Choosing your hand made shoes is only part of the story. Once you’ve bought them, you need to know how to look after them. After all, if you’ve just spent a fair sum on a good quality pair of handmade shoes, you want to make sure they’re going to last. Thankfully, caring for your new shoes isn’t too hard, although it does take a bit of discipline.
The first thing to say is that prevention is better than cure. If you have a good pair of handmade shoes (or even a cheap pair of factory produced ones for that matter), you should make sure to look after them properly. Try not to get them too wet, as this can stain the leather, and make it stiff when it dries. If you aren’t careful, shoes that have been exposed to too much water can crack and split – not something you want with your beautiful new pair of hand-made shoes!
If your shoes do get wet, don’t under any circumstances leave them by a radiator to dry! This can cause them to go brittle and dry, and crack the leather. You should leave them somewhere away from a heat source, at normal room temperature. It may take several days for a really wet pair of hand made shoes to dry, so be patient, and always keep a spare pair handy.
A common problem with shoes is that the toes can easily become scuffed and scratched. One of the biggest causes of this with everyday shoes is found with people who sit on office chairs. These usually have four or five legs that come out of a central shaft on which the chair sits. If, like me, you often sit with your feet tucked under your chair, you might find that the tops of your shoes will become damaged from the legs of the chair. If this affects you, you either need to learn to sit differently (very hard to change your habits), or slip your shoes off when sitting at your desk. Just make sure not to kick them too far out of reach in case you need to jump up when the boss walks in!
Another thing to remember is that your shoes will last much longer if you keep them on a shoe horn or shoe tree when you’re not wearing them. This will help preserve the shape of the shoe, and will also help the shoes dry out if they are damp from being worn outside. Wooden shoe trees are much better than plastic ones, as they will absorb the odours and moisture from your shoes, leaving the shoes themselves in better condition.
Obviously, the more your shoes are worn, the more they’ll need cleaning and polishing. What many people don’t realise is that shoes need time to relax back to their original shape after you’ve worn them. If you wear the same pair of shoes day in, day out, you won’t give them a chance to recover, and they’ll lose their shape more quickly. It’s worth buying two pairs of shoes, and wearing them alternately, as this will keep them both in much better condition in the long term.
So, assuming you’re looking after your shoes, you need to give them a regular polish to preserve the leather. Not only will this make the shoes look good, it will give the leather some oil to replace the natural oils that dry out with wear.
It goes without saying that if you have a pair of good quality hand made shoes, you would be foolish to buy cheap shoe polish. It’s worth spending a little extra on a really good quality brand to give your shoes that extra bit of care and attention.
If you follow this advice carefully, handmade shoes will last a very long time. You need to make sure to clean them properly though, which I have discussed in my first article.