What type of shoe paint do i use?!

Question

k so i bought some white shoes and the 'sole' [I'm pretty sure that's what its called] is like an off white color so i thought i could just paint the shoes myself but I'm not sure what type of paint to use. any ideas?!

oh and i know this has nothing to do with home and garden but there are no categories for shoes.

Answer 1

A lot of good shoe and boot stores have dyes for leather shoes and soles.  If you're re-dying the sole, you'll want to find "Edge Dressing", which is a thicker and slightly stiffer dye when it drys.  It's a good idea when re-dressing the edges of the sole, to plan on re-dying the leather also, to help cover up any extra dye that gets away from you and up onto the leather.  Kiwi makes some edge dressings, although i'm not sure if they will carry white in most regular shoe stores.  You may have better luck at either a boot shop (western wear).  Justin actually makes some of the best leather creams that I've used, and it will work better to soften the leather a bit and cover up scrapes or cuts in the leather.  If the shoes are a little stiff, you can use shaving cream to strip off old polish, clean with saddle soap, coat with mink oil and wait a day, then use a cream polish to get the color back to where you want.  After you do a first coat of cream polish, then re-dress the soles, and put another coat of cream polish.  If you want a higher gloss polish when you're done, Kiwi neutral will give a good coat, again good for covering up scrapes or scratches on the surface of the leather.  Again, I'm used to working more with black, but I'm sure the products are out there somewhere.