What is the "MINIMUM" maintenance leather shoes would require for a lazy person like me?

[Juan]

Like my car, my shoes only get cleaned when it rains. Am I missing anything important?

(I'm not talking of 800€ shoes, but rather of 100 - 150€ shoes)

 

[Quadcammer]

eh, give them a 2 second brush after wearing, polish every 5-10 wears, and do a conditioning twice a year.

 

[gsgleason]

It really depends on the material. For instance, corrected grain "leather" would not be treated the same as full grain calfskin.

In general:

Keep shoe trees that fit the shoe in the shoe whenever your foot is not. You can get decent cedar woodlore brand at Nordstrom Rack for around $13.
Brush after each use.
If there is dirt/dust/grime wipe with a damp (not wet) cloth and then brush.
Condition at least twice a year.
Keep polished. I don't mean necessarily a high shine, but at least a decent cream polish to help protect the leather and provide a bit of conditioning and water protection.

 

[Juan]

It really depends on the material. For instance, corrected grain "leather" would not be treated the same as full grain calfskin.

In general:

Keep shoe trees that fit the shoe in the shoe whenever your foot is not. You can get decent cedar woodlore brand at Nordstrom Rack for around $13.
Brush after each use.
If there is dirt/dust/grime wipe with a damp (not wet) cloth and then brush.
Condition at least twice a year.
Keep polished. I don't mean necessarily a high shine, but at least a decent cream polish to help protect the leather and provide a bit of conditioning and water protection.

eh, give them a 2 second brush after wearing, polish every 5-10 wears, and do a conditioning twice a year.

Thank you for your advice

So, to recap:

1- A two-second brush after wearing, I guess with a thing like this:



2- If bit dirty use damp cloth

3- Every six months do a conditioning, with some "leather conditioner" like this, I surmise:


and a cloth

4- Store with a shoe-tree


With all that I can skip coloured cream polishes and so, right?

 

[Juan]

ok, I am going to add the polishing:

1- A two-second brush after wearing, I guess with a thing like this:



2- If bit dirty use damp cloth

3- Polish with a cream polish let's say once every month. Using a cloth and someting like this:



or this:


(not sure which kind is best)


4- Every six months do a conditioning, with some "leather conditioner" like this, I surmise:


and a cloth

5- Store with a shoe-tree



Now... is that really the "MINIMUM"?

 

[Quadcammer]

no, there is no minimum. You can not do anything to them. This will shorten their life and they won't look as good, but its not like they will instantly melt.

 

[archetypal_yuppie]



Like my car, my shoes only get cleaned when it rains. Am I missing anything important?

(I'm not talking of 800€ shoes, but rather of 100 - 150€ shoes)

Step 1 is take them off after you wear them. Then go buy $1,000 shoes. Then use the care steps outlined above. /SF approved.

 

[VinnyMac]

You can either maintain your things or you can pay for replacements. If you're too stupid/lazy/cheap to do either of those, then you'll just look like a typical slob.

I'm assuming that you're an adult and have a job. Why wouldn't you want to maintain the things that you spend your hard-earned cash on?

 

[Juan]

You can either maintain your things or you can pay for replacements. If you're too stupid/lazy/cheap to do either of those, then you'll just look like a typical slob.

I'm assuming that you're an adult and have a job. Why wouldn't you want to maintain the things that you spend your hard-earned cash on?

Because certainly I am an adult and have more important things to do in life than being a fussy little body dayly poli-polishing the shoes in his fabulous shoe collection

(Agressive post - outright retort)

happy?

 

[Ivar]



Like my car, my shoes only get cleaned when it rains. Am I missing anything important?

(I'm not talking of 800€ shoes, but rather of 100 - 150€ shoes)

I'm like you when it comes to shoe maintenance. I can't imagine mustering up the energy to shine them every week (or however often the shoe buffs do it) or brush them after every wearing. What I do is that I polish them once at the beginning of the season and once at the end of it (before they go into hibernation). I sometimes also polish them, if, for whatever reason, they look a bit grubby (like if I wore them to a concert or bar and someone happened to step on them). At all other times, I get by with cleaning them with water. This I do maybe once or twice a week.

So, how do my shoes hold up? Pretty good, I daresay. My horsehide boots (which are to all intents and purposes cordovan) almost look like new, despite my having worked them to death for three seasons, and my calf shoes look more than nice, too.

I do use shoe trees, however, and I normally let the shoes rest a day in between wearings.

 

[chogall]



You can either maintain your things or you can pay for replacements. If you're too stupid/lazy/cheap to do either of those, then you'll just look like a typical slob.

I'm assuming that you're an adult and have a job. Why wouldn't you want to maintain the things that you spend your hard-earned cash on?

That's the job for my Jeeves.

 

[Fiddler]

Like my car, my shoes only get cleaned when it rains. Am I missing anything important?

(I'm not talking of 800€ shoes, but rather of 100 - 150€ shoes)

I understand your question....the minimum you can do is that when you are standing in starbucks or any queue, just rub the front of your right shoe against the back of your left leg. For this you must of course be wearing long pants or it wont work. You can do it for 1 minute or 5 minutes, whatever you like. Thats the MINIMUM.

 

[add911_11]



(I'm not talking of 800€ shoes, but rather of 100 - 150€ shoes)

Perhaps you are getting the wrong shoes, or car.

 

[VinnyMac]

Because certainly I am an adult and have more important things to do in life than being a fussy little body dayly poli-polishing the shoes in his fabulous shoe collection

(Agressive post - outright retort)

happy?

So we've covered "stupid" and "lazy." Can you somehow bring "cheap" into the explanation too?

 

[MyOtherLife]



Like my car, my shoes only get cleaned when it rains. Am I missing anything important?
(I'm not talking of 800€ shoes, but rather of 100 - 150€ shoes)

But 5 pair of the cheapest crappy shoes you can buy; 3 pairs in black, 2 pairs in brown.
Never wear any pair of shoes 2 days in a row.
After a days wearing, take a damp cloth and wipe them off. Stuff newspaper into the shoes to absorb thr moisture out of them and maintain their shape. Apply leather lotion to them once a month. Let dry, brush, then buff.

The only thing cheaper is to own 1 pair if crappy shoes, wear them every day. They will stink after a month and you'll never get it out. Women will be turned off becasue you are a skank and you will ive in loneliness and despair.