WARNING! Wooden Shoe Trees Damaged My Pairs of Shoes

[Thin White Duke]

So you wanna a half million dollar study to prove to you that wood is hygroscopic??? ?

THAT’S what you got out of that??

I wonder if the breakdown of heel linings might be purely a function of an aggressive scraping that the hinged heel piece of the shoe tree performs while being stuffed into the shoes?

 

[Clifff]

THAT’S what you got out of that??

I wonder if the breakdown of heel linings might be purely a function of an aggressive scraping that the hinged heel piece of the shoe tree performs while being stuffed into the shoes?

so you don't? I am relieved...

back to topic: the problem seems to be organic rather structural. I really think our dear friend just has corrosive sweat. I doubt shoe tree placement has much to do with it except for aggravating an already-damaged/rotten lining.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

I’ve never experienced this problem. It could be an issue with a poorly made shoe tree. If the surface is rough and uneven, I could see how this could happen.

I suppose one could inspect the trees and sand them down. Perhaps that’s the issue.

 

[vdubiv]

Thread is worthless without pictures, however if its the heel area that is getting destroyed it's probable because the trees aren't the type that are kind spring loaded in the middle, the OP didn't take the pressure off of them before just stuffing them into the shoe, thus causing trauma to the heel lining. The same thing would happen if you shoved your feet into the shoes without using a shoe horn.

 

[Waldo Jeffers]

Thread is worthless without pictures, however if its the heel area that is getting destroyed it's probable because the trees aren't the type that are kind spring loaded in the middle, the OP didn't take the pressure off of them before just stuffing them into the shoe, thus causing trauma to the heel lining. The same thing would happen if you shoved your feet into the shoes without using a shoe horn.

This is why I always use a shoe horn when inserting shoe trees.

 

[Phileas Fogg]

Thread is worthless without pictures, however if its the heel area that is getting destroyed it's probable because the trees aren't the type that are kind spring loaded in the middle, the OP didn't take the pressure off of them before just stuffing them into the shoe, thus causing trauma to the heel lining. The same thing would happen if you shoved your feet into the shoes without using a shoe horn.

that’s a good point. Friction is what causes wear. The static pressure applied by the wood is insufficient to cause damage. If the trees are inserted in such a manner, that would make sense.

 

[LessIsMore233]

I am so surprised in this thread no one have ever asked for even 1 tiny little pic
never heard of that and really want to know what is it

 

[bicycleradical]

Is it possible that the shoe trees are oversized for the shoes into which they are inserted?

 

[Journeyman]

That would assume that all shoes’ heel caps are identical ;-)

No, maybe I was not precise enough in my description: I believe that shoe trees not designed specially for the shoes may be the reason, so the shoe trees remain the culprit.

I realise that this is a bit of an old thread, so I apologise for the resurrection - I spotted a link to this thread in the sidebar of another thread I was looking at.

Wear is caused by friction. Absent friction, there is no wear.
Apart from inserting the shoe trees and removing them - which presumably happens once a day at the very most, unless you are doing something very odd indeed with your shoe trees - there is no friction from shoe trees. However, there *is* friction from your feet rubbing against the insides of the shoes, and that happens the entire time you are moving around while wearing the shoes.

Hence, it seems very likely to me that as your feet cause much more friction than shoe trees, they also cause much more wear than shoe trees.

 

[Anachronist]

Just a small addition to the concerns of untreated wooden shoe trees wicking away humidity. That’s a super easy one to prove: take a wood cutting board, put a drop of water on it and watch what happens. The water will be soaked up and the spot will increase in size, which is ample proof of the hydroscopic effect of dried wood showing the capillary action of the water being passed into the surrounding dried out cells of the wood. No need to ask for randomized studies unless you’re eager for a refresher on high school physics

 

[Thin White Duke]

Amazing that sweat from your feet seeps out of your epidermis, fights it’s way through the humid environment surrounding a socked foot, then through the material of the sock itself, and absorbs into the lining of the shoe, to then deposit itself on the surface of the wooden shoe tree post insertion in exactly the same form as if it was a drop of water from the kitchen tap.
I don’t think it’s me who needs a refresher in high school physics.

 

[Cherokeepilot]

The reason I wear leather shoes and boots is because the ability of the leather to absorb sweat and moisture. Rubber boots and shoes are used for a specific purpose and tasks. Long term wear of rubber shoes beyond the work tasks did not work out well for my feet and learned a hard lesson about the damage cheap soft shoes can inflict. Just because boots and shoes are issued by various agencies doesn't mean that they are good for your feet, legs, hips and your back. After returning to the better leather shoes and proper wear and care and time, I've been able to return to having reasonably health feet.

Shoes are just shoes. Shoes are depreciable, expendable, and interchangeable. I buy the more expensive leather shoes, try to give them proper care, wear, and repair in the hope that maintenance will yield a better return on the investment cost of the purchase expense of the shoes. Most of my shoes are older than twenty-five years old and I usually receive complements on the appearance of the shoes. Shoe trees are part of extending the useful life and the appearance of shoes.

 

[zewill]

Two pages and the only picture is for random shoe trees op has? can we see the damage so we can decide lining risk vs crease risk?

 

[zewill]

quoting op so he might renew his interest after a few years leave from styleforum you can checkout anytime you want but you can never leave

A cautionary tale and a proposal for a more specific way of using of shoe trees...

I have always loved leather shoes, from when I was a small child and my pairs would only cost 50-100USD, to now when my pairs go higher than 1000USD. When I started buying these expensive shoes, I read about shoe trees and made sure to get wooden ones for each pair of shoes I had.

The trees sure kept the shape of my shoes, six years later and the creasing on the outer leather is minimal, certainly better looking than my last pair of Clark's Bostonians. But the insides of these shoes tell a very different story, almost 50% of my pairs have holes or scratches on the lining at the contact points of the wood and the leather. I first noticed lining damage on a pair of JM Westons, I thought this was because the lining was supple (too supple, maybe) and it couldn't take the roughing up of regular wear.

I have been out of the office for almost a year now and my shoes have been stored in their trees all this time, when I did a check this week, almost half of them had holes. The wooden trees probably made the lining too dry and the act of taking out the trees to try on the shoes further scratched and damaged the lining. I took a look at my cheap pair that had no shoe trees and they were fine.

I am very sad about this, now I am thinking that shoes shouldn't be stored for an extended amount of time with shoe trees inside them. Is it better to remove the shoe trees after a day of drying and afterward simply using the crumpled tissue/paper that came with the shoe box?

I also thought cheaper cedar (relatively) shoe trees from Woodlore were to blame. But lasted shoe trees from the shoe manufacturers themselves also damaged some of my pairs. Is it possible that plastic shoe trees may turn out to be better because it doesn't absorb any/excess moisture from the leather and simply maintains the shape of the shoe while it air dries?

In the future, I don't think I will buy anymore shoe trees, it will save me money and I can simply rotate the ones I have now and use them on freshly used shoes and then remove them a day (or even less time) later. It might be a better idea to only have one pair of trees because most men only wear one pair of leather shoes a day.

In the meantime, I have to find a cobbler to repair the lining of my shoes. And does anyone else share the same problem with their pairs?