Patent Leather Belt

[PtotheB]

Dakota asked: So, my question: Do you notice a difference in comfort between the two? Do the natural leather shoes flex more easily and breathe better?

Being in the Army for 20+ years has given me the opportunity to apply a bit of polish to leather. Needless to say I was happier than Michael Jackson at Boystown when we switched to suede boots. Our shoes that we wear with our dress and some service uniforms are made of a substance called Corfram mentioned earlier in this post. It is far more comfortable and breathable than old patent leather. I would assume that the shoes sold today as patent leather are actually Corfram and that would make them as good or better than some cheap cuts of leather. It would take a significant emtional event to get me to even consider "patent leather" shoes. I can and do apply a good old fashioned spit shine to my shoes before every game even during tournaments. It's a matter of pride.

[Dakota]

My last spit shine was in ROTC, and that was (lets just say), some time ago! But, I bet I could still make it shine with the best of 'em. These days, though, I find the Kiwi Parade Polish will brush up to a very nice shine. It won't blind anyone, but it looks very good.

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by PtotheB

Our shoes that we wear with our dress and some service uniforms are made of a substance called Corfram mentioned earlier in this post. It is far more comfortable and breathable than old patent leather.

Actually, Corfam (a duPont product) does not breath well even though it is considered a poromeric. I just about grew up in a kid tannery, so when I brought home a pair of Corfam shoes (for inspection only, USN), my dad just looked at me with a blank stare. Turns out, the tannery had some low level of involvement in part of the processing towards the end of production, so they made at least a little money against lost income. Actually, I probably wore them less than 50 times as my feet sweat and they were not comfortable.

Here is a brief on the product:

Corfam was the first poromeric imitation leather, invented by Lee Hollowell, and introduced by DuPont in 1963 at the Chicago Shoe Show. Corfam was the centerpiece of the DuPont pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair in New York City. Its major advantages over natural leather were its durability and its high gloss finish that could be easily cleaned with a damp cloth. Its disadvantages were its stiffness which did not lessen with wearing and its relative lack of breathability. DuPont manufactured Corfam at its plant in Old Hickory, Tennessee from 1964 to 1971. After spending millions of dollars marketing the product to shoe manufacturers, DuPont withdrew Corfam from the market in 1971 and sold the rights to a company in Poland. Corfam is mainly remembered as a textbook marketing disaster.
The 1966 Chilean issue of Reader's Digest claimed that by 1983 there would not be enough leather from cows, demand exceeding supply by 30%.
Corfam is still used today in some products, an example being certain types of equestrian saddle girth. Corfam shoes are still very popular in the military and other uniformed professions where shiny shoes are an asset.