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Yeah just about to pull the trigger on some, just checking with the sellers that they come with those little plastic stretchers as I have weird shaped feet and could do with stretching them out a bit more in a couple of spots even after more than 6 years. Would have saved myself a lot of pain if I'd just bought them with the boots tbh.
Going to strip them back, use 'leather filler' on the cracks and dye. Maybe I'll get flack for that on here but they have seen some abuse and hopefully this will bring them back a bit. Lesson learnt.
Polygon-
Going to strip them back, use 'leather filler' on the cracks and dye.
I think you could achieve a really good result. The leather is quite thick. Nothing bad will happen if you remove the top layer with wet and dry paper. Start with 100 grit and finish with 1200. Then put on a new finish with a pigmented layer (dye or paint) and a lacquer e.g. https://fiebing.com/product/resolene/ or https://www.angeluspaint.co.uk/c-9-finishers.aspx . Fiebings and Angelus have about a billion choices for you.
The hard part will be getting the filler to stick and making it look like leather! I'm looking forward to seeing your result! Here's some inspiration https://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk/leather-repair-kit I can't find an example with deep cracks on shoes. You might be the first to attempt it.
nick_h.
Whatever you do, get some shoe trees. When you wear shoes they get slightly damp from sweat. They also crease a little where your toes flex. When you take the shoe off it dries. The drying shrinks the leather uppers. If there are no trees the shrinkage pulls the toes up. This deepens the creases. If the cycle is repeated the creases deepen. And if the creases aren't moisturised they eventually become cracks. If you use trees from new and you moisturise the uppers, the creases will stay shallow for many years.