Good leather shoes of the type we sell, if regularly maintained can last for years. Having personally owned and worn some of my shoes for well over 20 years I’ve certainly found this to be true. If looked after properly you can keep your shoes looking great and lasting longer which in turn keeps your feet healthy and dry. There are many different ways to clean your shoes, but after years of cleaning my own and customer’s shoes this is the method I find works best.
All the products are available via the link below.
Daily (all shoes regardless of material & style)
*Remember to use a shoe horn.
- Rotate your shoes. Leather shoes often take a full day to dry out fully whether from rain or natural perspiration (250,000 sweat glands in your feet can excrete up to half a pint of moisture a day), so where possible leave a full day between wears.
- Use shoetrees. Put wooden shoetrees in your shoes as soon as you take them off, the trees are most effective whilst the leather is warm. The trees will absorb moisture, help to iron out creases and maintain the shape of the shoes.
- Quick brush down and bag them up. Gently brush the shoes with a soft horse hair bush to remove any dirt or dust from the day’s wear, and put them in their Shoe Bags. This is not essential but worth doing if you want to prolong the shine or aren’t going to wear the shoes for a day or two.
Weekly
- Polish your shoes. There are many ways to polish your shoes, most get a similar result; the important thing is to use the right polish. To that end you can’t go wrong with Saphir Medaille D’or, Pate De Luxe which contains 9 different waxes and is available in 12 different colours.
- Remove the laces, but keep your shoetrees in the shoes, I find this makes it easier to apply the polish.
- Use a soft brush to gently remove any loose dust, dirt and old polish from the shoes.
- Using a soft polishing cloth apply a thin layer of polish to your shoe using small circular motions, don’t forget the tongue.
- Allow to absorb into the leather, approximately 10 minutes.
- Once dry brush vigorously with a horse hair brush.
- For extra protection repeat steps 3-5 again.
- If an even higher shine is required use Saphir Mirror Gloss. Apply with a cloth and then give the dry polish a fine spray with water, then buff with a clean soft polishing cloth.