Glitter is the virtue of a shoe and superfine shoes are the real character of a man’s personality. If you love your shoes you will keep them immaculate just like your face, pretty well! If you think polishing is the only way to clean and maintain your shoes, here you have missed the beat!
Set the mat
Bring all the shoe polish kit together on a single mat before you carry out the shoe cleaning process. Make sure you have horsehair brushes [big & small], polish, wax, conditioner, cleaning cloth, disposable gloves.
Wipe Clean
When you are finally home, wipe clean the shoes with a fine cloth. Damp it with few drops of water and clean the shoe surface. Maintain a separate cloth for sole as it touches the ground. First clean the sole with brush to remove any dirt, then wipe clean it too. Never use wet cloth else it will harm the leather. Your aim is to remove dust and dirt, not washing.
Store Shoes in Shoebox
Wrap the clean shoes in breathable shoe bags and place inside a shoebox. This way shoes will be always ready to use. If you have two or more pair of shoes regularly use them in order and give break to one pair.
Use Boot Trees
If you want your shoes to stay for years use shoe trees to maintain their shape. Shoe trees are plastic or wooden objects shaped like shoes, to be put inside. Different shoes have different shoe tree to fit the shape.
Once you feel that you are not going to wear the same leather shoes for few days or longer, clean and polish shoes and fit a shoe tree into the shoes. Shoe tree will keep the shape of leather in place. Especially in winters when leather contracts and in summers when it expands shoe tree will help the shoes stay in shape.
One can make a habit of using shoe trees daily, it is no problem.
If you are planning a journey you can protect your shoes with shoes trees while you carry them with you. Also forget not to put them in a shoebox.
Treat with Conditioner
Next step to wiping can be conditioning. Apply conditioners to moisturize leather shoes. Use branded conditioner for quality shoes. Using conditioner does not cost you much, since a conditioner softens the leather surface and adds life to it, when you polish the conditioned shoes it consumes less polish and keeps the lustre of the leather lasting. Regular maintenance this way reduces damage to the shoes and saves you a great deal of money.
Treat shoes with conditioner every month. When you apply conditioner use a soft cloth to rub it on the leather and leave it overnight. Next polish the shoes.
Polishing Shoes
- Polishing the leather shoes seems easy but if done tactfully it can do wonders to your shoes.
- Wear disposable gloves if you can. Polish or conditioner contains harmful elements to skin. Accidental touching of eye can cause serious problems.
Wear half sleeve shirt or t shirt to avoid staining cuffs and sleeves. - First off remove laces.
- Clean the sole of the shoes with another cloth.
- Take little amount of polish on brush and start polishing the shoes. Apply polish where needed. Use gentle circular motion of the brush and check for the consistency of the surface as you go. If you have applied too much polish around one point remove it with the brush and rub on other spots.
- Polish the tongue of the shoe carefully.
- Be slow near the edges of the shoe. Finish the surface clean. Any residue amount of polish might stain your socks or pants.
- Let the shoes dry.
- If the shoes need another round of polish maintain a gap of few minutes until the first application dries completely.
- Reinstall the laces.
Waterproofing Leather Shoes
Leather shoe can be waterproofed to repel water. A particular wax can be applied to the leather to make its surface water repellant. It is easily available in the market and one can learn how to use it.
Other useful instructions for shoe keeping
1. In rainy season wipe clean the shoes every time you return home. Mostly men leave the shoes as they are, letting the shoes suffer with mud and water. Just give a quick wipe and let them dry, but don’t forget to clean thoroughly and polish them again before you wear them. Wear alternative shoes in stead to save your primary pair of shoes.
2. Keep the sole clean all the times. Check for cuts and bruising. Daily before stepping into shoes check if the sole has any pointed object, nail or something else. Also check if the sole is cut or damaged somewhere.
** How you walk affects the sole and stitching of the shoes. Normally men walk with uneven random steps wearing the sole unevenly and impairing the stitching. Over the long run it saps life out of shoes and makes it look bad.
Generally men wear down shoes at the heels and big toe. It causes further wear around these areas making you walk uncomfortably. Flat and firm steps will ensure even pressure on both soles and keep it from damaging around these areas.
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