Talk Tuesday | Cleaning My Suede Shoes

 

Technically, I wouldn't call them as pair of suede shoes but there are some suede materials on them and there was this huge warning sticker that they cannot be washed with water or worn in rainy condition right on the sole so I'm going to treat them as suede shoes at this point therefore in need to look for shoe-cleaning kits suitable with this or similar materials.

I was searching and scrolling up and down my Shopee app when I've finally found affordable and most importantly, local suppliers for these shoe-cleaning products; Sole Balms® Suede Kit, Easy Foam Cleaner and Premium Brush.

First, let me just share with you guys the first step to clean these suede shoes or the only step you need; depending on the severity of the stains on your shoes which is to remove the surface stains. 

For this dry cleaning step, I'm using the Suede Kit that consist of suede detailing brush and suede rubber eraser. The brush isn't that stiff and it was easy to remove dirt that cling onto the suede and it's made of nylon therefore free from animal hair; imperative to Muslim users like myself. The eraser did a great job at removing the dirt off my shoes and I didn't even need to use a lot of force for this step. Here's photos of before and after I'm using the kit : 

It's actually kind of nice to see the suede texture being revived like that; personal preference of mine.

I mainly used the corners of the rubber eraser to focus on smaller areas like those at the lace holes and front part of the shoes.

Now for the rest of the shoes, I'm using the Easy Foam Cleaner and the Premium Shoe Cleaning Brush.

As I don't want to risk by using water to clean these shoes, this cleaner is perfect as I don't need extra water to foam it up thanks to the pump as well. Simply pump the cleaner onto the soft brush and start brushing your way through the areas of the shoes. Use microfiber cleaning cloths to absorb the excess foam afterwards. Even though the brush is indeed quite soft to be used on the suede material, I still wouldn't recommend to use force while brushing as I do notice that some of the suede material did came off so be extra careful.

 

For my first cleaning routine, I used about a fifth of the bottle for these pair of shoes which is quite a lot but according to the guys at Sole Balms®, you can try using less cleaning product by adding some water i.e. wetting the soft brush slightly prior adding the foam cleaner. I'd be sure to try that next time but even after trying to dry the shoes with multiple microfiber cloths, I still felt some of the suede areas quite damped so I left them to air-dry overnight.

The next morning, I simply used the brush that came with the Suede Kit to sort of fluff the dried and flattened suede texture and totally feeling satisfied with how cleaned my shoes are now after months of enduring the time I couldn't wear them with my beige outfit.

With my recent purchase of more suede material-containing shoes, I'm so glad I got myself extra bottle of the foam cleaner plus I get to save some shipping fee to EM. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the products and looking forward to my next cleaning session.

Are you obsessed with sneakers too? While I refuse to get the latest release of Adidas Samba, Specialz or Gazelle, Puma Palermo or Creeper even the cute NewBalance 530 series (I remember I was obsessed with the 574 back in uni), I finally got myself a pair of Mexico Delegation from Onitsuka Tiger; a Japanese brand indeed but I guess I'll save that for my next entry.