From Corrected Grain Leather to Gorgeous Burgundy Patina - Allen Edmonds McAllisters

[@lleroy3238]

I never thought you could strip corrected leather like that. You took a risk but your results were great.

[@CobblerBob]

Wow, stopping that corrected grain leather was no joke!

[@gearstyle2544]

Yeah, I have to say that was a fun little project, I hadn’t really seen anyone attempt that

[@Tabbyishere]

​@@gearstyle2544hey I wanted to do the same to my boot but I hesitated because I'm afraid that if I melted the chemical with acetone, the leather will fall apart. How's yours after 3 years?

[@baberoot1998]

This transformation is absolutely stunning. I too, accidentally thrifted a pair of Allen Edmonds, Park Avenue's, made of corrected grain leather. (I didn't even realize at the time, Allen Edmonds uses corrected grain leather on some models). I am considering trying this very method to give them a better look. I am impressed with your work. I have learned two things...1) It is possible to change corrected grain finishes, and 2) Beware of some shoes made by Allen Edmonds AND Church's, for some models do come in corrected grain. (Yes I have also accidentally thrifted a pair of Church's tassel loafers that turned out to be corrected grain). Lol. Thanks for the video.

[@gearstyle2544]

Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the video and it was educational to you!! 🙏🙌🏻

[@gergemall]

Agreed ❤.

[@alexvt6733]

Thanks so much! Tried this on some Grensons and it worked a treat. As far as I know, this is the only information on this approach on the internet, so I shared my experience on the Goodyearwelt subreddit

[@Molach101]

This is a great video. There's a lot of old corrected grain leather shoes out there on ebay etc where the finish is cracking and sometimes falling off, so this could be a good way to restore them & make them wearable again

[@hemigod2]

Yo, that background music! I got up and was literally dancing while watching your video. Who is the artist I want to bump that in my car. no but for real, those shoes are sick looking now. I hope that your cousin Papp a stack of cash on the table for you for your efforts.

[@gordon5004]

Subscribed. Your cousin is lucky to receive such beautiful shoes.

[@darensamuels5208]

McAllister’s are my go to...I have three pair. Mine are regular top grain leather, so this corrected grain thing is new to me. Your restoration brought out the classic style of these shoes and they look great. Nice work. Thanks for posting.

[@gearstyle2544]

Thanks! I’m glad you liked the video

[@pennrj430]

I just checked the Allen Edmonds site and read through some questions and answers on the McAllisters page. Someone posted a question asking if they were made of Full grain or Corrected grain. Allen Edmonds responded the McAllisters are all made with Full grain. The shoes in this video may have been an older pair or an experimental pair. Not sure what the deal is.

[@gearstyle2544]

@@pennrj430 apparently in the late 80s early 90s they used corrected leather, it was also a surprise to me. Glad you liked the video!

[@seekingtruth6822]

Pleasantly surprised how they turned out. Great job and narration.

[@gearstyle2544]

Thank you!!

[@AlSiguenza]

Came here for the shoes, loved your Tudor

[@gearstyle2544]

Lol, thanks!

[@gc5Hayward]

Good info! Had no understanding of corrected leather and I bought some from eBay as well.

[@gearstyle2544]

Thanks! I'm glad you found it helpful

[@joshuasteele4498]

Excellent work! Both the shoes and the recording. First time I’ve seen anyone spend time on corrected grain, but wow what a result!

[@gearstyle2544]

Thanks so much I’m glad you enjoyed it!

[@fransenfiets]

This is my plan, but with some Navy dye and black burnish!!

[@danjoe22]

Great video! You are good, you remind me of Preston Soto of the elegant oxford

[@gearstyle2544]

Thanks so much, big compliment comparing me to Preston!! But that guy is a master 😎

[@Papamonty01]

Exceptional, thank you!!

[@lilianagonzalez2273]

Nicely done! I found myself very entertained with this video - good job 👍🏼

[@collarsncolours]

Wow everywhere I've looked, they say the finish on corrected grain can't be taken off. Surprised you were able to do it! Nice work 👍

[@gearstyle2544]

Thanks man! It took time but we’ll worth it🙂

[@brookeggleston9314]

You can remove the finish, but you can't return the top layer of leather, which has been sanded off. When it's made, the layer with the pores is sanded off, supposedly to correct tick bites, barbed wire cuts and the such. He did a nice job with these, but you can't bring back that which was sanded off!🙀

[@raymhlee]

I’ve been theorising if this worked before and considered trying this out for sometime with my correct grain shoes as well and so glad to see your video. Your experiment with the different brushes and rags is going to help me out. I’m so curious with more wear if it will be like calfskin and can fix the creasing.

