A pair of leather shoes is an investment that is made to last. However, to take full advantage of this investment, you must maintain your shoes regularly. This includes the regular treatment but also the storage and uses you make of your shoes.
Storing your shoes
The first tip for properly maintaining your shoes is related to the storage of your pairs of shoes. We advise you to get rid of your various shoe boxes and invest in a shoe storage cabinet now. This will allow you to keep your shoes longer and avoid humidity-related problems that storage in cardboard boxes could cause.
Use a shoe tree
A shoe tree is a perfect tool to make sure your pair of leather shoes keep their shape. If you do not use a shoe tree, you risk quickly finding yourself with marks and shoes that have lost their shape.
When making handmade boots and shoes, we put the boots on a “form”, in order to make and mold the fit of the boot. This shape is similar to that of a shoe tree, although the shoe tree is universal while the “shape” used is specific to each model.
If ever your shoes are wet, due to perspiration or humidity, the use of the shoe tree allows in these cases to avoid a too rapid deformation. Indeed, humidity is one of the biggest enemies of leather shoes.
Vary the pairs of shoes
The greatest source of deterioration and deformation of a leather shoe comes from its use. Daily use will very quickly reduce the life of a pair of leather shoes.
For optimal longevity, we advise you to have at least two pairs of shoes that you can alternate from day today. This will allow you to rest the unused pair in your shoe cabinet with a shoe tree.
Clean your shoes
For most leather shoes, the best way to clean them is to brush them beforehand to remove any dust and impurities that may have accumulated on them. It is important to dust your shoes well beforehand because the application of milk on dirty shoes will not allow you to properly maintain your shoes.
Then the application of cleaning milk or grease with a light cotton cloth helps to nourish the leather, remember to use a newspaper under your shoes before applying the milk to keep your work surface clean. Avoid cleansing milk filled with chemicals. Natural products will be the ablest to nourish the leather.
The skin of your boots is like ours, it is made up of several layers like your epidermis, so we nourish our skin with moisturizers, and well the leather of the boots first needs to be nourished before all things.
Fat is ideal for this too, we recommend “horse fat”, we use it ourselves to treat our boots after manufacture, this one is colorless and extremely nourishing.
Then you can apply shoe polish, use a soft brush for this and let the product act for at least 30 minutes.
Be careful, shoe polish is not recommended for all skin types. If you opt for suede, nubuck leather, or patent leather shoes, consult our dedicated guides to best clean your shoes.
If you follow these few maintenance tips, you will be able to keep your city shoes for years without deformation.