How to Properly Clean and Maintain Leather Shoes

The pair of brown brogues I bought in 2008 are the same pair I wear today. They have been resoled twice, polished perhaps two hundred times, and they look better now than they did the day I bought them. They have a particular look to the toe, a patina of small dents and faint creases, that you cannot buy new. They look like they belong to somebody.

The shoes themselves are not unusual. They were not expensive even at the time. What kept them alive, and made them improve with age rather than wear out, is a small monthly routine that I learned from the man who sold me my first proper pair, in a shop on a side street in the UK that smelled of leather and shoe polish and quiet expertise. He showed me the routine in about ten minutes. He has, I believe, since retired. The routine has not.

What leather actually needs

Leather is a hide, and like any hide it is made of fibres bound together by natural oils. When new, the leather is supple and water-resistant because those oils are intact. Over time, the oils evaporate, get washed out by rain, and are drawn out by salt from winter pavements. Without intervention, the leather dries, stiffens, cracks, and eventually fails.

Everything in proper leather care is about replacing the oils that are leaving, removing the salt and dirt that are pulling them out faster, and protecting the surface from the next encounter with wet weather or rough pavement. It is a maintenance cycle, not a one-off treatment.

The monthly routine, in three steps

The whole thing takes about twenty minutes per pair, once a month, sitting at a table with the shoes laid on a sheet of newspaper. Most people who own leather shoes do almost none of this. The shoes that look like they belong to somebody are the ones whose owners do.

Step one: clean the surface. Wipe the shoe down with a soft cloth, working off any dust. Pay attention to the welt (the seam between the upper and the sole), where dirt accumulates and is easily missed. For mud or salt residue, dampen the cloth slightly and wipe gently; salt from winter pavements should be removed promptly because it draws moisture out of the leather and leaves white tide marks.

Step two: condition. Apply a small amount of leather conditioner to a clean cloth and rub it into the leather in small circles. Work over the entire upper, including the sides and the area around the laces. Let it sit for five or ten minutes; the leather drinks it in. A leather conditioner is essentially the oils that have evaporated being put back; brands vary in formulation, but a basic mink oil or a quality leather cream is what you want. Avoid anything advertised as a “shine” or “polish” at this stage; those products sit on top of the leather. Conditioner goes into it.

Step three: polish. Apply a small amount of shoe polish in the matching colour with a separate cloth or a small brush. Work it into the leather, paying particular attention to the toe and heel, which take the most punishment. Let the polish dry for a few minutes, then buff with a soft brush or a soft cloth until the shoe shines. Two thin coats of polish look better than one thick one.

The mistakes that age shoes prematurely

Several common habits, almost all done with good intentions, will shorten the life of a pair of leather shoes significantly.

• Wearing the same pair every day. Leather needs at least 24 hours to dry out fully between wears. If you have only one pair of good shoes, you are walking in damp leather every day, and damp leather wears out much faster than dry. The single biggest favour you can do a beloved pair of shoes is to own a second pair and alternate.
• Drying wet shoes near a radiator. Heat dries leather too fast, evaporating the natural oils and causing the upper to stiffen and crack. Wet shoes should be stuffed with newspaper (which wicks moisture out) and left in a cool, dry room for 24 to 48 hours.
• Skipping shoe trees. Wooden shoe trees absorb moisture, hold the shape of the shoe, and gently smooth out creases. Without them, the toe creases set deep and the leather distorts over time. Cedar trees are best because they also absorb odour, but any wooden tree is significantly better than none.
• Ignoring the welt. The stitched seam between the upper and the sole is one of the most important parts of a shoe. Dirt and grit accumulate in the welt and slowly degrade the stitching. Brush it out monthly with an old toothbrush. A welt in good condition is the difference between a shoe that can be resoled five times and one that cannot be resoled at all.

Dealing with rain and wet weather

The single most damaging thing for a leather shoe is being soaked through, then dried badly. Prevention is far better than cure.

Before wearing leather shoes in wet weather, treat them with a water-repellent wax or spray. Renapur, Saphir, and a handful of other quality conditioners include a wax that beads water off the surface. Apply it the night before, give it time to penetrate, and the shoes will shrug off most light rain.

If you are caught in a downpour and the shoes are saturated, do the following as soon as you can. Remove the laces and the insoles. Stuff each shoe firmly with newspaper, replacing it after a couple of hours when it has soaked up moisture. Place the shoes in a well-ventilated room, away from any direct heat. After 24 hours, replace the newspaper one more time. After 48 hours, the shoes should be dry. Once fully dry, condition the leather generously; the rain has stripped oils as well as soaked the leather.

Salt marks from winter pavements need a slightly different approach. Wipe the white tide mark off promptly with a damp cloth, then condition the area. If the salt has dried and crystallised, mix a teaspoon of white vinegar with a tablespoon of water, dab the salt mark with the solution, then wipe clean and condition. Salt left in the leather causes more long-term damage than any other single thing.

When to resole, when to retire

Good leather uppers can outlast multiple soles. A Goodyear-welted or Blake-stitched shoe can typically be resoled three or four times over a thirty-year lifespan, which means a single pair can carry you most of your adult life if treated well.

The signs that it is time to resole: visible wear right through the leather sole into the cork or stitching beneath, a heel that has worn down past the rubber lift, or water seeping through the sole in even light rain. A good cobbler will examine the welt at the same time, and if the stitching is sound, the resole is a routine job.

The signs that a shoe has reached the end of its life: cracks in the leather upper that go through the grain rather than just the finish, sole separation that runs along most of the welt, or a lining that has worn through and is now uncomfortable. At that point, the shoe has given everything it has, and replacement is sensible.

The smaller habits that matter

A few small touches make the routine easier and the results better.

Keep a shoehorn by the front door. Forcing your foot into a shoe without one stretches and damages the heel counter, which is the stiffened part at the back of the shoe that holds its shape. A simple wooden or metal shoehorn costs almost nothing and adds years to a pair.

Store shoes in cloth bags rather than the boxes they came in. Cloth allows airflow; cardboard boxes can trap moisture. A simple cotton drawstring bag protects against dust without sealing the leather.

Replace the laces when they start to fray. Good waxed cotton laces cost about three pounds and transform the look of a tired pair instantly. A snapped lace at the wrong moment, and a broken eyelet from too much force, can both be avoided by changing the laces before they look like they need to be changed. For broader thinking about extending the life of well-made things, our piece on the slow wardrobe follows much the same philosophy.

Leather shoes reward this kind of attention more than almost any other thing you own. A pair treated well looks better at ten years than it did new, looks distinguished at twenty, and looks like a friend at thirty. The same pair treated badly will be a tired, dried, cracked memory within five. The difference is twenty minutes a month and a slightly better drawer of tools than most of us start with.

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