Restoring Crockett & Jones Chelsea Boots

Total renovation of a pair of 20 years old Crockett & Jones Chelseas. Poorly cared for and heavily worn, combined with sloppy repairs, made these shoes far beyond worth repairing. But they were perfect for a cool video. The biggest challenge was the destroyed heel stiffeners, that I replaced with new ones. The upper was badly damaged and needed a lot of repairing. Deep scratches and cracked creases were fixed, filled, boned and buffed, before dyed and polished. New elastics, heel lining, original tugs and heel socks. Finally new JR leather soles with a discreetly bevelled waist. The goal from the beginning was to fool the customer to believe that I had replaced his shoes with a brand new pair, but the upper and elastics was too stretched out to eliminate the creases. Hopefully he’ll be happy anyway. (A previous cobbler had stitched on RMW heel tugs on them, making many people think they are RMW’s. They are NOT)