White shoe advice

[Grumpy_Bottom]

Picked up a used pair of AE Miami's off the 'Bay, looked pretty good, soles looked decent, AE soles, so I felt pretty good about them. They arrived today and were very obviously and very poorly dyed. White powder comes off on your fingers, leading me to believe it was possibly cheap rattle can dye rather than a professional with proper equipment and dye. With that said, shoes are in ok shape other than color, soles, uppers etc are solid, don't look too beat up, and fit rather well. Is there a DIY option for white shoes, I am in the auto industry, so I have auto leather dye guys available to me, but the leather seats they do tend to feel "hard" to the touch, and that's the last thing I want here. Obviously sending them back to AE is a possibility, but for a pair of shoes I paid very little for, I'm hesitant to go down that road unless I'm absolutely in love. I'm also open to the idea of going darker...I dig the white, esp. in South Florida, but it's certainly impractical for all but the most casual of functions, so if stripping the poor spritz and going darker is a legitimate DIY option, I'd certainly put some thought into it.

TIA

 

[Sluggo]

There was a good write up here about dyeing shoes yourself. Saphir has some products for stripping dye, but I don't think AE will work on them...they tend to not work on shoes that have had anything done by someone else (like soles or heels being applied by a local cobbler).

 

[StillShaving]

If you dig the white, and I would too if I lived in Florida where you are located, I would first try to properly dye them with either a retail off-the-shelf product or your automotive source. I don't think either would compromise the pliability of the leather. Once you go darker I think it will be hard to go back, so I would take that step only after giving up on the white.

 

[jkingrph]

I once found a good deal on a pair of black/white wingtips and dyed the white part black. They were new shoes and turned out nicely