Some Observations About a Highly Regarded Component of the Saphir Shoe Care Program
Saphir Md’O Renovateur is a legendary shoe care product. Photos online commonly illustrate how a seemingly dead pair of shoes was raised to new life by generous application of Renovateur. Quite honestly I have almost always taken good care of my shoes. Some of them are over thirty years old. They look great and, in fact, they are in great shape. But over the years, some things have happened to various shoes that left a dent or a scratch here and there. Polish covers most small scratches, but dents of sorts don’t spring back by being polished (in my experience). And so, I decided to give Saphir Renovateur a try, in order to see whether it would rectify the problem of dents (and also to see what happened with small scratches). After using Renovateur carefully on small mars on a few shoes, I could not tell any difference before and after. That comment is not meant to be a knock on Saphir products, even Renovateur. I merely mean that small problems—dents, scratches, and nicks—that occur with well-tended shoes will not be miraculously transformed by using Renovateur as if nothing had happened. I doubt that I will ever purchase another jar of Renovateur. But, I cannot imagine saying that about many other Saphir products. There are a nearly obscene number of tins, bottles, and jars of all kinds of Saphir products in my basement at my shoeshine station among many types of shoe care products from brands other than Saphir. I honestly believe that I have tried at least one variety (often more) of every brand of shoe polish that I have ever come across. (This is a hobby or an ongoing experiment, not an obsession or a compulsion! It provides amusement while keeping me off the streets.) Overall, very few shoe polish waxes, creams, lotions, sole care products, dyes, etc. can even be reasonably compared to Saphir’s line of products. And so, if someone has a pair of shoes that have been neglected, but that seem still to have some potential for new life, the first thing that I would suggest to that person would be to try Saphir Medaille d’Or Renovateur. I’d bet that in such an instance, the sad old shoes would end up looking surprisingly good.
