Sperry Top Sider and Mink Oil

[johnniegold]

Hey you sons of Badgers, if you have a pair of older Sperrys and you also have some mink oil... Go and get them. They are thirsty.

The shoe pictured on the left after a nice coat of mink oil. The one pictured on the right is parched. These Sperrys are about 5 years old and have never been conditioned.

You can see the dryness in the leather on the right and the lustre in the one on the left.

Conditioned...

Not conditioned...

I took a toothbrush and removed the material that collects between the outsole and the upper what looked to be lint.

All done and ready to take on a nice patina.

 

[doug1066]

I use Sno-Seal or Huberd’s Shoe Grease on my boat shoes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Flintstone65]

I've heard good things about Sno-Seal and Mink Oil. I gave my boots a hit with mink oil a few days ago and I was admiring how much better they look tonight.

 

[Toothpick]

Those look brand new! Even the untouched one!

Mine are 8 years old. Never had a drop of oil or anything on them. They are my go-to Summer shoes. I’ve even worn them while swimming in the lake. And just recently soaked them as I washed them off because some garbage juice spilled on them. Just let them air dry and good to go.

I guess they would benefit from an oil treatment. I have Obenauf’s Heavy Duty Leather Preservative I might hit them with this week. You inspired me!

 

[Flintstone65]

Those look brand new! Even the untouched one!

Mine are 8 years old. Never had a drop of oil or anything on them. They are my go-to Summer shoes. I’ve even worn them while swimming in the lake. And just recently soaked them as I washed them off because some garbage juice spilled on them. Just let them air dry and good to go.

I guess they would benefit from an oil treatment. I have Obenauf’s Heavy Duty Leather Preservative I might hit them with this week. You inspired me!

Wow, yours have served you well! In much of the firefighting community, Obenauf's HD Leather Preservative is the gold standard....especially for fire boots. I just used mink oil on my Haix's, and they look nice, but the manufacturer recommends the Obenauf's.

 

[johnniegold]

Those look brand new! Even the untouched one!

Mine are 8 years old. Never had a drop of oil or anything on them. They are my go-to Summer shoes. I’ve even worn them while swimming in the lake. And just recently soaked them as I washed them off because some garbage juice spilled on them. Just let them air dry and good to go.

I guess they would benefit from an oil treatment. I have Obenauf’s Heavy Duty Leather Preservative I might hit them with this week. You inspired me!

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Nice pair of Topsiders for “before” and “after” pics.

 

[johnniegold]

Another pair of Sperry Topsiders got the mink oil treatment. These are a 12-15 year old pair of Gold Cup Topsider ASV (Anti Shock Vibration).

These provide a bit more of a cushion than the AO Topsiders. These provide a bit more comfort for when you may be walking around rather than hanging around.

 

[Marco]

An excellent job as always. Very well done, Bob!

 

[johnniegold]

What’s going on with Sperry Top Sider? It seems like wherever you go, they are sold out. At least in the size, color and model that I’ve been looking for.

So I signed up on Zappos mailing list for a few of the ones I’d been looking for and I just received an email yesterday that they are back in stock.

So I immediately went over to Zappos and ordered a few pair. (Today, Zappos indicates that the sizes in both pair that I just ordered, are again out of stock ).

This is my current pair of the Sperry A/O (Authentic Original). They are a Size 10W and about 10+ years old.

A few years back I cut the laces to give it that cleaner, criss-cross pattern. I also did the same to my other pair of Sperry Gold Cup boat shoes:

Over the years, I started to feel like the A/Os were a bit small (as I’m sure my shoe size changed over the course of those years) and I could begin to see my big toe just popping up from under the vamp in the top area.

I knew that a 10.5W would be a perfect fit.

So when the email from Zappos arrived, I pulled the trigger on the two pictured below.

The A/O

And the A/O 2-Eye Cross Lace

The A/O is the exact model I currently own (with the full laces shown in the pic from Zappos website).

The A/O 2-Eye Cross Lace is basically the same color with a few variations.

The first noticeable difference being the lack of metal eyelets around the shoe.

Whereas the A/O has the metal eyelets on the closure as well as around the ankle area with each eyelet labelled “Sperry” which is a nice detail.

Another, perhaps not so noticeable difference, is the color of the soles. The A/O maintains the traditional white sole…

While the Cross Lace version displays a blue sole with a white border.

While the A/O does have the more traditional appearance, I am leaning towards the Cross Lace since I would probably cut the laces on the A/O anyway for the cross-laced appearance.

Anyway… it’s that time of season again for boat shoes.

When I get ‘em… you’ll see ‘em.

(Along with the Run Forrest Run-edition of the Nike Cortez ).

@Marco

 

[johnniegold]

I knew that a 10.5W would be a perfect fit.

Actually, what I don’t know… is a lot.

The two pair of Sperry Top Siders arrived today.

The first pair is the Authentic Original with the metal eyelets.

And after trying them on, they were too big. So they are going back.

The next pair are the A/O Cross Lace.

And after trying them on, they were too big. So they are going back as well.

I went back to Zappos and of course both of these models are not in stock in 10W.

However, I decided that I preferred the Cross Lace model and the brown model with a tan-colored outsole and a two-tone tan/cream colored sole in 10W was in stock.

So…. I ordered them.

So I guess my current pair will stay in the rotation as well since they offer a slightly different look than the cross lace model.

And with the free shipping and free returns that Zappos offers, it makes the whole process a bit easier without having the benefit of trying them on before buying them.

When I get ‘em, you’ll see ‘em.

 

[johnniegold]

The Size 10W Sperry A/O Cross Lace boat shoe arrived today. These are keepers.

I did note that the Sperry logo was not on the shoe as shown on the website but certainly not a deal-breaker.

 

[Roman Totale XVII]

What’s going on with Sperry Top Sider? It seems like wherever you go, they are sold out. At least in the size, color and model that I’ve been looking for.

FWIW - Wolverine Worldwide sold the Sperry brand earlier this year (for a massive loss) to Authentic Brand Group, so look for quality to tank even further as the brand is stripped.