Kaps Navy Blue Leather Dye 117 – 25ml Near Black Navy with Preparer

Description

Kaps Navy Blue Leather Dye 117 – 25ml Near Black Navy with Preparer, a navy taken so far down that it passes for black in most rooms and only shows its blue when strong light falls across it, sold with a preparer bottle

Now think about an interview at nine in the morning. A wet pavement between the station and the office, a reception floor polished to a mirror, and then twenty minutes sitting opposite somebody with your feet in plain view under a low table. That is the single situation where footwear gets looked at properly, and a shoe with a pale worn nose is not the detail you want doing the talking.

117 on the swatch is navy taken almost the whole way to black. It heads in exactly the same blue direction as 116 but sits eight brightness points further down, and in practice that means you only catch the blue when strong daylight or a bright lamp falls directly across the panel. Indoors it simply reads as black.

£9.99: near black navy dye plus preparer, 25ml in each bottle.

Why choose this near black navy dye?

• It gives you black without the flatness. A true black on leather kills the grain and the shoe ends up looking moulded rather than made by anybody. Enough blue underneath keeps some depth in the surface, so the toe still has real shape to it under a light.
• It is the safest shade for a very dark shoe. When you cannot honestly remember whether your shoes are black or navy, this covers both possibilities, because it reads as black indoors and as a deep navy outside. That makes it a genuinely useful bottle to keep in the cupboard.
• It buries damage completely and quickly. Scuffs, pale creases and worn toe caps all disappear under a shade this deep, since there is almost no contrast left for the eye to find anywhere. Most tired formal shoes come right with one careful coat and a small touch up. The improvement is visible from the moment the first coat dries.
• Eight tones below 116 is a real difference, not a technicality. If you want people to notice the blue then order 116 instead of this. This one is for the shoe that should look black to everybody except you and anybody standing out in direct sunlight with you.
• It works where polish has long stopped working. Coated and corrected leather rejects creams entirely, since there is no open grain for them to enter, and the pale patches simply stay pale forever. This clings to the sealed face and puts the colour back properly.
• The preparer is the step that makes it stick. Wax, road film and old polish all prevent a proper bond, and a flake on a near black shoe shows the original colour underneath in stark contrast. Degrease the upper first and the coat holds on to the leather.

How to use the Kaps Navy Blue Leather Dye 117 – 25ml Near Black Navy with Preparer

The process holds no real surprises, but a shade this dark conceals its own errors in exactly the places that turn out to be hardest to inspect afterwards.

1. Unlace and pack the shoe out solid.
2. Take the preparer over every last panel.
3. Mask the sole edge and eyelet rings carefully.
4. Brush a thin coat, working panel by panel.
5. Leave twenty minutes and apply the second.
6. Cure overnight plus most of the following day.

My tip as a shoe specialist

Reach for a cocktail stick wrapped in a scrap of cloth when you come to the welt stitching and the sole edge, rather than using the brush for it. A navy this deep fills stitch holes without ever letting on, since there is no contrast at all between pigment sitting in the hole and thread lying beside it. Only once the shoe has dried hard do you find the stitching has gone from a defined line to a solid dark band, and that flattens a welted shoe completely.

Specifications

Contents of the pack

• Contents: 25ml dye, 25ml preparer
• Colour number: 117
• Measured colour: Near black navy blue
• Product: Opaque footwear dye
• Materials covered: Leather, coated leather, synthetics, fabric
• Other jobs: Bags, belts, seating
• Tools: Brush and sponge
• Curing: A full twenty four hours
• Price paid: £9.99

Frequently asked questions

Is our site name for this correct?

Not entirely, and it is worth knowing. We have listed it as Dark Blue, the attribute calls it Marine Blue and the official Kaps card says Navy Blue. All three describe the same bottle, and the number 117 is the part that never changes, so order by that.

Could I use it instead of black?

A great many people do exactly that. Indoors nobody will call it anything other than black, and outdoors it simply looks like a very good navy rather than like a mistake.

How many coats over brown?

Two thin ones will usually do it, or three if the brown underneath was a light one. Thin coats always beat one heavy pass for durability, whatever you are covering.

Where can I buy the Kaps Navy Blue Leather Dye 117 – 25ml Near Black Navy with Preparer in the UK?

You will find 117 in stock at Shoespecialist.co.uk. We cover the postage from £50 upwards, an order placed before the last van of the day gets made up that afternoon, and sixty days of returns come with it.