Hi I'm Kirby Allison founder of The Hanger
Project. In today's video,
I'm going to show you how to match the perfect
Saphir Medaille d'Or shoe polish color
to your pair of Allen Edmonds dress
shoes. One of the most frequent questions
we receive here at The Hangar Project is
what color shoe polish should I use for my
Allen Edmonds?
Now we received that specifically for Allen
Edmonds because it's one of the most
popular
and certainly most important shoe
companies here in the United States still
manufacturing high quality
fully welted dress shoes
in America.
For the money, about $395
for these dress shoes we have here.
You really can't beat it.
And one of the things that I always say is that
if you're looking to really invest
in a proper dress shoe that's going to last
years if not decades;
you really need to be at the Allen
Edmonds quality level
or better. The full 360
degree Goodyear welting means that you
can resole your shoes as often
as you need to.
And Allen Edmonds uses a really high
quality upper leather that
is only going to look better
with time
and only going to look better
with proper polish.
If you have any questions
or comments during this video,
please ask them in the comments section
below. Let us know what you think.
Do you wear Allen Edmonds?
What type of Allen Edmonds shoes do
you have? And then if you had any challenges
choosing the proper color shoe polish
for your pair of AE's.
When selecting your shoe polish color
it's important to understand that there's never going to be
a perfect match.
I mean with the exception of black it doesn't
matter how many different shoe polish colors
you have.
You're not going to be able to find the perfect
pigmented cream polish
that is made for the pair of
shoes that you have.
The reason is is that there are so many different shoe
manufacturers out there that
a medium brown
or a light brown from one company to another
is never going to be the same.
And even
with the same shoe it's never going to be the same.
Allen Edmonds for instance hand applies
all of their finishes,
so if you pull out five different pairs
of Walnut Allen Edmonds
shoes,
most likely each of those shoes
is going to have a slightly different finish
and that's one of the things I really love about
a high quality pair of shoes.
Part of the magic of polishing your
own shoes is to see how that finish,
the patina,
evolves over the lifetime
of the shoe as you put more
polish into the leather.
And choosing your shoe polish color,
you really have an opportunity to make
a decision as to what direction
you're going to take that finish so that those
shoes are really personalized to
you.
I have a pair of Allen Edmonds dress shoes
in each of the five most popular
finishes that I think
that anyone should consider.
Now these are the most kind of traditional
conservative finishes that you're going to find
on all of Allen Edmonds most popular
models.
Of course we have Black
and then we have Oxblood,
Brown,
Walnut and Dark Chili.
5 beautiful finishes
and really you couldn't go wrong
with a pair of Allen Edmonds shoes in
any of these colors.
The first pair of dress shoes I bought in college
was a black pair of Allen
Edmonds Park Avenues.
This cap-toe Oxford is certainly one of the most
traditional formal dress shoes
that you can buy.
And then the color black,
you can wear it for anything.
You can wear it during the day,
you can wear it at night,
you can wear it to a wedding,
a funeral or to your first interview.
So if you're only going to buy one
shoe, this is the shoe to
invest in.
Now Black is easy of course you're going to use
a black shoe polish.
Now what's great about the Saphir
Medaille d'Or black polish
and as you can see here
is that again it has
such a high concentration
of pigment in it that you really
get great saturation of the
finish itself.
Even though if you're buying a pair new
from the factory, I absolutely
recommend polishing them first.
We have a video on how to shine a new pair
of shoes.
There is no polish
or actual finishing on a pair of shoes
straight from the factory.
So if we were to polish these
with a little bit of cream polish
and then buff it off you would actually see
a real nice shine begin to develop.
Also the waxes in both the cream
and the wax polish are going to help protect
the leather
and just give it that,
that finished look of a
well cared pair of shoes.
With black, of course I'd
recommend a black polish.
Next, I have a pair of Park Avenues in
Oxblood. Now Oxblood is a beautiful
finish that combines red
with a little bit of black to create
a deep kind of burgundy
that has visual interest.
Right. It's got color,
but it still means business.
It's still formal So there's several
different color polishes that you could use
here. And once we get away from
Black into some of the other finishes,
we're really going to see how different polishes
can take the shoe in a different direction.
First is Hermes Red.
The second color is Mahogany.
And then the third possible color you could use
is Burgundy.
Right. Now each of these three
polishes are going to take this shoe
in a little bit different direction.
So let's take a look
at how that would work by smearing
the polish on a little bit of white paper.
I like to take a pigmented polish
and smear it on paper
because it allows you to really better
see the pigment
in the polish and where that would take.
Hermes Red
has more red in it.
Mahogany is more of
the Brown family.
It still has some red,
a little bit lighter of a red than the
Hermes Red and is probably a little bit closer
to brown. And then last is
Burgundy.
Burgundy absolutely has
very strong hints of purple.
So first I'm starting
with the Burgundy
and the Burgundy really blends
into
the Oxblood quite nicely.
But again those purple pigments
are going to darken the leather
slightly so
with the burgundy polish again we're bringing
out some of those purple undertones
that you get whenever you mix black
and red. And next time going to show you
what the Hermes Red looks like.
