During lockdown we find ourselves with family and loved ones
enjoying activities including reading, exercising, cooking and listening to
music. Another suggestion to pass the time inside is to treat your Barker Handcrafted Shoes
to a shoe shine.
The importance of shoe care is essential in prolonging your
shoes lifespan. Firstly, ensure your Barker shoes are not wet before inserting
wooden shoe trees and removing the laces. Make sure all dirt and dust is
removed with a horse hair brush prior to applying any products.
Good quality polish is vital to restore and nourish the leather
and coloured polish comes highly recommended, as neutral tends to make the
colour dull over time. To clean the welt use a welt brush and apply a small
amount of polish around the entire welt of the shoe.
Next, take a cotton cloth and apply polish over the entire shoe
small circular movements. Remember a little polish goes a long way and if the
shoes haven’t been particularly well looked after it may take a few layers of
polish to bring out a shine.
Once your shoes have been thoroughly polished leave for anywhere between
20 minutes to overnight as the longer left results in further nourishment of
the leather. Finally, use a horsehair polishing brush and in firm, long
strokes, brush the shoes ensuring you get good coverage over the entire shoe.
This removes excess polish on the leather while bringing out a shine caused by
heat. For a higher shine, repeat the polish and buffing stages before re-lacing
your shoes.
That’s the basics of shining your shoes but there’s plenty of
tips that can help you bring out your best shoe shine. Here’s some
recommendations by renowned shoe shiners from around the world:
“The best tip for achieving a mirror shine is waiting for the
solvents to dry and evaporate before trying to buff it to a shine.
Most people cannot achieve the shine because they just don't
wait.
As a result, that just pushes the wax around on the top of the
shoe rather than wear a hard layer down to a smooth surface.”
“On the final stages of shoe shining, when trying to achieve the
mirror shine, reduce the amount of water used each time. Concentrate on
buffing, creating heat in the wax to generate the mirror shine.”
"Use a good quality polish, prefferably one with a natural
base such as beeswax, rather than a petroleum based polish that will ultimately
dry out your leather footwear over time.
After removing excess polish with a soft
horsehair brush, the easiest way to achieve a high shine finish is to use the
heat created by friction. Buff using a soft cotton cloth (such as an old
t-shirt) to achieve your desired result."
- KIRSTY UMBACK, Fortis Green Shoeshine
- KIRSTY UMBACK, Fortis Green Shoeshine
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