Salt

Salt, great for defeating ice and snow but terrible on leather or suede. Lately I’ve seen salt stains on quite a few shoes and have been asked how to deal with it. It usually looks something like this.


The best way to combat the stain is to rinse the shoes off while they are still wet. If that’s not possible the salt will dry leaving a white stain, and the longer it’s left on will begin further damaging the leather.

Yes there are products made to remove salt stains, but I’ve always used a 50/50 mixture of warm water and white vinegar. Use a soft cloth and wipe away the stain, after the shoe is dry proceed to a leather balm or conditioner and then polish.

If your shoes are soaking wet stuff them with newspaper (not trees) lay them on their sides if they have leather soles and let them dry away from direct heat. Once they are dry replace the trees and use the conditioner and polish. Never polish shoes while they are wet!!!

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Shoe Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

2 Responses to “Salt”

  1. Archibald Says:
    January 8th, 2009 at 5:47 am

    My advice would also be to stress the importance of always treating your shoes with the proper products, to prevent them from soaking up dirt and water in the first place. This way the dirt stays on the surface of the leather, instead of eating itself into the material.

    This might come naturally with common sense for many men. Still I see too many of you abuse your wonderful footwear every day.

    Sincerely

    Archibald of the Drones Club

  2. Jimmy Says:
    February 1st, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    Hi anybody know what i can do to remove the blister caused by salt on the leather, ive tried white spirit to remove it but it removes the polish with it.

    Foam cleaner seemed to smooth out the leather a bit but has taken the dye away with it and has seemed to dry out the leather. Is bees wax adequate providing the necessary nutrients and moisture for leather??

    Anybody have any tips for me

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