Growing up, the one thing I never had to learn was how to properly care for leather shoes. Neither of my parents had fancy leather shoes or boots. Dad had his work boots, which wore out before they suffered the indignities of age.  Mom had non-slip leather looking shoes for work and damp cloth was all that was needed. Other footwear consisted of casual shoes, yard shoes, winter boots. Unlike many people I have spoken to on this topic, I never had to learn how to properly polish my parents military shoes! (Or starch and press shirts either!)

About 3 months ago, I am pawing through my closet and came across a pair of leather boots. I have a few pairs but for the purpose of this topic, we are only going to talk about this one pair. They are the first pair of leather boots I ever bought for myself: mid-calf; black leather with a slight sheen; 3 inch black wrapped heel; made my legs look amazing at the club. I purchased them 15 years ago for just over a hundred dollars; sadly, the only maintenance done has been two polishes with the liquid black kiwi polish and a heel cap replacement. They are now misshapen, dark grey with heavy white creases due to years stuffed in a bin.

I look at them in dismay, how did this happen!? My mind plucks out a memory of Ryan, after purchasing a new pair of leather shoes for work, saying that he is going to have to start taking proper care of his leather shoes. I asked him what he meant and he mentioned a shoe brush and polish.

I stare at the boots in my hand and I hear myself say, "these are going to need a hell of a lot more than a wipe and polish before I'll wear these again." Where to start? Where any mildly obsessive person does… Google! And down the rabbit hole I went. I do not recommend this, for the record...it is a dangerous place.

I read 40+ articles on the importance of cleaning and what you should/shouldn’t do, types of products to use/avoid, how many steps to take how often, and what techniques to use. While I let my mind marinate in the pro’s and con’s of each recommended product/method - I look up some product reviews. Some of the recommendations have been discontinued, aren’t available in Canada, or are horrendously expensive in relation to the value of the leather boots I own. Other reviews showed the difference with the products when  applied by a professional vs a novice. FYI - I am in the novice category.

After weeks of research, which seems ridiculous on something I always assumed was quite a simple thing, I pieced together what seemed like a reasonable shoe care plan with reasonable products.

So I took my shopping list and sourced all the necessary items. Once I had all the items in had, I put them in a shoe box and wrote proudly on the side: Shoe Shine Kit and waited for the magic to happen.

Nothing did - turns out just owning the stuff didn’t get the boots back in working order. 

Think this will be a couple of posts... so stay tuned!

Feel free to post your comments here - Any advice you add is greatly appreciated!