A lot of talk on here about letting shoes go to shit, but who really can let their shoes go that long without a polish? Since reading Shooman's awesome thread on his scoring unworn Florsheims, I've been curious to hear what others do to keep their shoes up to par. My shoe guy got me off using wax-based polishes in favour of cream-based numbers but I'm wondering he's led me astray. I get a decent shine, but I wonder if I'm missing something. I'm looking to learn. Comments welcome.



Let the shoeshine in Caring for footwear is a lost art that a little polish and elbow grease can revive.
BY RHONDA OWEN ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
892 words
14 December 2004
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette
31
English
Copyright (c) 2004 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.

Nick Bacon's tasseled loafers gleam like burnished glass Nothing mars their reflective shine. There are no scuffs, nicks or dull spots. And the leather shoes are 2 years old, Bacon says.

Taking care of leather shoes - cleaning and polishing - keeps them looking good while also extending their life.

During his 21 years in the U.S. Army, Bacon learned a lot about shoe maintenance - as does every soldier.

"No one knows more about shoes that G.I.s," says Bacon, who is currently director of the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs. "We travel in our shoes. We sleep in our shoes. We polish our shoes every day. We spit-shine our shoes."

Soldiers are required to look sharp from head to toe. In inspections, the first two things a superior officer checks are a soldier's hair and shoes, Bacon says. Shoes come under particular scrutiny.

"Your shoes must be highly shined, not just buffed like here in the civilian world. You could get away with high-buff shoes, but you were looked at as not a truly professional soldier," he says. "You were not keeping in the highest tradition of the military."

The civilian tradition has never rivaled that of the military, but today most people have little understanding of shoe maintenance. People care about shoes - the style, name of the designer or maker, comfort factor, price - but their interest usually doesn't extend to caring for their shoes.

In the days when it was common for people to own one pair of shoes for daywear and one pair for dressing up - with perhaps a third, ratty old pair for mucking about - they cleaned, mended and shined their shoes regularly. Shoe care wasn't just for looks; it was necessary to make the shoes last until the time (and money) arrived to buy new footwear.

Today's shoe buyers "very seldom" ask how to maintain their purchases, says Paul Hernandez, owner of Paul's Shoes in Little Rock's University Mall. Hernandez has been in the shoe business for about 38 years.

"People used to take care of their shoes years ago," he says, "but the clean look is not the look anymore." Richard Barber of Cobblestone, a shoe repair business in west Little Rock, agrees. "We're not very dress-up type people anymore."

Barber and Hernandez say the people most likely to show concern for their shoes are those who buy high-quality, more-costly-than-average footwear.

"Some shoes are an investment and, if taken care of, they'll last for years," Barber says.

Investment shoes are typically classic styles (such as wing-tips, loafers and pumps) in leather.

"If you want a shoe to last, wear well and look good," Bacon notes, "it has to be 100 percent leather."

A military man can easily spend a couple of hours putting the shine on a new pair of leather shoes, Bacon says. First, he applies layer upon layer of wax polish to the shoes, melting each application onto the shoe leather by heating the polish with a cigarette lighter. (The lighter is held several inches away from the shoe so that the leather isn't burned.) The melted polish is allowed to dry before another layer is added. Then another. And another. Maybe even another. The polish is buffed with a brush between applications.

"If you want a real shine, the polish has to be really built up," Bacon says.

Note that polish and shine are not the same; a shoe can be polished and still not shine. That's because polish is the substance put on the leather to be shined. You don't shine leather - you shine the polish.

Polish comes in several forms, among them liquid, wax and cream. Hernandez says creams and wax are preferred because liquid polish has a tendency to dry out leather and cause it to crack. Cream polish conditions the leather while also protecting it.

Shoes don't have to be polished each time they're worn; once a month or so will suffice. In between polishings, Hernandez says, they can be wiped with a damp cloth to remove dirt and keep them shining. Gradually, all the shoe polish will wear off (you'll know because when you wipe your shoes, there will be no polish on the cloth) and need to be reapplied.

Bacon recommends spit-shining between polishings. There's no spit involved, although soldiers have been known to spit on a handkerchief and rub it on their shoes when they needed to restore the shine in a pinch.

When Bacon says spit-shining, he's talking about shining with water and a small amount of polish. He adds a little water to the metal can containing wax polish, then dips a cotton ball into the water and polish. Next, he gently rubs the cotton ball on the shoe in a circular motion. He repeats these steps until the shoe has a glassy finish that's so shiny he can see his reflection in it.

"I wish I had a buck for every shoe I've shined," Bacon says. "I'd be rich."