[@gearstyle2544]

Ray Lee I’m glad it helped 🙂

[@johndough6777]

Great job! I'm going to try this on a similar pair of Mccalisters my dad gave me. Great info and. tips bro.

[@gearstyle2544]

Thanks man!! I’m glad you found this video helpful

[@gordon5004]

Beautiful job.

[@JasperCIH]

Finally found a youtube video showing how to strip the acrylic coating from correct grain leather. May I ask how long did it take you?

[@gearstyle2544]

I wanna say a couple of hours maybe, I did it 2 separate days

[@drosenstroem]

Awesome!

[@wignallyt]

Great video! The shoes looked beautiful in the end.

[@gearstyle2544]

Thank you so much!!

[@ddt8276]

I bought recently Allen Edmonds Bond Street which i believe is CG leather. I hope i can to the same like this

[@danielchavez8005]

Excellent ! Very nice job. Your patience outlasted mine as I stuck my pair on a shelf 40% finished. They sit there mocking me....

[@gearstyle2544]

Daniel Chavez haha, yea I doubt I’ll be getting another like this, way too much work

[@peteganze6416]

Did the deep creases of corrected leather return after a couple of wears? I'm curious how deep the top plastic layer goes into the leather.

[@WH6FQE]

I do the same two-tone accents when doing antique patina on my Allan Edmonds. For shoes of that color I will also typically do a marbling effect using black dye that has been thinned out 50/50, then wipe it off with acetone. It creates a spiderweb marbling effect that really gives dimension and character to the shoe. One of these days I am going to have to make a video showing how I do that.

[@gearstyle2544]

That’s awesome!! I will have to try that marbling effect some time

[@WH6FQE]

@@gearstyle2544 it is very easy to do, and give a great finished effect.

[@lullemans72]

cool video dude. i just ran into your channel as i was looking at videos on leather recoloration. i'm about to try to redye a pair of leather shoes of my own pretty soon, and this vid had a fun, different vibe compared to the more serious ones like the elegant oxford or kirby allison

[@gearstyle2544]

Thank you so much! This video is definitely the most popular on my channel 😂 I think it’s because there isn’t that many corrected leather restoration videos out there. But if your shoes are not corrected grain leather check out one of my other vídeos 🙏

[@lullemans72]

@@gearstyle2544 thanks for the heads up, i definitely want to check out the rest. yeah, you're right, the fact that you did this on a pair of corrected grain pair of shoes is pretty impressive. my (limited) understanding is that corrected grain leather barely takes any polish so is best to be entirely avoided.

[@gergemall]

Thx , excellent job . Impressed. Liked and subscribed.

[@gearstyle2544]

Thank you!

[@fabiangomez357]

would acetone and a magic eraser work any better than just a cotton/microfiber cloth? I've been at it a while and after 4 full cleanings and plenty of drying they are still burgundy and they are supposed to be walnut. somebody dyed them and I'm having a hard time getting them to stock. should i try bleach/water next?

[@darkgrilden5]

I’m going to try this on some thrifted shoes I picked up! Always been curious since I saw this video a while back, but now I’ve found some CG leather shoes in my size and I wanna see if I can replicate this result.

[@gearstyle2544]

Good for you man, best way to try things on is thrifted shoes 👍

[@MisterBurtonshaw]

Fantastic work. Church's make a lot of shoes in "Bookbinder Leather". They are just as pricey as any other leather, which I don't understand! Often people don't store them on trees which leads to creasing and cracking... leather soled shoes tend to bend upwards badly if not cared for properly. This method could rescue an awful lot of very expensive shoes!

[@thomasrossi1612]

Nice job! Is there a way to just make the corrected grain finish less glossy? Would rubbing alcohol work?

[@davidhallowell9211]

Is it possible to change the colour of a black shoe??

[@gearstyle2544]

It depends, if it’s corrected grain like this is very possible, if it’s full grain dyed leather it’s also possible but it’s a lot of work and you can not go too light so you’ll have to do a dark brown or some other dark color, navy etc.

