most of the year which is a really great thing so i got these for 199 there was already a sale and they added an extra 20 off on the last day of the sale and i picked these up right away for 199 bucks so i know other companies like miramin they retail at 195 but if you're comparing allen edmonds and mirror min for the exact same price at 195 199 allen edmonds pretty much wins out all the way up to around 250 270 dollars and then above that it's harder to justify i think but from 190 to 250 which you can pretty much find throughout the year you're getting an extremely solid shoe with solid construction i know it's popular to kind of bash allen edmonds right now but they really are fantastic and buying this shoe and looking at this right now really reminded me of that and reinforces that idea so don't be afraid of looking to allen edmonds i think the best thing about allen edmonds that they sell from size 6 to size 15 and every width imaginable and they are solid constructed shoes everything's done really well really happy with it so no complaints here really great shoe and i'm actually whenever i have suede suede shoes i always get rid of them i don't know why but whenever i have a pair of suede shoes i wear them a lot they're really great to wear and usually i wear them with dark wash jeans or i wear them with chinos i have these really nice tan chinos they're like light almost cream tan and looks fantastic with navy socks and that combo so really really like strands i mean strat mocks excuse me thinking too much about the strand here the strand is another fantastic shoe i personally think this is allen edmonds best shoe overall it really is my favorite i love the walnut strand and the normal strand mock comes in really interesting combinations and colors and the most popular one is the dark brown with the light brown reverse patina but suede i think is probably my favorite this video isn't sponsored by allen edmonds or anything like that i just remember they're having their rediscover america sale sometime in september or october and then in november i know a lot of you ask about this allen edmonds is having their custom shell cordovan trunk show it was actually pushed back to november i spoke to someone at allen edmonds and it was pushed back into november but the the shell quarter and trunk show is fantastic and that's when you can customize your own shell cordovan shoe and every year they offer new colors or or a new style which is really fantastic so stay tuned to that i'm actually going to be ordering a pair and be looking at that pretty soon so i hope you liked the video i hope you uh i won you over and that you're gonna look into suede it's really great and and everyone makes it you can even go to the highest end shoemakers possible and everybody makes suede because it's such a versatile and fantastic leather just look into it and give it a try i think you'll be convinced and i'm totally going to enjoy wearing these i was really looking forward to these for sure i'm like a kid at a candy shop so thanks for watching and i will see you next time

Channel: The Elegant Oxford

Views: 39,924

Keywords: Suede care, Suede, Allen Edmonds, Saphir, Tutorial

Id: ra8i7VMVVss

Length: 11min 11sec (671 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 21 2021