I’ve Been Using Crep Protect Wrong This Whole Time

As I was finishing up cleaning 18 pairs of sneakers over the weekend recently, I came close to calling it a day and basking in the fruits of my labor when I glanced at the back of the can on the last pair of sneakers, only to find out that I wasn’t using Crep Protect’s Rain n’ Stain the way it’s meant to be used. While this is still valid within the use and purpose of Crep Protect, I had realized that I was only using Crep’s repellant to half its intended working power. Crep Protect calls for the following:

1. Clean Your Shoes. Of course.
2. Shake well.
3. Spray your sneakers from 8 inches away,
4. Let your sneakers sit for 10 minutes.
5. Repeat step 3.
6. Repeat step 4.

I had only been doing the following:

1. Clean Your Shoes. No question.
2. Shake well.
3. Spray your sneakers liberally from some sort of distance.
4. Let the sneakers sit for a day. (This sometimes turns into putting them back in the box.)

And then I got to thinking: I’d been using rain n’ stains of all types this way for years. Finish Line, I believe, used to have this certain kind of repellant a world ago, and all you had to do was spray one coat, let the sneakers sit for a bit, and you were good to go. How convenient that was, especially for the young boy I was with a high expediency factor. So many years and various brands of repellants later, and I still never really diverted from my standard.

So what this certain weekend so different? The mere fact I actually decided to read the back of the can in that instant. And I then realized that I was nowhere near calling it a day. A long and arduous weekend of sneaker cleaning aside, I was a bit conflicted by the discovery. I was glad that I had read the bottle and saw it, because as someone who likes to really invest in and take care of my sneakers, I am now going to do be an even better sneakerhead and do my due diligence. I am also a little sad at the finding because quality repellant is expensive. I hope Amazon has bulk packages. I’m also sad because that means for at the last 3 years I have been improperly treating my sneakers. And it would explain for some unfortunate encounters and consequences that could’ve all been avoided had I simply read the back of the can. We won’t get into said encounters and consequences at this moment, but in those instances, I wondered why my repellant couldn’t have come in a little more clutch in the moment. It wasn’t the repellant that wasn’t clutch, it was I who wasn’t clutch. I have literally donated sneakers away from marks that I couldn’t clean or salvage to my liking because of things like this.

Moral of the story is this: read the instructions and save yourself the trouble.