[@Papamonty01]

Awesome work!

[@gearstyle2544]

Papamonty01 thank you!! 🙏

[@TheShoeEnthusiast]

Very nice job, my friend!

[@gearstyle2544]

The Shoe Enthusiast thank you bud!!

[@daniellaw7175]

Wow, this is the only video on KZbin that someone actually stripped the acrylic layer on a CG leather shoe. Just curious, wouldn't all that acetone make the leather weaker/brittle? I would also want to do the same thing on my Loake CG leather shoes, just afraid i might mess them up, lol

[@gearstyle2544]

Thank you, I’m glad you found this video useful, I don’t see why the acetone would make the leather brittle, the acetone itself will evaporate, but it does dry it up and that’s why it’s very important to use a leather moisturizer right after that step and it should be fine after that, and obviously continue to use conditioners and creams every so often

[@stevenjm12]

How long did it take to strip these? I have some corrected grain AEs and am wondering if it's even worth it to strip and patina

[@stephenlegg262]

Great video. Music a bit intrusive though.

[@LorenziLéo]

I'm curious to see how it will keep it's colour and shininess through time now? Could you do a sort of review after some months of use?

[@gearstyle2544]

HermanVonMisticric unfortunately I got these for my cousin so I could potentially only do some photos when ever I see him. Though don’t see why it wouldn’t keep the color same as any other full grain leather

[@LorenziLéo]

@@gearstyle2544 well, I don't know either haha! I'm just curious, to know if it's worth the time and efforts. Thank you for the answer anyway!

[@daxshell242]

no reason it shouldnt keep its colour. its an absorbent piece of leather and he used a good dye. where it will struggle is keeping its sheen and hydration. full grain has the pores in tact that do better at absorbing and retaining conditioners and waxes. this will just require more care but should last a very long time.

[@magicalplaid]

Nice! I have a pair that I've started to do this with (burgundy AE Park Aves) but as someone else said I also ran out of patience and haven't finished. The nylon brush is a great tip. I believe CG leather was more of a thing for AE in the 80s and 90s, "polished cobbler" or something was what they called it. Most of the CG shoes from them that I've seen have been burgundy as well, I wonder why they did that.

[@gearstyle2544]

magicalplaid 😂 it does take patience Daniel finally got around to finishing his, check his out on his Instagram @getyourshinebox74. Yes it’s what I’ve heard that they used CG back then, I don’t know why it is either that for the most part you only see burgundy or black color CG

[@bryankc9644]

They made it burgundy to look like Cordovan

[@CrashCarson14]

Did you ever get it all off? Lol. It’s a pain but the leather underneath isn’t bad on mine. I got it 75% of the way but the other may not happen

[@magicalplaid]

@@CrashCarson14 I did eventually and I redyed the shoes navy, but they came out too dark. I haven't gone back and tried to lighten them up yet. At this rate it will be a decade long project lol

[@CrashCarson14]

@@magicalplaid what worked best to get the paint off? It’s such a pain.

[@WH6FQE]

I just received this exact same pair of McAllisters today, same Barney Purple color too, lol. The seller said they were dark brown, I believe he may be color blind. I am thinking about doing the same thing to these but using Mahogany and Black dyes.

[@gearstyle2544]

Cool, mahogany was my original intent but I didn’t have it on hand, I would try to do the accents in a dark brown first I think the black was a little too much contrast

[@WH6FQE]

@@gearstyle2544 ok, I have dye in about 6 different shades of brown, so I will start lighter and see what it does. I am going to be shipping these off to Bedo’s Leatherworks to have him replace the sole and convert these over to golf shoes since they are not full grain leather anyway.

[@gearstyle2544]

@@WH6FQE yeah, I guess once the finish is removed it would be considered top grain

[@WH6FQE]

@@gearstyle2544 or at least “mid grain”, lol. It will actually be leather that accepts dye and polish, it just won’t have any grain left to show through the dye. But it’s better than plastic coated leather.

[@netway96]

How soft or stiff of a nylon brush did you use?

[@danm3584]

Do you dilute your dyes with alcohol or use them straight out of the bottle?

[@gearstyle2544]

This time I used them straight, but sometimes I do dilute them

[@danm3584]

@@gearstyle2544 With rubbing alcohol?

[@gearstyle2544]

@@danm3584 yes!

