There’s nothing wrong with roughing up your boots, but when possible you should try and keep them looking good. I have had an on going problem with indigo running onto suede/rough-out and for awhile could not find a good way to get it off. I finally went to the experts themselves and stopped in my local Redwings store. My pal Bob, who has owned the shop for the last 20+ years, and has never steered me wrong before – suggested the suede eraser/bristle brush to remove the indigo stains from my work oxfords. Here’s the result, along with how to do it.
Stuff you’ll need: Redwing Nubuck/Suede eraser + brush, water, your hands.
- Clean the surface of your boots; remove any dirt/salt on them that will come off using the bristle brush.
- Dip the end of the suede eraser into water.
- Brush the spots you want to treat with the suede eraser.
- Using the bristle brush, scrub the area thoroughly. At this point you should see the stains removed completely, or at least less visible.
- Re-apply the suede eraser until the surface is clean.
- Brush the excess eraser dust off.
- Put them back on.
That’s great! There is more @ http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Suede-Shoes
thank you for this. aside from the fact that i love those shoes, I also have a handful of suede shoes in my stash so this is definitely helpful.
Cee,
Best of luck with cleaning your shoes!
OMG I love your blog! Great blog for men :)
http://pickyc.wordpress.com/
Thank you! That’s what I was going for. :)
I have some suede Hushpuppies I think Im going to try this technique on, Ive had them for 15 years and have worn them close to every day for the past 2 and their still looking pretty good, but I suppose they could look even better… thanks bud!
It should work great – I was able to get serious stains out of numerous pairs of boots. Good luck!
It’s funny because your style is like “genuine” and “rough” (in a very good way I mean), but this is the second article that you writte on shoes care , what is ironic (funny) is that I’m more about a “tidy style” but there is nothing that I “hate” more than clean shoes (except frecnh/italian shoes wear with a tuxedo) , I just love to have mud and dust on it : ) , I dont know why ! all these inverted coma are for adjectives I’m not sure about !! anyway very nice blog , some amazing shots!
Senk,
I love rough and beat up boots, but I think it’s important to clean them every once in awhile. Keeping the leather in good condition is key for keeping them around for awhile. Thank you for the kind words!
Actually I do agree 100% with you, I think I’m just too young and haven’t experienced so far boots lasting for more than 2 or 3 years , due to growing issue ah ah ah ! I’m just starting to have clothes I can wear for years… :) my record so far is a leather jacket that I own for 4 year now , it as never let me down, as I’ve been following your thought about leather well moisturised !
bye !
Been loving your blog and reading old posts. What do you do for indigo on regular leather boots? Thanks!
Saddle soap will take indigo off. I typically just obenauf over it. It’ll darken up and become less visible.
Hello there! This blog post couldn’t be written any better! Looking at this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept talking about this. I’ll send this article to him.
Pretty sure he’ll have a good read. Thank you for sharing!