Shoe care discussion thread

[FreeLitres]

Until now, my shoes have been fairly cheap, leather shoes with rubber soles. My only shoe care treatment was a scrub with a toothbrush under a running tap and an application of Kiwi wax polish to get a reasonable shine.

I recently bought some Barker shoes with leather welted soles and I want to look after them. Having done some online research on shoe care, I realise I have a lot to learn!

For a through clean and polish, I believe you need;

Decent brush - Got a large Barkers Horse Hair one

Polish remover - for occasional strip down of old wax layers. I have heard of Renomat, anyone used it?

Cleaner or saddle soap - Any recommendations?

Leather Conditioner cream or coloured cream - Got Barkers premium wax shoe cream (black). It is worth also getting a dedicated conditioner?

Wax polish - Got a tin of Barkers black wax with the shoes. Worth upgrading to another brand wax?

I also have some cedar shoe trees on order and a shoe horn to save the back of the heel.

Are there any other products that would be worth getting? How can I keep the edges of the leather soles nice and black for example? Worth applying anything under the sole?

Feel free to share your shoe care tips and techniques!

[FreeLitres]

I wish I hadn't googled Shoe Valet. Want!

Is there a default brand of mid to high end shoe care products that people tend to use?

I saw a UK shoe website pushing Saphir (French brand?) which seems to offer a wide range of products at about £7 for a small pot/tub - any good? Are the shoe makers brand products generally the best? (Churchs, Barker, Loake, etc.)

[FreeLitres]

Gentle bump for the Sunday crew. I'm sure you have all just finished polishing your Church's Oxfords. Any tips?

[FreeLitres]

Thanks for the comments. I'll get some Saphir items to try out.

My cedar shoe trees arrived today so I'm all set! I still have my old shoes for rotation, but they do feel and look a bit crap in comparison!

[FreeLitres]

I am tempted by the stick on rubbers to make them more winter friendly.

However, I was browsing another forum and there was a bit of snobbery regarding stick on rubber sole covers. They said it looks ugly and takes away the benefits of having a leather sole (breath-ability, moulding around your foot, etc). Also, they said that the shoe makers will refuse to change the leather sole if it has a stick-on.

Any truth to these points?

[FreeLitres]

The wooden shoe trees keep the shape of the shoe and absorb moisture (sweat!) from the shoes when not in use.

If you don't use shoe trees and wear a pair of shoes every day, the moisture level builds up and the leather gets worn out.

[FreeLitres]

I'm sure you will all be pleased to learn that I had a bit of a breakthrough with my shoe care! ( )

My initial attempts of getting nice finish on my Barker shoes involved using a black Barker shoe cream then a layer of Barker branded black shoe polish. Whatever I did and no matter how long I tried buffing them, the finish was always really dull. It's like there was a dull wax residue that would just not polish off. (see pic-)



However, I reverted back to trying my old Kiwi Parade black polish and it worked a treat first time! The shine just builds and builds. Really pleased with the results after a few minutes of effort -



Has anyone else had problems with the Barker branded polish/wax?