Footwear advice
How to clean and polish leather shoes
Leather fails from drying out, not from wear. A shoe that is cleaned and fed a few times a year outlasts an identical pair left alone by years, and the routine takes about ten minutes. Here is the version worth doing.
6 min readUpdated By the team at Raja Footwear, Waidhan
What you need
We keep brushes, creams, liquid shiners, suede sprays and conditioners on the shoe care stand in the showroom, so you can pick up the whole set in one go.
- A horsehair brush for dusting off, and a second for buffing
- A soft cloth — an old cotton vest works as well as anything sold for the job
- Polish or cream matched to the shoe colour, plus neutral for anything you are unsure about
- Leather conditioner, if the shoes are more than a year old or feel stiff
Step one: get the dust off
Brush the whole shoe, including the welt where the sole meets the upper. Dust is abrasive — polishing over it grinds grit into the leather. Take the laces out so you can reach the tongue and the eyelet row.
Step two: clean before you polish
Wipe the leather with a barely damp cloth to lift dirt and old polish. Do not soak it. If the shoes have salt or mud on them, let the mud dry completely first and brush it off — wiping wet mud drives it into the grain.
Let the shoe dry naturally afterwards. Never put leather in front of a heater or in direct sun; that is what cracks it.
Step three: condition if the leather is dry
Press a thumb into the leather. If it creases sharply and holds the crease, it needs conditioning. Work a small amount of conditioner in with a cloth, in circles, and leave it twenty minutes to absorb before polishing. Skip this step on new shoes — they arrive already fed.
Step four: polish thinly, twice
Apply polish with a cloth in small circles, thinly. Two thin coats build a better shine than one thick one, which just sits on the surface and rubs off on your trousers.
Let each coat haze over for a few minutes, then buff briskly with the clean brush and finish with the cloth. For a higher shine on the toe and heel, add a drop of water to the cloth on the final pass.
Suede is a different job
Never put cream or wax polish on suede. Use a suede brush to lift the nap and a dedicated suede spray for protection and colour. Marks come out with a suede rubber, worked gently in one direction.
How often
Brush after every few wears, polish once a month if you wear them regularly, and condition two or three times a year. Rotate between two pairs if you can — leather needs a day to dry out between wearings, and shoes worn daily wear out far faster than the same pair worn every other day.
Cedar or plastic shoe trees keep the shape and pull moisture out overnight. If you do not have them, stuffing the shoe with newspaper does most of the same job.