Suede shoes are stylish and comfortable, but they are also difficult to clean and prone to damage. You have to be careful, because a simple walk in the rain can leave stains and scratches. As it is a more delicate and fragile fabric than other materials, a series of guidelines must be followed to keep it pristine.
To start, there is nothing better than knowing the material a little better. Suede leather is made from the inner part of the skin by polishing it. Hence we notice the bristles as having a soft and velvety texture.
On supermarket shelves we find a variety of specific products for cleaning suede garments that generally give good results: brushes, sprays, waxes, erasers, cleaning liquids… However, we can also polish our shoes using some tricks. homemade. The important thing is to follow the following steps.
The first step is to give your suede shoes a good brushing to remove any dust. The best tool is a crepe brush for suede and suede care, which consists of soft slats that do not damage the fabric. If we do not have one of these on hand, we can opt for a soft cedar brush as long as we brush gently.
For routine cleaning, experts advise brushing in the direction of the hair, while for more exhaustive work you should use the brush against the direction of the hair.
Remember that brushing is the best maintenance for this type of footwear.
Once brushing is complete, the next step to remove all the dust from the shoes is to wipe with a microfiber cloth moistened with water.
Conventional stains. If you want to remove a small stain, you can make a homemade cleaner based on warm water (2/3), white vinegar (1/3) and a drop of neutral soap to moisten the microfiber cloth with which we will rub the surface. stain until it disappears. After passing the mixture through the shoe, you have to brush again.
Stubborn stains. For more stubborn stains, such as oil or alcohol, the first option would be to apply talcum powder to the stain and wait several hours (an entire night, for example) before gently brushing the shoes. If this trick has not been enough, you can apply a cloth with a little ammonia and then rub gently in the direction of the hair.
Suede shoes are so delicate that they can be damaged by slight impacts. Fortunately, we can remove scuff marks (as well as small stains) with a simple eraser. Once you have brushed the shoe to remove the dust, you just have to gently rub the affected area with a rubber band and then brush again to remove the remains. For more extreme cases, there are those who choose to change the eraser for sandpaper.
If your suede shoes have gotten wet when applying the homemade cleaner, many experts advise against using any heat source to dry them. No dryers or bringing them close to the heating, as they could be damaged and even deformed. Better to have some patience and let them dry in the open air.
As we said at the beginning of the article, there are specific products on the market to treat suede. Sneaker waterproofing (in cream or spray format) is one of the essentials. However, you can also waterproof suede footwear with homemade products. One of the methods is to apply the hair dryer to a candle until you can apply a film of wax all over the shoe. Then, the heat of the room itself will absorb the wax.
