Leather Shoes

If your leather shoes are a bit small, or if they pinch in certain places, they will cause blisters and other foot aches. You can use a leather shoes stretcher, available at leather shoes stores and shoe repair shops, to lengthen or widen the shoe to your foot. If the leather shoes is pinching only in certain places, you can apply a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol solution to the problem area, then wear the leather shoes around the house with thick socks and some well-placed moleskin for a week.
Step 5If your leather shoes are out of shape, you can clean them, apply saddle soap and a leather shoes conditioner, and then stuff them with newspapers and leave them for two nights. Alternatively, you can wear them around the house to break them back into shape. This process of softening and shaping is great for the health of your feet, allowing the leather shoes and your feet to become friends over time.
 

Realize that leather shoes is skin, both figuratively and literally. You need to take care of your leather shoes almost as lovingly as you might purchase your skin care supplies.
To clean your leather shoes, first use soapy water and a soft cloth. Wipe away the excess. Then apply saddle soap all over the leather shoes, both inside and out. Wipe away the excess again. This will effectively clean your leather shoes without damaging them. It's a tried-and-true combination.

After cleaning your leather shoes, you are ready to apply a polish or wax. Make sure you choose the correct color. The purpose of polishes and waxes is not just to make your leather shoes look great, but also to protect them from the elements. Water damage and other damage are real threats to leather shoes, so be sure to protect them.

In 1818 creative New Jersey inventor Seth Boyden (1788 – 1870) discovered a special finishing process during which several layers of dyes, oils, varnishes, or resins were applied to unfinished leather shoes, giving it a hard, glossy finish. Shoe factories near his home in Newark soon began producing fashionable leather shoes from the new leather shoes. By the end of the nineteenth century young boys and girls of wealthy families wore black patent leather shoes, and they were also a popular choice for adult formal wear. In the 1920s a popular men's hairstyle where the hair was slicked down flat with oil was known as the patent leather shoes.