Boot Care Guide - How to take care of your precious boots!
You have received your new long-awaited riding boots and it certainly feels absolutely wonderful. You start riding with them when you realize pretty soon that they start to get a little dirty from the horse, and they start to get a little layer of dust on them and yesterday it suddenly started to rain and they got some rain splashes on them! What to do now?
Don´t you worry - Here is a plastering guide and lots of tips on what you should do to make them look good and last for many years to come! The last thing we do during the manufacture of the boots is to polish them with shoe polish, which provides good basic protection. But it is just as good to get a good polishing routine from day one with your boots and shoes. All leather we use is of the best quality, which means that it is compliant and durable thanks to the fact that it comes from animals that lived in good conditions and that the tanning has taken place in an exemplary manner, with as little environmental impact as possible.
1. CLEAN
Rule No. 1 - The most important thing is the cleaning. Make it a habit to always clean your riding boots and shoes from dirt and horse sweat, dust and dust after each use. Dirt clogs the pores and sweat contains salts that corrode the leather. Suggest a damp cloth or sponge. Do not be afraid to use water, you can even rinse the boots a little gently if needed, as long as you dry them thoroughly afterwards and let them dry slowly at room temperature. There is also no danger if it rains on them! It may look spotty just when they get wet, but when they dry they return to their color (if the boots have a good base coat;)
2. APPLY SHOE CREAM
There are a variety of products for leather care, but we advocate shoe polish that has several good properties, as it both impregnates, moisturizes and colors the leather. Choose a shade as similar to the color of your boots as possible or a darker shade if you want more depth in the color. The shoes in the picture were quite dry and had faded properly before they got their much-needed polish. We have used our brown shoe polish, which is coffee brown to the color in the jar, but the result is just right, or what do you think? A little fun fact is that you can use black shoe polish on a little clearer colors such as red and pink to give a slightly more smoky effect, then you can wrap with transparent shoe cream. When you lubricate the shoe polish, a tip is to use another moistened sponge and make circular movements so you get an even and reasonably thick layer. Feel free to start at the back somewhere so you can see how much the color changes from the cream. Let stand overnight, but otherwise at least 10 minutes. We have more different shades of shoe polish that you can buy here.
Shoe cream and plaster brush are all you need
3. POLISH
Then polish with a brush, then polish, polish and polish with a polishing cloth or a regular nylon sock and you get a super nice shine. An old trick is also to put a nylon sock on top of a plaster brush or fill a nylon sock with an old towel and tie together a "plaster sausage".
MORE TIPS!
If necessary, you can also use impregnation spray after polishing for extra protection, which may be needed in our Scandinavian climate. Clean the zipper and the edges and seams at the sole with a regular toothbrush. Make sure that the zipper is fully pulled down every time you take your boots off and on, so the pressure and wear on it is reduced. Use boot stretchers and shoe blocks, preferably in cedar, so the moisture is drawn out and the shape lasts better. When we go part of the week behind the toe seam (you can see a small wrinkle in the picture) if you use shoe blocks will be smoothed out when the shoes want and shape lasts better. The risk if you do not use the shoe block is that there will be large folds, which will crack after a long time. A budget tip is to use rolled up newspapers. Try to use your boots mainly when riding, as other stable service or horse care wears them out unnecessarily. Wear several pairs of boots that you switch between, so that they get a chance to rest.
There are various preparations to keep the shoes fresh inside, and we like activated carbon which is an effective air trainer that absorbs and retains foreign molecules. Believe it or not but all people have foot sweat.
How do you clean and care for other material?
SUEDE - there are many bra products on the market, impregnation spray and suede cleaning are what we like best.
POLISHED LEATHER - the surface is already very well treated on this leather, so you basically just need to wipe it off with a damp cloth.
LACQUER - they already shine a lot in themselves, there are various lacquer preparations on the market, both lotions and sprays. If you realize that your boots at home are both well-used and unpainted, we can help you make a difference.
Email us and we will solve the rest!
