Shoe trees : are they really needed?

[john_coburg]

Greetings all. Regarding shoe trees: people go on about shoe trees all the time as being essential peripherals for looking after and improving the longevity of good-quality shoes and boots; i'd like to understand how much they are really needed. I have maybe 40 pairs of shoes and boots, and a couple of pairs of shoe trees that i use for unstructured shoes that i feel could do with holding their shape.
Now i'm updating my collection a little and adding a few new pieces, i want to make sure i get the most life out of my shoes, some of which are 20yrs old now (some pre-Prada Church Balmorals and Legates i bought when i started at work).
Without a counterfactual, there seems no way of telling how much they are preserving my shoes and lengthening their service... perhaps they are more useful for those whose feet sweat more ? (mine hardly do) or for certain types of shoe/boot/upper/amount of wear/meteorlogical conditions, etc?
So to my question: does anyone have some convincing analysis/argument as to the efficacy of cedar shoe trees? For my collection, i need to spend possibly £500-1,000 for a full set of trees, which feels a signficant investment. I'm prepared to do it, if i can be shown, be convinced and have confidence in their efficacy - and so i'd love to hear people's opinions.
Many thanks indeed.

 

[mebiuspower]

Yes.

 

[breakaway01]

Yes but I’m not convinced there is benefit beyond the first 24-48 hours. You could probably rotate the trees around.

 

[JohnnyLaw]

As far as I can tell, there seems to be a broad consensus that shoe trees are important if you want to maintain your shoes correctly.

I'm not sure what sort of evidence you need. I don't know of any serious studies on the efficacy of shoe trees.

I don't see why it has to be an all-or-nothing situation. Just buy a few and see if you notice any improvement.

 

[john_coburg]

Yes but I’m not convinced there is benefit beyond the first 24-48 hours. You could probably rotate the trees around.

This is very interesting - thank you. That would imply i (or anyone else) would really only ever need a 2-3 pairs. That would certainly be handy.

 

[Duke Santos]

Absolutely important immediately after wearing and (as noted above) for at least 24 hours and perhaps a bit more if there's moisture. After that, my hunch is that benefits start to show a marginal rate of return. After all, even many of the best shoes sit in their boxes at the warehouse or store for months with no trees in them.

Personally, I have trees in everything all the time, but I'm something of a pikey with only 12 pairs of dress/boots plus a couple more nice minimalist sneakers. And I bought the trees as I bought the shoes, so there was no massive one-time outlay involved.

If I were you, I'd buy 5 pairs of trees and start rotating them.

 

[yls2012]

Would you trade an 8 year old Lange 1815 up down in white gold and a small amount of cash for a brand new black dialed overseas? I find myself wearing my sports pieces more and more with kids and an increasingly casual workplace. Plus there’s the allure of something new. But the Lange is classic and beautiful. Tough call.

 

[Leiker]

Yes but I’m not convinced there is benefit beyond the first 24-48 hours. You could probably rotate the trees around.

This is my approach. I have a few shoes that I keep trees in all the time; for the rest of my collection, I make sure that they have trees in them for a day or two after wear, with good results.

 

[mhip]

And I bought the trees as I bought the shoes, so there was no massive one-time outlay involved.

This is the way...

If I had to buy all the shoe trees I have now all at once, it would definitely be a groin-kick.

 

[john_coburg]

Thank you all. Seems like rotating a few pairs is the best way forward here, but could someone explain, even roughly (i see this is more art than science), what they do?

Prevent/reduce misshaping?
Prevent/reduce creasing?
Protect the inner uppers?
Protect the outer uppers?
Protect the footbed?
Prevent shrinkage/expansion?
Dry quicker ? (how is this beneficial, other than wearing them the next day..)

Thank you vm all. (this is very helpful so far!)

 

[Joffrey]

I second rotating trees. I have ~3 pairs that I insert into shoes after wearing them and keep them in for a couple of days - sometimes more just depends on what shoes I wear.

Edit - I use them primarily to keep their shape and reduce/prevent creases. Also for odor control since I tend to wear loafers without socks.

 

[ladislav.jancik]

Thank you all. Seems like rotating a few pairs is the best way forward here, but could someone explain, even roughly (i see this is more art than science), what they do?

The functionality of shoe trees is very simple: the soles of the shoes are slightly bent when walking, so when you insert the shoe trees into the shoes, they will straighten its sole. When soles are straightened the uppers are stretched as well so its creases are smoothened. You don't even need exactly fitting / lasted shoe trees, because in order to straighten the sole, shoe trees don't need to copy the last of the shoe exactly.
This works for the first 24-48 hours at the most, after that there is a minimal effect, so as mentioned above, you can rotate your shoe trees with no issues.

 

[UncommonSequel]

I found this post interesting as a direct comparison of using shoe trees vs not using shoe trees:

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

 

[breakaway01]

I found this post interesting as a direct comparison of using shoe trees vs not using shoe trees:

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

Super interesting, thank you.

 

[john_coburg]

I found this post interesting as a direct comparison of using shoe trees vs not using shoe trees:

Reddit - Dive into anything

www.reddit.com

That is a very interesting article, thank you.