The Ten Golden Rules of Shoe Care

The wearing life and beauty of the shoes depend on the quality of used materials on one hand and the mastery of a manufacturer on the other hand, but mostly it depends on the care provided for the shoes by a customer oneself. In order to preserve the high level of comfortability for a long period of time, it is recommended on abiding follows rules:

1. First and foremost it is advisable not to wear a new pair of shoes longer than for two or three hours together. And only from the time when the foot and shoe are finally “get used to each other”, you can wear a present pair of shoes all day long.
2. It is preferable not to wear the same pair of shoes for two days together and more, the interval should be 24 hours at least.
3. While putting the shoes on, you should compulsory use a shoehorn, irrespective of the type of footwear: the shoes with lacing, straps or the slippers.
4. When you need in taking the shoes with lacing off, firstly you must weaken the laces along the whole length in order to free the leg from the shoes easy and smoothly.
5. Immediately upon your shoes are taken off it is necessary to insert the special expanding boot tree, produced for individual order.
6. If the shoes are wet due to the snow or rainy weather, it is necessary to insert the boot trees and put the shoes sideways. Leave them for drying for a day as a minimum. By that, to put the shoes on the sole is not good for the wet footwear.
7. It is recommended to wipe footwear and polish it by the shoe cream even when the pair has not yet lost its original shine.
8. If a present pair of shoes is not be worn for a long time, you should cover it with a thin layer of the shoe cream, and put it in the special textile bag setting the shoes on the outsole and keep them in the shoebox.
9. It is to be wished that the footwear manufactured for individual order is worn only by its owner, for whom the shoes were designed because there are no totally identical feet in the whole world.
10. Each pair of the shoes possesses its own peculiarities: the beauty of the footwear may completely expose itself only if these shoes will be complemented with suitable clothes, and corresponded to the event.

To make the best care for the shoes made from the leather three follows things are necessary: expanding boot tree, emulsion type cream and blacking (solid wax cream in the can). The shoe creams are subdivided into two different categories: the cheaper products are made on the basis of water as opposed to the more expensive creams of high quality.
The emulsion type creams basically serve for caring for the leather; especially it is good for keeping its elasticity. One more advantage of present creams is a large amount of the coloring pigment, which spiffs the color of the leather up by its application better than the blacking.
The shoes should be carefully cleaned before application of any type of processing. To this effect, you should take the laces off and place a suitable boot tree inside the shoe. You may use a coarse brush for removal of the solid mud and dust. Afterward, we recommend on using a trifle humidified napkin for more radical purge (and obligatory leave it for drying before wearing).
Warning: after processing the leather of light hues with emulsion type cream the dark spots may appear here and there. When choosing the color you must draw attention to the fact that the best results will be achieved only if you purchase the cream of absolutely identical color or for a hue darker. The cream should be applied equally over the entire surface of the shoe by means of a napkin. By that, it is advisable to wrap the napkin around the fingers in two layers or use the cleaning gloves for preventing of coloring the skin of your hands.
By means of a little brush, the cream is easily applied on the lateral joining edge and perforation, if available. After application, it is necessary to wait for a few minutes for cream soaking into the leather. And then, using a napkin or brush with very soft bristles, to remove the cream surpluses and polish the shoes.
The footwear polished by such a way acquires silky gloss, which is not brighter as it is when polishing to the moiré effect, but equally elegant. Such kind of the footwear processing should be made by necessity, with intervals from two to six weeks. Emulsion type cream may be also used as an undercoat before blacking application, not the other way around.

