Caring for your nice handmade leather shoes can be a time-consuming process but very rewarding and is paramount in maximising the longevity of your mens shoes especially if you’re interested in English Goodyear welted construction. The first part of Barker’s leather shoe care 101 is the manner in which you treat your shoes when you’re not wearing them as they are the hardest working accessory you own. Knowing how to best store your leather shoes properly makes all the difference in keeping your shoes supple and wearable for many years to come, thus saving you money along the way.
Gravity, humidity and aridity are all factors that can affect the lifetime of your leather shoes, therefore is important to keep your soles in a dry space to avoid any possibility of dampness. Over time, the folds and creases that naturally form in worn shoes will become permanent deformations if left untreated. The traditional and best method to avoid your shoes misshaping which can include curled leather insoles and crumpled toe boxes is the investment in a pair of shoe trees.
The Barker Aromatic Shoe Trees keep the shape of the shoe to avoid such creasing but it’s important to ensure you select the matching/correct shoe tree size to prevent any chance of stretching the leather. The Barker shoe trees are purposefully made from aromatic cedar wood which helps absorb moisture and naturally deodorises your shoes.
If your leather shoes get really wet, it’s best to rest them for several days to ensure complete drying. The reason it’s important that the shoes completely dry is that both the upper leather, the sole and the cork filling inside the shoe wear much more if they are used when moist.
When putting your shoes on its always advisable to use a shoe horn as this makes entering your shoes easy while protecting the leather in particular the heels of the shoe.
When cleaning leather shoes its worth investing in leather shampoo or soap to give the best clean ensuring all old shoe cream and shoe polish is removed prior to any future polishing. We’d advise removing the shoelaces when cleaning your leather shoes unless it’s the standard everyday routine. Once thoroughly cleaned leave the shoes to dry completely with crinkled newspaper until completely dry where shoe trees can be inserted.
Deep conditioning is the next step to ensure the leather is restored by being conditioned, moisturised and left to dry before running a fine horsehair brush over the shoe to guarantee any excess dirt is completely removed.
When it comes to polishing there’s several techniques as the skill of shoe shining is taken very seriously, there’s even a World Shoe Shining Championships that is held annually to showcase the best shoe shiners around the globe.
The traditional spit shine method is generally favoured and includes wrapping a cotton cloth around your fingers and using a really small amount of polish before quickly dipping a finger into some water before putting on the shoe and polishing with small, fast circular movements.
For an expert tip visit the ‘Shining Your Barker Shoes’ blogpost which includes a step by step guide by World Champion shoe shiner Yuta Sugimura of Y’s Shoeshine.
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