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The ones who will battle it out for the title at the U.S. Championships of Shoe Shining 2025 have now been appointed. The contest is organised in collaboration with Saphir and Bridlen, with the final taking place at the New York Super Trunk Show on Saturday October 4, where finalists will have 20 minutes to achieve the best mirror shine.
Water streaks and stains on shoes in leather or suede is a common issue that most of us have experienced in various ways. Here I go through how to best prevent your shoes from having stains from water, both ahead of, during and after use, but also how one best remove them in the case they still occur.
Now Saphir is upping the sneaker care game to a new level with a new premium range, aimed at customers of the the luxury brands that want the best to care for their expensive sneakers. A range that only will be available at a selected few high-end retailers.
Last week the Japanese public broadcasting company’s international TV channel, NHK World Japan, aired an episode of the lifestyle programme Japanology Plus with focus on leather shoes. Here they met bespoke shoemakers like Shoji Kawaguchi of Marquess and Noriyuki Misawa, who also make art shoes, visited a shoemaking school and got shoes shined by Yuya Hasegawa of Brift H. The episode is in English and can be viewed for free online.
I can understand that it’s tempting to just throw dirty shoes in a washing machine on a gentle cycle, get them out looking much cleaner and think all is good. At least more and more people are doing it nowadays, especially with sneakers and similar. Problem is that shoes are not built to go through the stress that a machine wash incur and you’ll risk damaging them in several ways, and significantly shorten their lifespan. Learn why in this article.
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Now the road to the finals of the World Championships of Shoe Shining and the World Championships of Shoe Patina 2025 starts, with the qualifications. The contests are organised together with the shoe care company Saphir and the shoe brand Bridlen, with finals at the London Super Trunk Show on Saturday May 10. Contestants will battle it out for glory, medals, shoes, shoe care products plus now also with £600 / $750 in the prize pool of each contest, given by Saphir.
A common shoe care advice is to brush off your shoes when one come home, to remove any surface dirt. Most think this is solely due to appearance, but that’s only one part of it. The more important thing is that doing this can significantly prolong the lifespan of your leather shoes. Here I explain why.
There’s no secret that Japan is the leading country in the world when it comes to shoe shining. It’s also evident in their domestic shoe shine contest, which has been growing each year since it’s first edition a few years ago. This weekend the final rounds took place in Osaka, with Ryu Niita being crowned the new Japanese champion. Also a mention of an event on the world championships of shoemaking at Isetan Men’s in Tokyo Friday November 15.
The Japanese shoe shine bar chain and shoe care brand Brift H, founded by the first world champion of shoe shining Yuya Hasegawa, is now part of the Japanese high-end fashion giant United Arrows. A great journey that started with Yuya being a street shoe shiner, and a testament to the importance the shoe shine industry has, not least in Japan.
During the 1950’s an amazing shoe shining contest was organised in Wilson, North Carolina, peaking with 12,000 visitors one year. In what was almost like a rock concert the shoe shiners performed their shine work on shoes of people from the audience, where both the final shine and the entertainment they gave was awarded. Read the lovely history of these contests.
