Tips Take Care of Your Shoes

Take Care of Your Shoes, Emergency Measures and Long-Term Care for Shoes :

Shoe trees: Shoe trees are crucial. They allow your recently worn shoes to contract and dry out to their ideal shape — but only if you choose the less decorative unvarnished ones. Varnished trees look posh, but they don't properly draw moisture — i.e., sweat — out of the leather. Top marks go to unfinished cedar models with a split toe and a fully shaped heel: These ensure the closest possible fit between shoe and tree. Also, there's no need to own a pair of trees for each pair of shoes. The vital time for using them is the hour or two after you have removed the shoes from your feet. After that, the shoes will have returned to their natural architecture and the trees can be removed.

Repair work: Invest as much care in choosing a cobbler to resole or reheel your shoes as you did in repurchasing them. And to prevent permanent damage (or, at least, the outrageous repair costs), have all work done before it's absolutely necessary.

Suede: Suede shoes are in a category of their own, since you cannot polish away any scuff marks. Use a suede eraser (basically a brick of crumbly rubber) to rub away small blemishes. Then use a suede brush to restore the nap, or fuzz, of the leather.

Wet shoes: Stuff soaking-wet shoes with newspaper and dry them away from direct heat. Direct heat can dry the leather too fast, causing it to crack — and once that happens, nothing can save your shoes.

Salt stains: The traditional remedy for road-salt stains is a little vinegar and water, applied sparingly.

What to Do When You're Soaking F**king Wet:

You were caught in a downpour on your way home from work. Act fast and do as follows.

Stuff your shoes with crumpled-up newspaper and dry slowly, away from direct heat. Before they're entirely dry, insert cedar shoe trees to make sure they dry out evenly and maintain their shape.

What to Do About Smelly Shoes:

Prevention: Wash your feet more often and wash your socks even more often, and don't wear the same pair of shoes every day. (Ideally, have three interchangeable pairs of dress shoes.) Also, try inserting unvarnished cedar shoe trees into just-removed shoes. They'll absorb perspiration, deodorize the shoes, and straighten them out after daily wear.

Cure: Change your insoles, or better, take your shoes to a cobbler to have the insoles replaced. Beyond that, contact your local exorcist.

How to Polish a Shoe:

1. Wipe your shoes down with a damp cloth to remove superficial dirt and stains.

2. Wet the welt brush and scrub out the entire welt strip.

3. If the shoes need it, apply sole-edge dressing — carefully. If you get it on the uppers, it will stain them permanently. Let edge dressing dry before going any further.

4. Apply polish, using a circular rubbing motion. You don't need to slather it on. You don't need to be gentle. And the more you rub, the better. Let the polish dry. It should take about five minutes.

5. Buff the entire shoe with a polishing brush. For extra gleam, hold the shoe between your knees and buff the toe vigorously with a lint-free cloth.

Polishing: The Materials:

You'll need the right tools — just a few, but each with a crucial purpose.

Shoe polish: Kiwi wax-based polish is as good a brand as any other. (Cream polishes, applied with a brush, may be easier to use, but they won't give you the same shine.) And you don't need every color under the sun. Black, of course; a chestnut or darker brown; and something middling or neutral for light-colored shoes.

Welt brush: Looks like a toothbrush (and you can use one in its place). It's designed to get the grit out of the welt, the seam where the shoe's upper joins the sole. You'd be amazed how much dirt gets in there.

Polishing cloth: In lint-free cotton or linen. Use the same one for putting on the polish that you use for buffing, regardless of the color you're using. And hang on to it: The longer you use the same cloth, the more it becomes suffused with rich oils and dyes.

Polishing brush: To get the high shine out of the shoe once you've got all that wax into the leather. Horsehair is recommended.

Sole dressing: The edge of the sole takes a scuffing from doorjambs and sidewalks. Restore the pristine look of your shoes with an edge dressing, applied with a small craft brush or a cotton swab.

How to Whiten Your Shoes:

Leather sneaker:

For scuff marks, try swabbing with nail-polish remover and then wiping clean. If the whole shoe starts yellowing or darkening, spray with a 50/50 mixture of water and lemon juice and let sit in the sun for a full day.

Canvas sneaker:

The 50/50 mixture of water and lemon juice works for canvas, too, but for more serious stains, mix a tablespoon of baking soda with a touch of water and rub the sticky paste onto the offending spots. Wipe dry. Or try a whitening polish like Hollywood Sani-White.

Leather shoe:

For lighter scuff marks, lightly rub a pencil eraser against the area. Still dirty? Hollywood Sani-White and similar polishes work, too. But if the shoes were never white to begin with, try slapping on a fresh coat of matte white latex paint.

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