[@MrBoomatt]

You wanted to introduce him to quality shoes, yet you bought Allen Edmonds. They haven’t been quality for many years and the fact that they’re using corrected grain leather is a testament to that fact.

[@lullemans72]

hi again, i'm back at this video where i was a month ago! i hope you don't mind if i ask you something real quick? is it OK to use nail polish remover in lieu of pure acetone like what you're using, or saphir decapant? i'm just asking because while nail polish remover isn't pure acetone, it's so much cheaper than buying a container of saphir decapant for example.

[@gearstyle2544]

I don’t recommend using nail polish remover, as you said it is not pure acetone, saphir decápame is good but too expensive, I definitely recomendable sticking to pure acetone you can purchase it from Walmart or Home Depot at a decent price

[@lullemans72]

@@gearstyle2544 thanks for the reply. I see. Ok, i'll try to only look for pure acetone then. But out of curiosity, what is it about nail polish remover that would be potentially damaging to the leather? Acetone in itself is already very harsh, so what difference would acetone mixed with other chemicals make?

[@gearstyle2544]

@@lullemans72 it just doesn’t strip as well

[@lullemans72]

@@gearstyle2544 oh i see. noted, thanks again.

[@tppt010194]

Hi, I'm just curious. Is Corrected grain leather what they call bookbinder? And is the patent calfskin the same with the corrected grain leather/bookbinder? Nice video btw.

[@gearstyle2544]

Yes, they are basically the same thing, but I’m my opinion book binder leather is usually a lower quality leather, meaning they either use a much grainy part of the leather or even take scraps of leather glued back together

[@tppt010194]

@@gearstyle2544 I see. Thanks for the inssight. I bought a pair secondhand Florsheim and the seller told me that patent calfskin was just as good as regular calfskin but after wearing for a while it got irrecoverably wrinkled. From your video I guess I don't need to buy stuff that are particularly for patented skin?

[@TestMarksman]

The dyes I use in my shoes leaves stroke marks smh. What is the brand you're using?

[@gearstyle2544]

I use Fiebings leather dye

[@Shoehandler1142]

Make sure you use more then 1 coat to even out the color and the first coat use rubbing alcohol to dilute it so the next coat that’s put on won’t cause the shoe to become too dark.

[@ZukisaniMgijima-iw1wb]

I tried removing the finish with acetone and I'm not winning failing completely and ruining the corrected grain leather

[@CrashCarson14]

Any better ways to get the original finish off? Man is this slow and I’ve already done enough

[@michaellee3647]

Ae doesn't make corrected grain?

[@gearstyle2544]

They used to

[@gearstyle2544]

They used to

[@michaellee3647]

amazing!!! the leather looks so good after it was stripped. Why did AE even have to "correct" it with that layer of crap!!

[@rebirth4christ]

💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽

[@kevinmcdonald4604]

Lots of work but good job.

[@gearstyle2544]

Thank you!!

[@up3371]

Really shocking that an AE top model has corrected grain (400 USD!)! But thanks for explaining, I have a pair of new shoes with corrected grain leather and will do the same to make it nicer and more naturally looking. Well done and thanks!

[@gearstyle2544]

U P thanks! Yeah it was a shock to me as well, but apparently some older AE models were made with corrected grain

[@CobblerBob]

I believe that was the 1980s when they were made in corrected grain.

[@gearstyle2544]

Robert Powers thanks for the comment Robert, love your channel!

[@stevenjm12]

@@CobblerBob if you look through their older catalogs, they used corrected grains shoes a lot in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was trendy with a lot of shoe companies.

[@talavb9301]

You sure those are corrected grain .... ?!? I don't think Allen Edmonds has ever made corrected grain leather shoes, those look like shell cordovan to me ...

[@CrashCarson14]

Shell doesn’t crease just gets wavy

[@upsbear]

Nice work. The shoes look beautiful. But OMG, the only way i can watch the video is with the sound turned off, and the sub titles on. That music is horrible.

[@fretho8410]

Really enjoyed the video, but you really want to wear nitrile gloves to avoid dye on your skin.

[@gearstyle2544]

Thanks so much I’m glad you liked it. I’ve tried using gloves and they always end up braking 😂 and my hands sweat a lot too so I take them off 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@upsbear]

Great video. Very informative. (But the music is too LOUD, ANNOYING, and completely unnecessary)