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Shoe care For good shoe care you need: saddle soap, wax shoe cream, e.g. “Kiwi” (in the tin – hard – not water-soluble), shoe cream, e.g. “Woly” (mostly in a glass – soft – water-soluble), a small household sponge, household gloves/rubber gloves---, a smooth cotton cloth (old tea towel), medicinal alcohol, a shoe brush and an old toothbrush. The working space can be a foot-stool (as low as possible), and for protection an old towel laid over the knees. A few basics beforehand: Almost every leather is given a certain percentage of fat at the tannery, according to the tanning. This fat content should never be increased by the addition of leather fats or oils. This fat, deeply embedded in the leather, does not evaporate. What can evaporate is the fat in the uppermost grain layer and a bit below. The shoe care should limit itself to keeping this grain-layer smooth and supple. The fat contained in the saddle soap is perfectly adequate for this. Washing Wash your shoes 4 times a year and each time they get completely wet or full of mud, with water and saddle soap. Put the trees into the shoes in order to do this, and use a well-moistened sponge to take the saddle soap out of the tin, squeeze out the sponge several times until foam appears, then rub your shoes vigorously with it. The edge of the sole and the sole itself should also be rubbed. Now let the shoes dry for about 15 minutes leaving the foam on, and brush off the remains of the foam afterwards. Cleaning Mix the alcohol together with water about 1:1 and rub the shoes with this “cleansing water”. For this one uses the cotton cloth. The superfluous soap is now removed, but as alcohol isn’t strongly fat-dissolving, the leather retains enough fat. Whenever you want to clean your shoes, use this “cleansing water”. For particularly obstinate fat, tar, or oil patches one can also use lighter petrol. With fat spots on light-coloured shoes, a touch of egg-white sometimes helps, when rubbed lightly into the spot. A brief word to the caring of suede leather. Brushing is never wrong. With time, unsightly long hairs begin to appear ; these can be burnt off using a lighter flame. Wipe with a damp sponge. With dark leathers, the colour can also be refreshed by adding some concentrated lemon juice to the water. Otherwise, the normal suede sprays one can buy are not damaging for the shoe. |
