Care of Leather Goods, Part 3

by Steven Ferry

Quality Leather Properly Cared for Gives a Lifetime or More of Pleasure

As we covered in an MBJ article 10 years ago, the oldest leather shoe on record was unearthed in a large cave in Armenia and dates back 5,500 years. While we cannot guarantee that the care we recommend and discuss for leather will be quite as successful, we can say that keeping leather immersed in sheep dung will do the trick if you have set your sights on thousands of years of use.

For more modest and practical results, the Chairman’s leather shoes are 46 years old, same uppers, third generation sole, and still going strong as a result of proper care. Even though they came with a price tag of 70 GBP in 1974, that works out at 1.50 GBP per year, compared with non-leather shoes that typically might cost 30 GBP and last half a year. 70 GBP versus $2,760 GBP makes a good case for buying quality and skipping the knockoffs that count on the quality of the real thing to entice people with lower prices and then fool them with shoddy looks and a short life span.

The Institute is dedicated to raising service standards by broadly disseminating the mindset and superior service expertise of that time-honored, quintessential service provider, the British Butler, updated with modern people skills, and adapted to the needs of modern employers and guests in staffed homes, luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retirement communities, jets, yachts & cruise ships around the world.