how to fix "hairy" suede shoes?

[sfnapolifan]

i got caught in the rain in a pair of snuff suede alden chukkas a couple weeks back in nyc (live in san francisco and forgot how unpredictable east coast weather can be). they looked/felt a little worse for wear after drying out, so i tried brushing them with a nylon-bristle suede brush bought from the alden shop on madison avenue. don't really know what i was hoping to accomplish by doing this, but it appears that brushing the suede raised the nap so that i now have rather "hairy" suede chukkas, for lack of a better term.

anyway, they don't look terrible, but i certainly prefer the way they looked previously. is there any way to restore the shoes to close to original condition? shave the nap? press it down somehow?

thanks for any advice on this.

 

[Oyaji]

You can softly burn the hairs and rebrush them.

 

[NumbersNZ]

I have seen Jason Markks (sp?) cleaner do wonders on various materials, not sure about this though but maybe worth a look.

 

[MyOtherLife]

Would you post some photos please? I've never seen hairy suede before.

 

[sfnapolifan]

http://blog.rodengray.com/wp-content...3/DSC_0820.jpg

nope, too lazy. it is an effect a bit similar to what you see here (found via a google search, one that shouldn't be performed at work, btw, at least not with safesearch off). given the snuff suede color of the shoes in question, the effect is actually a bit more pronounced, with the "hair" appearing significantly lighter than the background suede, if any of this makes any sense. anyway, this isn't what i had hoped to achieve.

 

[landshark]

Sounds like you have some nappy headed shoes.

 

[chrisb0109]

I have you seen the electric shaver type things meant to cut pill off of a sweater?

I imagine that would work.

 

[Racing Green]

Check out Steven from Leffot's video on how to clean Alden suede chukkas. Never been brave enough to try myself - http://blog.leffot.com/2010/04/06/clean-your-suede/

 

[Sander]

I washed my suede chukkas once, they definitely came out less hairy. All in all no problem.