The Stripped Patina by Yim Shoemaker

I am not going to lie and say that this shoe by Yim Shoemaker out of China, is the most practical shoe or style of patina but when I saw this picture I fell in love with it. First, I am really admiring adelaides these days. Secondly, the pattern + last combo is outrageously well done and beautiful. And finally, it is simply super frickin’ unique and just outright cool in my humble opinion.

I could be wrong but from the looks of it they took a black calfskin shoe and stripped its color is this very unique and painstaking way. This is no easy job to do but the outcome left it looking incredibly cool and quite different to what we are seeing a lot of these days, most remniscent of the antique patina by Foster and Son but on another level.

The only downside to this shoe is that it is not practical for anyone who lives in a climate that has rain. The issue with stripping calfskin is that you leave the leather raw. And the raw hide absorbs like crazy and darkens in a split second for just about anything that it encounters. You cant clean it and you can only strip it so much before you start to damage the leather. So unless you have 100 pairs of shoes and break out each one less than 5 times a year the issue with this lovely piece is the impracticality of it.

Beautiful nonetheless and my hat off to the makers for doing something unique.

A great weekend to all

Justin FitzPatrick