Chariot
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There is a short window every September — the sun still warm over Decarie, the mornings suddenly crisp — when it is tempting to believe your shoes will look after themselves. They will not. Fall is the decisive season for men's shoe care in Montreal: the few dry weeks ahead of the first cold rain largely determine how your shoes come through to April. After ninety-one years in this city, we can tell you that the men whose shoes last twenty years are not luckier than anyone else. They simply do a few small things now, before the weather makes the decision for them.
Jacques, who founded this store in 1935 after leaving Mukachevo at thirteen to apprentice in tailoring, came from a world where nothing was disposable. Shoes were resoled, polished, rested, and worn for decades. We still think that is the only sensible way to own good things, which is why we keep a full wall of Saphir shoe care beside the shoe display — not as an afterthought at the cash, but as part of the purchase itself.
What men's shoe care actually requires
Less than you might fear. The whole discipline comes down to four verbs: clean, feed, protect, rest. In our experience, very few quality shoes are ever truly worn out. They are dried out — starved of the waxes and oils that keep calfskin supple — or they are pressed into service seven days a week until the leather simply gives up. A Magnanni oxford or a Santoni loafer is constructed to be resoled more than once. Whether it ever earns that second sole depends less on the cobbler than on what happens in your front hall every evening.
The September routine, step by step
For smooth leather, start clean: a horsehair brush and a barely damp cloth to lift the summer's dust. Then feed the leather. Saphir's Médaille d'Or 1925 paste wax — the same beeswax and turpentine formula that won its gold medal a century ago — nourishes and colours in one step, and we stock it in black, light brown, and cognac, which between them cover nearly every shoe in the store. If you enjoy the ritual, the Mirror Gloss paste will bring a toe cap to a parade shine. If you don't, ten unhurried minutes per pair, once a month, is honestly enough.
Suede is a different conversation, and fall is suede's season. The brown suede derbies and loafers from our footwear collection are, to our eye, the best-looking shoes a man can wear with flannel trousers in October. But suede must be protected before its first wear, not after its first soaking: a thorough brush, then two light coats of Saphir's Invulner waterproofing spray, dried overnight. Aquatalia builds weather resistance into its shoes at the factory — one reason we carry them for this climate — and even those benefit from a refresh each fall. One honest opinion, though: no spray on earth will save suede from a January slush puddle on Sainte-Catherine. That is what smooth calf is for. Wear suede in the fall; retire it when the salt trucks come out.
Rotation, cedar, and rest
Cedar shoe trees go in within the hour of taking your shoes off — this is the least glamorous advice we give and the most important. The cedar draws out the day's moisture and pulls the crease flat while the leather is still warm. Keep at least two pairs in rotation; three is civilized. And never, ever dry a soaked pair on a radiator or over a heating vent. Every November someone brings us the cracked, curled evidence, and there is no cream on our wall that undoes it. Stuff them with newspaper, leave them at room temperature, and be patient.
Bring them in — we mean it
If you are not sure what a particular pair needs, bring the shoes to us at 6224 Decarie Boulevard and we will match the cream to the leather in person. It takes five minutes and spares you the guesswork of a colour chart on a screen. And if the fall wardrobe needs attention beyond the shoe rack — a jacket for the season, trousers that fit the way they should — book an appointment and we will look after the rest of you too. Montreal winters are hard on everything except, we like to think, the standards. Shoes that are cleaned, fed, protected, and rested will outlast the winter. They usually outlast the trends, too.
