How To Clean Suede Shoes, Pt II

First off, lets start out by saying that you need to clean your shoes.  It doesn’t matter whether they are calf, cow, croc, suede or something else; they should be kept clean.  It will give you a more presentable look and it will also prolong their useful life.  A few months back I discussed how to lightly clean them and also apply a water repellant spray, which are both important steps in caring for your suede shoes, but sometimes, more has to be done.

For cleaning suede shoes there are a few different levels of cleaning.  The first is to simply brush them down with a stiff bristled brush after every wear.  The second method, which is what we will focus on today is a more thorough and extensive cleaning process.  In effect we are shampooing the suede to rid it of stains, grime and whatever else there may be.

Fortunately, the process is pretty simple and shouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes including set up and clean up.  The supplies needed are also rather straightforward: a suede cleaner/shampoo (I would recommend Saphir’s), water, a bowl or cup, a stiff bristled suede brush, a second and slightly less stiff bristled brush (you could even use an old tooth brush in a pinch), a suede eraser (again I would recommend Saphir’s) and paper towels or newspaper.  But anyway, here is a quick and simple guide on how to clean suede shoes.

Water repellant how-to.

You will notice that the uppers of the shoe are much cleaner and much more presentable after being cleaned.  However, the edges of the soles are still rather beat up.  In an upcoming post I will discuss how to fix up the sole edges.

-JLJ