Now that the spring is about to make its entrance here in the northern hemisphere, the leather soled shoes are brought out from the closet. After been stored away for a number of months it may be advisable to give the shoes a round of shoe care before using them, more on this in today’s post. Also briefly about an article in Financial Times How to Spend it about the entry of Japanese shoe manufacturers in Europe, where yours truly is one of the interviewees.
I have previously written a slightly wider article about seasonal storage of shoes, where I briefly mention the part I go in to more specific today. It’s about making sure to give the shoes a round of care after the seasonal storage. When, for example, leather-soled shoes have been tucked away now during the winter, or boots that may experience the equivalent procedure during the summer months.
A round of shoe care after seasonal storage does a lot of good.
During the months when they haven’t been unused, all caring substances placed on the shoes have already entered the leather and it is not uncommon that it has started to get slightly dry in places. Starting to use the shoes with a bit dehydrated leather can cause unnecessary strain. So even though it does not necessarily apply to all shoes, it’s better to be safe than sorry, so I usually recommend that you polish them with at least one layer of shoe cream and then if you then want with wax polish to the desired extent. If you notice that the leather feels really dry, you can put on more thing layers cream, or maybe even start with a small amount of moisturising renovateur or leather conditioner.
Doing this ensures that the leather is in good shape before it begins to be bent and exposed to stress again. Well worth the extra time it takes.
For further info on shoe care, read more and see film in Shoegazing’s complete shoe care guide here.
In last weekend’s edition of the British newspaper Financial Times’ weekend edition How to Spend it, one could read a large article about Japanese bespoke shoemakers and manufacturers of Goodyear welted shoes, about what make them receive a lot of international attention and the fact that they are now entering Europe more substantially. I am one of those who are interviewed. The article can be read online here.
Here from the physical edition of FT How to Spend it. Picture: Ben Morris