It sounds like a strong pigment color,
but as I apply it here.
It too
blends in quite nicely.
So if you were to use Hermes Red on
these Oxbloods,
again you would be pulling out that red
finish.
It's still quite subtle,
but nevertheless looks great.
Now last is the Mahogany.
And Mahogany,
again as I said has a little
bit less red in it than the
Hermes Red
and more brown
and so of the three polishes,
this one is the one that I would say
probably least matches
this Oxblood finish.
So if you were looking to mute
the finish,
maybe you would use a Mahogany.
But of the three different pigment colors that we
have here I would say that Mahogany
actually matches this Oxblood
the least.
My two recommendations for the Allen
Edmonds Oxblood is
either the number 12
Hermes Red if you want to accentuate
some of the red in this finish
or the number 8
Burgundy if you want to bring out
the purple.
Next we have the
Allen Edmonds Brown finish.
This is the Fifth Avenue in brown.
Now the Fifth Avenue is a slightly
less formal dress shoe than the Park
Avenue because of the broging across
the cap,
but still very much a formal
dress shoe.
Now to call this Brown is really
honestly a little misleading because
this is a dark brown.
And so for this shoe the only
polish that I would recommend is going
to be the Saphir Dark Brown.
The number 5 Dark Brown
is almost a black
and as you can see from this shoe,
it is such a dark finish that
in low light it would be mistaken
for a black.
So if I smear this
onto again my swatch
card you can see
that it is almost as dark
as that black.
I mean it is a proper dark brown.
And I've got a little bit of scuffing right here.
I'm going to put this polish over
that scuff mark
and you can see that the Dark
Brown really perfectly
matches the Allen Edmonds brown
color.
Let's buff that off and see how that works.
So that scuff mark all
but completely removed
with a little bit of additional polish,
the waxes would really help completely
conceal that.
But from a pigment perspective,
any discoloration from scuffing is going
to be fixed very easily
with a good cream polish.
So here I have the
Allen Edmonds strand in their Walnut
color.
Now walnut is a beautiful
medium brown.
This is probably the second dress
shoe anyone should buy next to the black.
Everyone needs a good brown
that's not too light,
not too dark.
This to me is the quintessential brown
dress shoe. Now what's nice about the Strand
is that as you can see there's a little bit more
brogging across this.
So again it's a less formal shoe
than say this the Fifth
Avenue or the Park Avenue
which is perfect for Brown.
So,
for this shoe there's two polish colors
that I think you could use.
One is the light brown.
Now the light brown again
is slightly lighter
than the finish of this shoe.
And so you're not going to have to worry about
it excessively darkening
the leather but it still has enough
pigment in it that
if you have any type of scratching
it's going to fill that in.
And depending on what area of the shoe
you know, the light brown is either
a perfect match where
the polish saturation is not that great
or it's a little bit dark where you see
some more burnishing.
So you could also use
the Medium Brown.Now
the Medium Brown
would definitely darken this a little bit.
And if I put this on the swatch card,
you're going to be able to see the difference
in these two.
Definitely darker.
If I put it on the lighter area
of the shoe you can really see how it makes
a difference. It's going to darken that a little
bit.
But here, say on the toe cap
it's slightly less dark.
Now,
let's see.
Here is the Cognac.
You might also be able to use the
Cognac on here.
The Cognac again has maybe a little
bit too much red in it.
That's not to say that you couldn't use it you just
have to understand how that red is going to bring
the finish of the shoe you
know as I said earlier
you know choosing the correct polish
color is more of an art
than it is a science
and is a complete function of personal
preference.
You absolutely cannot ruin a pair
of dress shoes by using the wrong polish color
as long as you're not trying to use a black
on a light brown pair of shoes.
For the Allan Edmonds Walnut finish,
if you're looking to really maintain
that original finish,
I'm going to recommend the number
3 light brown.
If you're OK with the slight darkening
or if you want to introduce a little bit
of a burnishing
or antiquing affect to these Walnuts,
then I would recommend the number 37
Medium Brown.
And if you really want to play around
with the finish of your shoes you could absolutely
use the number 10
Cognac.
Here is the Allan Edmonds Dark
Chili. Now the Dark Chili is
really a medium brown to
a medium to dark brown
with a little bit of red
introduced into the finish.
It's a beautiful shoe.
It's shown here in the McAllister
wingtip which is your
classic wingtip dress shoe.
Formal
but still certainly more
visually interesting than your plain
cap-toe Park Avenue.
So for these shoes I would recommend
either the Tobacco Brown,
which would darken the finish slightly
or the Medium Brown.
Now the Medium Brown is probably the
safest polish to use if you're looking
for really just maintain
the finish of these shoes.
It blends in nicely.
It'll fix any type of scuffing you
have without unnecessarily
darkening the finish.
So let's see how that buffs off.
Now the Havana Brown is
going to be slightly darker than the Medium
Brown.
It's not going to
dramatically change the finish,
but it's perfect for
the areas of the shoe where there is a little bit
of burnishing.
