Shoe Dye Reveal

In a previous post, I mentioned that I wanted to dye a pair of shoes navy this month as I didn't have a navy pair that were smart enough for most occasions. I had bought some navy shoe dye on ebay for just over £5 which I thought was pretty reasonable.  After testing a different pair that didn't take well to the dye, I decided to dye these flat brogue-type shoes, as I have another pair of tan brogues that I wear a lot and these never seem to see the light of day and have been in the shoe basket for months getting squashed out of shape.

These flats however, took very well to the dye immediately that it was put on.  You had to wipe the shoes with white or methylated spirit first before applying the dye, and wear gloves as it can be harmful to skin.  Hence the pink rubber gloves.

It was really simple to use.  I just decanted some into a yoghurt pot, as it stains crockery, and used the brush supplied to apply.  It is very runny though and at first I tried a two tone effect but some of the dye ran into the area I was going to leave tan, so I had to dye the whole shoe navy.  The result was pretty good, although I did need to apply a several coats the following day as there were patches where the dye hadn't taken so well.  I wouldn't hesitate to try it again on other shoes.  This particular dye can only be used on leather, not suede, nubuck or synthetics.

One word of warning, however.   It is very smelly and stupidly I first applied it in the kitchen in the evening.  As a consequence, we had to let the puppy sleep in the living room as I think she may have been affected by the fumes if we'd left her in the kitchen.  I used it outside for subsequent coats.

Once you've applied one or two coats of dye, and once the shoes have dried, the instructions say to polish the shoes with your normal polish.  I happened to have some polish so I applied it the next day after the second coat had been applied, but unfortunately didn't wait until it was properly dry so it effectively removed some of the dye from the shoes.  Hence why a few more coats had to be applied.  Anyway,  the finished result looks like this.  The colour is lighter in the photograph and they look patchier in the photo than in actuality, when they are a lovely dark navy.  I'm pretty pleased with them. 

I had to change the laces to complete the look and didn't have a navy pair but this black pair I had in the shoe cleaning box will be fine for now until I get some the right colour.   So for a reasonably small sum,  I have some navy shoes now that I can wear this summer from some that would probably have languished in the shoe basket, getting more squashed out of shape and never seeing the light of day.