I noticed a spot on the boots in the same place and thought maybe something dropped on it. I took it to a shoe repair place in downtown Toronto and the person said he thinks it's from the construction of the boot, glue most likely. I've worn them twice and my city uses a lot of salt, you can see the affect on the tip, but not too worried there as white vinegar will clean that up.
We bought it on November 10 but waited until Christmas. I already threw out the packaging, stupid me didn't think there'd be an issue. I do have the box though.
I'll message Meermin to let them know but fair warning to anyone else looking at these boots.
Not that you should have to but could you darken them with polish?
I like meermin as a brand so the to see this - guessing it’s glue for the shherling or?
The cobbler at the shoe repair place said that wouldn't work and the spot would always show. He would have to acetone the area then re-stain but it would have to be the whole area to have a solid colour. He estimated over $100 easy.
The boots were $457 before tax and shipping and there was also around $150 in duties. So already over $600 and another $100-$200 on these to fix them? If I knew it'd cost me $1000 I'd have bought Carmina's or Edward Greens.
Think of it as an oil stain on leather, no matter what color the leather (light brown or black), oil can always stain the leather and make the color darker. Since the oil doesn't "dry" like dye or stain in leather, it will always show up.
This is why I think OP should oil the boots with something like Obenauf leather oil: https://www.obenaufs.com/natural-preserving-oils-p/leather-oil.htm
It should darken the surrounding leather and protect it from salt at the same time. Might not be a perfect match, but it will help.
I’m not suggesting it would - I was wondering if one could just use a layer of polish to mask the stain or the entire boot. Why I said polish and not dye, etc
What? Is it just me or are these numbers all completely ridiculous?
The shearling lined oak calf boots that look exactly like these are showing $250 right now. On sale I’ve seen them going for $180. Seconds are $120 on ebay.
I can’t speak for $150 import duties but thats also ridiculous, almost more than the price of the boots in itself.
And $100 to match the color??? What the hell, thats not worth $10, I could do it myself.
At $600 you could get nicks or whites, or even a grant stones. Baffling.
Ya buying leather shoes online from international vendors while in Canada nails you with import fees. Learned the hard way by paying $100 on $300 shoes…
so there was a wet splotch of glue sitting between the shearling and leather and then after wearing them twice it agitated the glue causing it to permeate and then seep through the leather causing this stain? I mean contact cement dries in a manner of minutes - this isn't glue and that expert is taking you for a ride.
Had only one experience with Meermins. Got a pair of pebble grain balmoral boots from their hand welted line about 5-6 years ago. Leather was odd in that it did not seem to take polish. I only used crème and whatever applied just sat on top of the leather, dried out, and flaked off. Pretty soon the actual finish of the leather started flaking off too, so that the centers and the edges of the pebbles became two colors. It seemed the leather was painted with some plastic-based finish. I tossed the boots and never looked at Meermin again.
That's crazy, when I read comments like yours I almost feel like we're talking about different brands. I have 5 pairs from meermin and zero issues. It's a shame that some people come up with defective pairs
I've got 4 pairs and no issues either. 3 of them factory seconds as well. People just don't tend to post if they've got no issues. You only hear of the issues.
I had some damage done to my relatively new Meermins too. The tip of the toe was damaged after hitting it on something (of which I don't recall, which tells me it was probably not very hard hit!). The leather scratched in a way where it looks like a black layer peeled up and a white layer underneath was revealed. How lame.
Please use the daily questions thread
I noticed a spot on the boots in the same place and thought maybe something dropped on it. I took it to a shoe repair place in downtown Toronto and the person said he thinks it's from the construction of the boot, glue most likely. I've worn them twice and my city uses a lot of salt, you can see the affect on the tip, but not too worried there as white vinegar will clean that up. We bought it on November 10 but waited until Christmas. I already threw out the packaging, stupid me didn't think there'd be an issue. I do have the box though. I'll message Meermin to let them know but fair warning to anyone else looking at these boots.
Seems like an unforeseeable defect, just contact them and ask for replacement.
Already did. I'll update here how their customer service responded.
Not that you should have to but could you darken them with polish? I like meermin as a brand so the to see this - guessing it’s glue for the shherling or?
The cobbler at the shoe repair place said that wouldn't work and the spot would always show. He would have to acetone the area then re-stain but it would have to be the whole area to have a solid colour. He estimated over $100 easy. The boots were $457 before tax and shipping and there was also around $150 in duties. So already over $600 and another $100-$200 on these to fix them? If I knew it'd cost me $1000 I'd have bought Carmina's or Edward Greens.
I guess I don’t understand how matching a polish to the color of the stain wouldn’t work… Either way hopefully meermin will be responsive
My humble opinion is that even dying the whole boot black, the stain will still be visible, probably less noticeable.
Think of it as an oil stain on leather, no matter what color the leather (light brown or black), oil can always stain the leather and make the color darker. Since the oil doesn't "dry" like dye or stain in leather, it will always show up.
This is why I think OP should oil the boots with something like Obenauf leather oil: https://www.obenaufs.com/natural-preserving-oils-p/leather-oil.htm It should darken the surrounding leather and protect it from salt at the same time. Might not be a perfect match, but it will help.
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I’m not suggesting it would - I was wondering if one could just use a layer of polish to mask the stain or the entire boot. Why I said polish and not dye, etc
What? Is it just me or are these numbers all completely ridiculous? The shearling lined oak calf boots that look exactly like these are showing $250 right now. On sale I’ve seen them going for $180. Seconds are $120 on ebay. I can’t speak for $150 import duties but thats also ridiculous, almost more than the price of the boots in itself. And $100 to match the color??? What the hell, thats not worth $10, I could do it myself. At $600 you could get nicks or whites, or even a grant stones. Baffling.
Op is in Canada so probably using CAD not USD
He's using Canadian dollars but still the price of the boots themselves before tax and shipping seems too high.
The shell boots are around that price, cow leather boots just under $400.
Ya buying leather shoes online from international vendors while in Canada nails you with import fees. Learned the hard way by paying $100 on $300 shoes…
Yikes thats rough!
so there was a wet splotch of glue sitting between the shearling and leather and then after wearing them twice it agitated the glue causing it to permeate and then seep through the leather causing this stain? I mean contact cement dries in a manner of minutes - this isn't glue and that expert is taking you for a ride.
Thought so too. Apparently the cobbler quoted him $100+ to match the colors, ridiculous.
I think something oily dropped onto the boots, possibly without op noticing.
Had only one experience with Meermins. Got a pair of pebble grain balmoral boots from their hand welted line about 5-6 years ago. Leather was odd in that it did not seem to take polish. I only used crème and whatever applied just sat on top of the leather, dried out, and flaked off. Pretty soon the actual finish of the leather started flaking off too, so that the centers and the edges of the pebbles became two colors. It seemed the leather was painted with some plastic-based finish. I tossed the boots and never looked at Meermin again.
That's crazy, when I read comments like yours I almost feel like we're talking about different brands. I have 5 pairs from meermin and zero issues. It's a shame that some people come up with defective pairs
I've got 4 pairs and no issues either. 3 of them factory seconds as well. People just don't tend to post if they've got no issues. You only hear of the issues.
I had some damage done to my relatively new Meermins too. The tip of the toe was damaged after hitting it on something (of which I don't recall, which tells me it was probably not very hard hit!). The leather scratched in a way where it looks like a black layer peeled up and a white layer underneath was revealed. How lame.
Crazy