And once you massage this
and smooth it out across the leather,
again
it's going to darken it slightly in the light
areas,
match perfectly in those dark areas,
but absolutely works
with this Dark Chilli.
The McAllister wingtip in the Dark
Chili is a beautiful classic shoe
that certainly is not out of place
in any classic wardrobe.
If you're really looking to darken this
and kind of further the antiquing,
I recommend the number 30 for
Tobacco Brown.
And if you just want to maintain that finish
without any risk of darkening,
then I would recommend the number 37
Medium Brown.
Here at The Hanger Project,
I really recommend the primary use
of a cream polish
and polishing your shoes.
Now most people only think of a wax
polish whenever it comes to shining their shoes
but a wax polish doesn't have the
same concentration of pigment that's
going to renew
and refinish the patina of
the shoe
and second a wax polish isn't
going to do as good of a job as a cream polish
to nourish
and condition
and to feed that leather to
keep it looking soft
and supple
and to prevent any type of drying that
may result in cracking.
The Saphir Medaille d'Or
Pommadier cream polish is widely considered
by shoe aficionados to be the highest
quality cream shoe polish out there
in the world. The reason is it
uses an all natural pine base
turpentine
and a high concentration of shea butter,
waxes and other nutrients that
are going to feed the leather
to keep it soft,
supple and to prevent cracking.
Since the Allen Edmonds shoes uses
such a high quality leather,
an open grain leather that hasn't
been unnaturally treated
or closed, it's even more
important to use a high quality
luxury shoe polish like the
Saphir Medaille d'or. Spending a little bit
of extra money on your polish will really
make a difference in how these shoes
look and last for the long term.
One of the frequently asked questions that we receive
here at The Hanger Project is what to do
with a new pair of dress shoes.
So let's just say you just went out
and bought your first pair beautiful Allen
Edmonds dress shoe.
Can you just put them on
and start wearing them?
Spending a little bit of time right when you
receive a pair of dress shoes to polish them
is absolutely something we recommend.
The reason is because no factory
that's making ready to wear shoes
has the time to actually hand
polish a pair of shoes.
So although it's finished
the leather is dyed.
It looks great.
They haven't actually been polished
with a proper shoe polish.
And then certainly any new pair of shoes
needs their own shoe trees.
The reason is is that as you wear
a pair of shoes,
the shoe leather is going to absorb
moisture as you're flexing the
shoe, it's going to naturally
bend.
So whenever you take your shoes off at the end
of the night you're going to find that they naturally
kind of flex upward.
Now the purpose of the shoe tree is it stretches
that shoe flat so that
as the moisture begins to evaporate
the shoe dries flat
and not bent.
Second of course is lacing the
shoes.
Some shoes come laced,
sometimes the salesperson
at the shoe store will lace them for you.
But we have a video specifically
showing you how to lace your shoes
using the straight across our
barbell method,
which I think looks the cleanest on
a formal pair of dress shoes.
Another question that we receive often
here at The Hanger Project is what happens
if I used the wrong shoe polish
on a pair of shoes.
Well it's not the end of the world.
Any polish that you put on top of a
pair of leather dress shoes can easily be
removed using the Saphir Reno mag,
which basically pulls off anything
placed on top of the original finish
but is still safe to use without
affecting the original dye.
Second I always recommend first
testing the polish on a small
kind of hidden
or discrete area of the shoe
just to see how the leather is going to interact
or play with the polish that you're using
because it's always going to change
just a little bit and you can never be quite
certain of what is going to look like.
And then of course here at The Hanger Project
we sell samples of all of our polishes.
So if you want to try a few different polishes
off before you commit to purchasing an entire
jar, take a look at our shoe polish
section and we offer small
tiny samples that you can use to verify
finish. Now Allen Edmonds has
way more than just five finishes.
They've really done a fantastic job
at adding new
and interesting finishes across
their entire range.
Now these four models that
we show here are just available
in the finishes that I've shown.
But a lot of them are more seasonal collections
come in colors like blue,
green you know
beautiful different the patinas.
And so my suggestion would be to
take a look at our polishing notes
to order samples if you'd like to
and just go with what you think is going
to be the closest match.
Lastly,
if you have any questions about what
type of shoe polish you should select
for a color that we didn't cover here
or maybe from a pair of shoes from
a completely different brand.
Don't hesitate to email customer service
with a link to a photograph of the shoe
or an actual photograph of the shoe
and of course we'd be more than happy to
help coach you in selecting the right polish.
If you have any questions about
anything we discussed in this video
don't hesitate to ask them in the comments
section below.
I get back to all those questions myself
personally.
Also let us know what's your favorite
Allen Edmonds finish?
How do you shine your shoes?
Do you have any tips for us on things
that you've learned?
And then any stories you have just about
Allen Edmonds.
It's a great all-American shoe brand.
It's certainly one of the top shoes that
you can get for the under $400 price
point. And we always love to hear
about what our viewers think.
If you like this video give us the thumbs
up and subscribe to our YouTube channel
so that you can receive notifications whenever
we release our next video.
I'm Kirby Allison. Thanks for joining us.