A cute salt and pepper shaker from a quick mission to Mexico
A set of tusks from South Africa.......inspiring us to go back everyday
A cool old skeleton key found in a basement in Brooklyn.......the key to the city.
]]>
Big thanks to DJ Clark Kent and Mayor of NYC for giving our Shine Box love. These guys are on top of their sneaker game, you won't find anyone out there with better collections. Stay keeping it fresh.
]]>
We are now down here in Atlanta Getting a taste of good southern cooking and visiting Americasmart. This place is huge, 3 eighteen story buildings filled with everything you could ever want to purchase.
]]>]]>
If you are out and about in your neighborhood and see the #goldnrule gift. tweet it, gram it or post it and let us know. We will hook you up with some gifts. Because everyone loves getting a gift box, and we love sharing the Gold-n-Rule
]]>We are not alone in our love for American manufacturing in a recent poll 68% of Americans prefer American Made Products.
Being American made will enable growth of not only Gold-n-Rule, but all the craftsmen and small businesses we work with as well. We hope to help the tide rise to float all our ships.
]]>
]]>
]]>Here at Gold-N-Rule we make products that inspire us. Nothing feels better than sporting a crispy clean pair of kicks or sharply shined shoes. With that in mind we decided to remake the 1920's era Carnival Shoe Shine Box.
America is built on the shoe shine dream, even the corner shine boy can make it huge with a little bit of spit, polish and elbow grease. We did a little research and below is a short history of shoeshine boys in America.
With the start of the industrial revolution there was a large influx of workers into factories. The need for work boots and shoes increased, more feet meant more shoes and the demand for a good boot shine increased dramatically. The 1800's saw an increase in street corner shoe shiners, especially in cities like New York and Chicago, as well as the production of shoe shining products. By the 1900s, shoe shining was at its height of popularity and during both world wars the increase in soldiers boots, meant a large demand for a well shined boot. The demand was so great that in New York during the 1910-20s the numbers of shoe shine stands exploded and filled most street corners. Eventually commissioner Robert Moses targeted shoe shine boys in a effort to “reduce clutter” on sidewalks and parks. However with the introduction of sneakers in the 60's the demand for a good shine dropped. Recently the modern man has reacquired the satisfaction of having a quality pair of shoes with a quality shine job and shoeshine stands and parlors are seeing a resurgence in popularity.
Many a man has started with a shoe shine box and ended up a success, below are a couple of the "shine boys" who made it from the street to the stars.
MalcomX
Sammy Sosa
James Brown
We really appreciate quality products whether it be a great dinnerware set, the perfect set of bedsheets or a comfortable pair of shoes. All these unique products require their own technique for being cared for. Today we scoured the interworld to give you expert tips on how to take care of your favorite shoes.
From Ask Andy About Clothes.
The first tip is to change into old clothes or put on an apron, don't sacrifice your favorite pair of pants to shine those shoes. Also putting down some newspaper is a good suggestion. Secondly, always match the polish or cream color to your shoe. The last thing you need is a streaky multi-colored pair of leather shoes because you guessed on the color. Most people talk about polish as a single item but actually there are two different kinds of polish. Cream or Paste Polish: moisturizes fine leather, keeps it flexible and soaks into the leather to allow leather to breathe. Wax Polish shines leather better than cream, but it seals the leather and causes it to dry out. Avoid liquid polish, although it puts a fast shine on your shoes it can dry out and crack the leather. Read all of Andy's Shoeshine Tips
The Guys at The Art Of Manliness, delved into getting the perfect soldier boot shine.
There are a lot of opinions when it comes to the best way to shine a shoe. Everyone has their own unique twist from using spit to using a lighter to burn the top coat of polish (cool, although potentially dangerous). The process below is a simple one that I have used for many years and it has worked fine for me and many of my military peers.
Step 1: Find an old towel or newspaper to spread over the area you will be working on. Shoe polish has an uncanny ability to get smeared everywhere even when you’re being extremely careful…and it’s really hard to get out of carpet.
Step 2: Clean the dust and dirt off your boots with a horsehair shine brush or damp rag. If you must get your boots a little wet to clean them off, allow them time to dry before applying the polish.
Step 3: Cover the entire shoe with a generous amount of polish, using your shoe polish brush. The polish I’m using is black Kiwi Shoe Polish, but be sure to match the color of the polish to your shoe as closely as possible. Make sure you get down in the seams of the shoe and attempt to cover evenly with polish. Allow 15 minutes for the polish to dry.
Step 4: Brush the entire shoe vigorously using the horsehair shine brush. The point of this is to basically brush off all the excess polish, leaving only a small film on the outside of the shoe.
Step 5: Once you feel comfortable that the entire shoe has been covered and brushed it is time to focus on the toe and heel for extra shine. Dip a cotton ball or pad into some water and squeeze out any excess moisture so it is damp, not dripping. Then get a little polish on the damp cotton. Next apply the polish on the toe and heel of the shoe using small circular motions. Sit back, this is going to take a while.
Step 6: Repeat Step 5 until you are satisfied with the level of shine. Remember to use a new piece of cotton each time and to remove all excess polish before applying a new coating. Also, the initial shine is the hardest, it should get a bit easier each time you do it. These boots were fairly new and this was my first time giving them a good shine. From start to finish, it took me approximately 45 minutes to get them to the state shown below. Most of this was spent with the cotton pads shining the toe and heel. If I were to come back in a couple weeks it would take me half the time to do the same job.
If you want to take your shoeshine to the ultimate next level, check out Kirby Allison's presidential shine using Saphir polish. This is not a daily shine as it needs some time to be done properly. Presidential Shine
Which ever way your shine your shoes or boots, nothing is better than wearing nicely shined footwear knowing that with a little bit of spit and polish was all you needed to make your shoes sparkle.
-Gold-N-Rule
]]>