Patina and sneaker painting

To re-colour or restore the colour on a pair of shoes where the colour has disappeared you need a good leather dye. Pigmented shoe cream can cover marks and areas that have lost colour, but for a permanent and in-depth treatment leather dye is necessary. You can also create a unique design or recolour your sneakers, which is becoming increasingly popular.

We offer Saphir Teinture Francais which by many is seen as the best leather dye in the world. You can easily mix colours to achieve the exact nuance that you are after. Make sure to clean the leather properly so no old colour or shoe cream is left when painting, for example with Saphir Decapant. Under Guides in the menu you find several guides which goes through how to paint shoes.

In addition, we have the full range of Tarrago Factory Sneakers Paint. With Tarrago's leather dyes it's easier than one might think to achieve an excellent result, painting your sneakers. Tarrago was the first in the world to introduce a water-based dye for the leather market, back in the 1960's, and is still considered one of the world leaders in the area. Their paint for leather and textile is chosen by professionals and hobby enthusiasts alike.

How do you paint or recolour shoes?

With leather paint, you can accomplish just about anything with a pair of shoes, and it can be extremely advanced. But if we are to go through the most basic things, you should only paint/dye lighter shoes into darker ones, and then the prep work is extremely important. Clean the leather completely clean with Saphir Decapant or Tarrago Deglazer, so that the leather has no residue from shoe polish and other things.

Then repaint/colour with a brush or a sponge, using much less paint than you think. Gently brush on the paint in even layers, and let it dry before continuing to see how it turns out. When you are satisfied, you can reinforce the colour protection with Saphir Stop Colour, and then it should be treated with at least shoe polish, which can be neutral if you just want to provide care and protection, or coloured to reinforce the painting.

What colour should you use when painting shoes?

For a permanent and good result you need a special type of leather colour, called grain black in English. We have two different variants, Saphir's Teinture Francais leather paint, which is looser in consistency, more transparent in base and is best suited for re-colouring shoes and making smoother transitions, so-called patination. Tarrago Sneakers Paint is a water-based paint with a slightly thicker consistency, more opaque in base, and is made more for painting motifs or completely dyeing white shoes, for example.

Can you re-dye suede shoes?

Yes you can, but it requires a special type of paint for a good and long-lasting result. We have Tarrago's suede and nubuck paint which is specially developed to adhere and penetrate well into leather with a sanded surface. It is painted on with a brush and goes deep into the leather, without staining off afterwards.