Dying Footwear

Are you planning on saving $ this spring? Cutting back on clothes, electronics, even shoes?
If you are planning on keeping your shoedrobe to a limit, try changing your shoes' look completely. Change out laces...no laces? How about changing the color and feel of your shoes. This is what I plan on researching and carrying out this week. I will take a typical tennis shoe and transforming it from old to new.

My younger brother, Andrew Durano, plays futbol for the Academy of Arts in San Francisco and went a whole two years playing with the Nike T90 Lasers he got from his highschool team. Instead of buying new cleats, he purchased a synthetic leather dye. From gold to black, his cleats got a fresh stealth look. I got inspiration from him for this post.

Client: My all white 2010 Nike Toki's that I won off Twitter Nike Sportswear. Since I have not seen a black Toki released in the same smooth leather as my white ones, I plan on revamping them.

Goal: white to black. color swap on lace inlets. new laces. fresh insoles. re-glue leather/rubber seam

PREP: 1- find the shoes that are still in decent-great shape, physically and structurally 2-decide on which shoes can be dyed. When shopping for leather dyes, for example, make sure that you investigate to see if the dye is SOLVENT or PIGMENT based. The difference may require you to give the shoe a protective coat over your new dyed zapatos.

Other Supplies:

Latex gloves (a few pairs)

leather cleaner

non-abrasive scrub 

leather stripper (or leather shoes only)

old-t shirt, cloth

dyes (apply with small paint brush and dauber brush)

newspaper for stuffing shoe and to catch client's blood

Step by Step (leather dye stripping only needed for leather clients)

1- Take your choice and gently scrub your leather shoe with the leather stripper

2- for white shoes, dyeing the leather green first is highly recommended

3- follow the leather dye's guide for application. This step is where you can be creative and decide on using a light coat, making the brush strokes visible or not.....wait.....and let settle (usually 25-30 minutes)

4- The same process can be now used for the black coat. I prefer two-three coats, again depending on how you want your final shoe to look.

5-  After giving the shoes an hour to dry, apply a leather conditioner as a seaaent and gloss with a soft cloth if you want some shine.

6- Use the shoe eraser for the rubber outsole and swap the lacing if you so desire.

7- Slowly wake the client with a splash of waterproofing spray and take her out for a light walk. the client may experience some dizziness and nausea 

8- Voila!

Caution- mistakes may look great

dyes can be bought online at Amazon.com, your local arts and crafts stores, and leather dye companies like Fiebing Leather or Kiwi