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Cleaning and protecting your leather shoes

Guides & Advices Shoes

Are your leather shoes dull? Our solutions!

Discover the best ways to care for your leather shoes.

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This advice file reads in 3 min

Clean your shoes like a professional

Look after your leather shoes with cleansing milk and other polishing products to give them a shine. This is a routine you should adopt as a matter of urgency. It will double the life of your shoes without any effort.

The routine presented by our team lasts 20 minutes and will leave your shoes as shiny as on day 1. We recommend cleaning your shoes once a month.

You'll learn how to shine and polish your shoes like a professional. In this article, we're talking about smooth leather dress shoes only. For nubuck leather shoes, we recommend you take a look at our other tutorials on caring for suede shoes.

Clean our leather shoes

Step 1: Prepare and clean your shoes

Put wooden shoe trees, made from red cedar to be precise, in your shoes. The shoe tree has two main functions: to stretch the leather to reduce walking creases and to absorb moisture.

Next, remove the dust that has accumulated on the shoes by rubbing the leather with a scraper. This step removes the dust from your shoes. Use Monsieur Chaussure cleansing milk rather than any other cleanser, as other solutions can damage the leather.

Clean the leather by making circles on the leather to remove all the old layers of shoe polish and encrusted dirt. Use milk rather than any other cleaner, as other solutions can damage the leather.

You can apply several coats to remove all the dirt. Smooth leather should be left bare.

Clean our leather shoes

Step 2: Nourish your smooth leather shoes

In this step, we get to the heart of the matter. This is the step where you polish your shoes with cream shoe polish. This step nourishes the leather so that it retains its suppleness and avoids cracking.

It should be done every time your shoes are cleaned, to avoid drying out the leather. We recommend that you use a coloured shoe polish to disguise walking creases and other signs of ageing. For best results, use the same shade as your shoe or the one closest to it.

If your shoes have a bristled thread, you should also feed it. This will prevent it from breaking prematurely. To do this, take your welt brush and seal grease. Apply the seal grease to the thread with the brush, one pass is enough to avoid saturating the area.

Clean our leather shoes

Step 3: Shine your city shoes

This is the last step in the maintenance process! It gives your shoes a shine and protects them from the elements. This is the part we call finishing with shoe polish paste.

Once the leather has been nourished, it needs to be protected. Use a badger brush to remove the polishing paste. The polishing paste can be yellow to suit all shoes, or it can match the colour of your shoes.

Apply the polishing paste all over the leather shoe. You can use circular movements to make sure you don't miss any areas. Once the shoe is covered in wax, activate it with the polishing brush. The buffing brush will heat the material and activate the properties of the wax paste.

After rubbing for a few minutes, your shoes will shine. They'll look as good as new.

Clean our leather shoes

Leather shoes that last longer

Taking care of your leather shoes is not just a question of aesthetics, but also of durability. They'll stay with you longer in the best possible condition.

A pair of leather shoes properly cleaned and cared for can last you 30 years.

By following the tips and techniques shared in this article, you can guarantee that your shoes will stay beautiful and comfortable.

And that's for many years to come!
If you have any questions about caring for your leather shoes, please don't hesitate to contact us.