Outsourcing most of my shoe care

[glamour-spiral]

I know many people on this forum love to take care of their shoes and thank you for your dedication to the hobby! Still, I love wearing my shoes (classic menswear, leather soled), but would prefer to spend as little time as possible taking care of them and still have them look good enough for NYC business wear. I do walk a lot on city sidewalks (2+ miles per day). I don't have a lot of space, time, skill, or tolerance in my home for shoe shining, but I have access to a decent neighborhood shoe shine shop where I'm willing to spend.

I put cedar shoe trees in every night, and never wear the same pair two days in a row.

So I'm looking for general advice about a "minimal in-house, outsource the rest" plan especially

• the bare minimum that is "must do" at home
• when to go to a neighborhood place vs. a specialty shop like B. Nelson
• after how many wearings I should bring them to be cleaned/shined

Thanks!

 

[Phileas Fogg]

I suppose you can do that but honestly it’s not as time consuming as you think.

Unless you are abusing your footwear, I condition my shoes with a shoe cream once every 3-4 months depending on wear and then just brush lightly after each wear. Insert shoe trees and that's about it.

 

[dieworkwear]

I polish my shoes about once every year or two and think most people on this forum overdo it.

 

[maxalex]

Brush off any dirt when you put them away. Give them a quick buff (five seconds) with a shoeshine brush when you put them on. Get them shined when they look dull. Carry on with regular daily activities.

 

[johng70]

For your standard leather shoe (i.e not shell, snuff, etc.) - care is a lot simpler when you get a good wax base. Much easier to deal with scuffs to the wax than to the leather itself. With Saphir, that's pretty easy. About 20 min time on new shoes. Brush dirt off, use a cloth to buff out scuffs. When that gets to be problematic, time for another 20 min session. You'll spend more time taking them somewhere then it takes to do it yourself. How often you need to do really depends on you and your environment. Certainly not, IMO, worth the money to mail them somewhere/back and pay for the service.

 

[jack webb]

Every night I wipe down the shoes (or leather sneakers) I wore - including soles - with a damp paper towel or leather-cleaning wipes. If something looks in need of a shoe shine, that's what rainy days are for.

 

[bicycleradical]

I brush mine with a horsehair brush before and after wearing. For polishing, I do it when the shoes begin to look a little dull. If I get a scuff, I give it a quick polish to clean it up again.

IMO, the most important part is the brushing before and after wearing.

For bad weather, get some galoshes (overshoes).

 

[glamour-spiral]

Thanks for all the pointers. To help with the "depending on wear" context, I will be rotating through enough pairs that each will be worn approximately once a week. About 2 miles of sidewalk walking per day, using rubber soled shoes or galoshes for bad weather (although NYC sidewalks are hardly pristine and wet patches are sometimes unavoidable even on dry days because of the maintenance guys spraying down the sidewalks in the morning). So following dieworkwear's pattern it would be a full shine after about 25 wearings, or 13-17 wearings for maxalex.

One of the advantages of being in Manhattan and walking a lot is visiting a shoe shop doesn't add any time to my daily routine at all.

Sounds like something like this is an emerging plan:

• first time use:
  • bring new shoes to a specialty shop like B. Nelson for a first Saphir shine to get a good base
• after each wearing
  • wipe down with damp paper towel or leather cleaning wipe
  • brush after each wearing with a horsehair brush, insert shoe trees before putting them away
• every 20-ish wearings or when dull/scufffed
  • bring them to a pro for a re-polish

 

[dieworkwear]

Thanks for all the pointers. To help with the "depending on wear" context, I will be rotating through enough pairs that each will be worn approximately once a week. About 2 miles of sidewalk walking per day, using rubber soled shoes or galoshes for bad weather (although NYC sidewalks are hardly pristine and wet patches are sometimes unavoidable even on dry days because of the maintenance guys spraying down the sidewalks in the morning). So following dieworkwear's pattern it would be a full shine after about 25 wearings, or 13-17 wearings for maxalex.

One of the advantages of being in Manhattan and walking a lot is visiting a shoe shop doesn't add any time to my daily routine at all.

Sounds like something like this is an emerging plan:

• first time use:
  • bring new shoes to a specialty shop like B. Nelson for a first Saphir shine to get a good base
• after each wearing
  • wipe down with damp paper towel or leather cleaning wipe
  • brush after each wearing with a horsehair brush, insert shoe trees before putting them away
• every 20-ish wearings or when dull/scufffed
  • bring them to a pro for a re-polish

If we're talking minimum effort, that's more work than I do.

I think you can just brush them when they're dusty and polish them when you think they need a polish. Frequency can be very, very low.

 

[maxalex]

When I lived in NY, getting a pro shine at Grand Central—sitting in the chair and reading Page Six of the Post—was a morning ritual. Go ahead and get ‘em shined if you enjoy the experience.

But these days it doesn’t come cheap. Last time I was in NY I think a midtown shine was around ten bucks although that may have included the “tip” that’s obligatory in America.