The owners of the shoes, who were caught out by the rain or snowfall yesterday, on the next day can find the white stains on the favorite pair of shoes. These saline and lime deposits are easily removed by means of a usual wet cotton napkin (drenched thoroughly the vinegar solution). Then the usual methods of shoe care can be undertaken. In especially extreme cases the procedure may be repeated one more time.
The passive part of shoe care process is quite often become a trying ordeal for footwear and rather strongly affected on its safe keeping. The compression marks and ripples appearing due to the air exposure come out of the frequent wearing. The suitable boot tree helps to fight against these defects. The most efficient options are the trees made from the poplar or cedar. They are usually manufactured with unprocessed timber, and consequently, the boot trees absorb the moisture very well. As the shoes devour the moisture while wearing, the usage of the boot trees of present type helps not only to keep the shape of the footwear but also to remove accumulated moisture. Among the advantages of the cedar (besides the absorbing capacity) it is worth noting the light pleasant flavor, which charms away definite types of moths. When with the course of time the boot tree will lose its flavor, it is possible to recreate it by rubbing the surface of a boot tree with a flint-paper. The boot trees made from wire are commonly used because of its low price, though their functionality is rather limited. A spiral, which forms the tree, keeps the shape of the shoes and does not allow the leather tightening. Due to that, the severe tension in some places appears, especially in the area of the heel. In length of time, it can lead to the deformation and stretching of the back side of shoes. In order to avoid such problems, use the entire boot tree with an additional detail for a counter. The pressure is distributed equally, and consequently, the leather may easily get back in its original shape after cooling off. Usually, the entire boot trees are presented in different forms and sizes. In order, the boot tree can fulfill its functions it is necessary to select the model in the correspondence with the size of your shoes. For customized shoes or the manufacturers with an unusual shape, it is preferable to use the support trees also made for individual order. For this purpose, shoemaker selects the boot tree of the corresponding size, stretches it over with the cork and accurately polishes it. Some manufacturers propose the boot trees which are suitable for your pair of shoes. The cost of a boot tree is a small amount of the price of the shoes themselves. For prevention of the cracks and folds appearance, please do not forget always use a shoehorn.
It is exceptionally easy to care for the shoes made from reversible leather or chamois. Before starting care procedures you should identify the material: is it the reversible leather or nubuck.
The best instrument for cleaning the reversible leather is a brass brush. The shoes should be cleaned with the brush accurately in one direction. Extremely acute pollutions can be removed by means of the eraser or a special sponge. The shoes made from the reversible leather must be processed with an aerosol before the first wearing and then regularly. Such footwear is not designed for wearing in the rainy or muddy weather.

In case of the very acute pollution, the shoes made from the reversible leather may be cleaned in water. Keep the shoe in warm water for 10 minutes and clean it with a brush after that. When the shoe will be almost dry, process it by means of the brass brush (or a crepe rubber brush), and then do the same with the completely dry shoe. Inset the suitable boot tree after cleaning. As for nubuck, it is necessary to use the brush made from crepe or rubber.

As opposed to the reversible leather, the smooth leather should be processed by means of the cream. Initially, it is necessary to remove the dirt and fluffy dust. A trifle humidified napkin is a good solution for this purpose. For removal of the acute pollutions, it is preferable to use a brush with the hoarse-hair bristles.
If the shoes are too wet after the care procedures, you should avoid of heating them up, otherwise, the leather will become frangible and may start chapping. It leads to the damaged beyond repair. It will be better to fill the shoes with the newsprint paper and leave it dry out gradually. After cleaning and drying, you can apply the care agents. The combination of the shoe cream and aerosol is the most common agent, but it does not mean that present combination is the most efficient. On the contrary, the leather is an organic material, which has a lot of pores at the surface and they are hindered while aerosol application. And it would be the wrong thing to do.
By application of the high-qualitative cream, the surface of the shoes remains elastic, air-penetrable, water-repellent and protected. When making a selection of the agents you should draw your attention to follows different aspects: the shoe creams, packed in the metal cans are suitable for regular care most accurately. In order to select the appropriate color, it is recommended on choosing the neutral creams or the agents with identical color or a hue darker than the color of the shoes themselves.
If there is doubt about accurateness of the chosen color, you can check it, applying the cream on the toe of the shoe and quickly remove it away, if your selection seemed out obviously mistakable. If the cream is not able to be completely removed, apply some neutral shoe cream and then try again to remove the previous layer together with the latter applied one.
The high-qualitative creams in the cans always contain the dissolvent, by means of which you may remove the remains of the previously applied blacking and to clean the shoes thoroughly. After the application of such kind of cream, the surface of the shoes becomes opaque. Before total removal of the excessive cream odds by means of the brush or a napkin and following polishing the material, it is recommended on leaving the cream for proper penetration for ten minutes as a minimum. This period of time is necessary for the wax, one of the cream components may set solid; and consequently, the shoes will be completely protected with a layer of the solidified wax. The best solution is to apply a layer of the cream in the evening and to make further processing on the following morning. The hard-to-reach places in the lateral part, in the area of outsole attaching, may be processed by means of a tooth brush or the special brush designed for this purpose.

It is rather easier to polish the shoes by means of the brushes with the short bristles. As a rule: the thicker the bristles are, the more gloss will be after processing. By usage of the brushes, it is important to divide the instruments and not to use the same brushes for polishing all the shoes together; you should have separate brushes for different hues of cream. The most convenient way to process the shoes is to put one hand into the shoe and polish the surface of the shoes with equal quick motions by the other hand. The application of the care agents and brushing may be repeated several times for getting the much glossier surface or some definite parts of the shoes. Additionally, you can polish the surface by means of a cotton napkin after brushing. It is available to use the cotton napkin instead of a brush in order to remove the excessive cream or make the shoes shine.

This post was prepared with help of http://www.fomges.de