My Experience with the Crockett & Jones Brecon in Country Calf

In this video we take a look at the C&J Brecon model in the 341 last and I share my personal experience with what type of product works best for this type of leather. Thank you for watching.

[@m.gunnar]

Nice to see that there are still people who care and appreciate such great products! Thanks for that!!

[@cooch555]

Thank YOU! ;)

[@kelvinleong4322]

Sapphire you are using on the chukka boots is an undercoat which you apply other shoe cream n wax on top of it alternatively you can purchase an mink oil topcoat which is coated as the last external top coat which is oil based to “waterproof” against rain n shine this is also to protect the shoe cream n wax coat below it which you initially coated as a primer

[@cooch555]

Thanks for the tip!

[@lordgrover]

Interesting to note your comments on Renovateur and white/water spots. I've suffered this issue on several pairs of new shoes lately, new shoes which I've treated with renovateur straight out of the box. I've been blaming the shoe manufacturer(s) and 'modern' leathers, maybe it's me and the renovateur. Never had the problem in the past, but I've only been using renovateur on new shoes recently, previously it's worked fine on older shoes which already have a little patina, shoe cream and polish. Funnily enough, I dropped off a pair of Meermin double monk straps at a local shoe repair shop yesterday to remove these darn spots.

[@VicFlange]

Great video, they look very classy. How much did you pay?

[@cooch555]

I think around 500 GBP

[@WaelAKamel]

Brilliant shoe, I have the Moltons, and I've been eyeing these for quite a bit, I wear an 8E even though in Carmina I wear 8.5, would u say I should order the same C&J size? Thanks again!

[@WaelAKamel]

Also, would you recommend these over the Tetbury in brown suede or?

[@cooch555]

Hi, I don’t own Carmina shoes but from what I hear the sizes are comparable. C&J customer service will be able to answer that for you. I can say that these boots are a little roomier than the Tetbury and more casual. I find them more versatile because of that and wear them more often.

[@UnknownUser-rb9pd]

Renovateur, being a conditioner, should be used sparingly. Perhaps once a year or when the leather is feeling dry. It may have waxes in it which give a shine but that is not its main purpose. From my experience it will also strip off existing burnishing and finishes so should be used with care. These boots are made with country grain leather. All grain leathers are a corrected leather with a hardened, water resistant surface created by the heat and pressure used to emboss the grain pattern (which is what gives it such great weather resistance). You'll find that all conditioners will tend to lay on the surface of this type of leather to some degree and plenty of brushing after application is required to remove excess which otherwise will reappear when the leather gets wet. Personally I'd mainly only use a little polish on these to help the weather resistance and use dark brown shoe cream sparingly to cover up any scuffs (with plenty of brushing afterwards). You may find you never need to use a conditioner at all. I may be telling you next what you already know next but people do get confused so apologies. Conditioners moisturise the leather when it is dry, shoe creams moisturise a little but mainly add colour to the leather, and polishes add a little colour but their primary purpose is to add a protective barrier and shine.

[@cooch555]

Thank you for your comment.

[@ashleysteed5853]

That's contrary to the shoe care advice from Crockett and Jones.

[@UnknownUser-rb9pd]

@@ashleysteed5853 Could you explain further ? They mention all three steps (which is fine) but grain leather ( and most leathers) does not require conditioning on a regular basis unless you spend your life walking through salt and slush. Many cobblers will tell you that more expensive shoes are damaged nowadays from over conditioning than under conditioning. Conditioning your shoes is something that should take place very infrequently under normal conditions. You may not wish to believe a stranger on the internet but there are loads of resources out there you can check. I'll add that over the years I have used a couple of jars of renovateur myself as well as many alternatives and have a very large footwear collection.

[@ashleysteed5853]

@@UnknownUser-rb9pd Grain leather from Crockett and Jones is just embossed calf, nothing more. I use renovateur on all my Crockett and Jones including my Isla, Coniston and Brecon as advised by the manufacturer. I also use it on all my Church's shoes and boots (all 11 of them) and on my Cheaney and Trickers. Never had a issue with it and I will continue to take advice directly from the manufacturers of my shoes. If you are telling the internet to only put oils back into the leather once a year then there will be a lot of people with dry and cracked leather shoes/boots. I have tried to post links to Crockett and Jones Grain Leather care advice but the comments are removed.

[@UnknownUser-rb9pd]

@@ashleysteed5853 I agree that this is just embossed calf. Grain leather was developed to make it more weather resistant and the embossing is done with heat and pressure that helps to seal the surface to some degree (not completely). I think we'll agree to disagree on the rest though I will point out that there are a large number of people buying vintage shoes such as Florsheim's on ebay that have had nothing but an occasional polish with Kiwi and yet are still perfectly fine 40 or 50 years later. I will urge you to do some research online regarding how frequent leather should be conditioned and there are specific threads on this sort of thing on forums such as Styleforum (where experienced shoe repairers post) but I'm fairly sure that even the manufacturers are not suggesting that you condition your shoes every time you polish them. Slightly at a tangent...the reality is that there is a lot of hype around brands such as Saphir (which were not readily available in most international markets up until recently ) and how petroleum products in other brands are bad for leather (skin) with absolutely no evidence . These are a bit like designer skin care products as opposed to vaseline (petroleum jelly) that we've been putting on babies skin for generations. And manufacturers have discovered they are a very profitable sideline.

[@mowafagosman3977]

Long time no see 😒

[@neiljones1938]

They look narrow.

[@ashleysteed5853]

They do look narrow but they're not. I have wide feet. The 341 last (which the Brecon is on) is actually wider than many others, including the 325 (Coniston) which many regard as a wider last. If you have wide feet, you will be happy with these boots.

[@ianarn]

@@ashleysteed5853I find the 341 last intolerably narrow. The only time I’ve found it works on my feet is in suede, I couldn’t imagine wearing them with thicker country socks. I have sold a pair of Bradford’s because they just would not work on my feet in the 341 last.