Clean Your Shoes

Suede is one of the most used materials on sneakers. The word suede is almost as synonymous to sneaker, even. The texture and grain on sneakers can give them a timeless look and feel that can carry them for generations. But if you want to carry your suede-laden sneakers for generations, you need to know how to take care of them.

What You Need

A suede brush and a shoe eraser. Maybe a microfiber towel or two. That’s it. And all of them come a-dime-a-dozen. For really tough stains, white vinegar is a great option to douse on your chit’lins tool to add to your arsenal as well.

At the end, some sort of Rain N’ Stain (Crep Protect, Jason Markk, etc) is always necessary after any cleaning operation. Depending on the sneaker, some suede protector will also be good for you.

Now, it is important to note that water and suede usually do not mix. While there are a few tricks you can do that uses water to clean suede, we will not discuss those in this lesson.

Cleaning

First, it is important to make sure that your sneakers are dry. This sort of goes with the aforementioned warning about suede and water not mixing. Basic dirt and scuffs can best be removed from a dry suede.

For dirt, when using the brush, you want to brush gently, but not too soft. You should also be sure to brush in the same direction, not back and forth. For scuffs, you do want to use your suede brush vigorously but not too hard, and back and forth. Scuffs and marks that won’t come out with a brush can be with removed with the eraser. A moderate amount of pressure is required for tougher stains.

Now, for those real nasty dirty stains that just don’t wanna go away, we can use some white vinegar. A decent amount on a good microfiber towel should be applied on the stain. Let that dry, and then wipe with the suede brush. I would wipe somewhat vigorously.

Aftercare

After cleaning any sneaker, you know you should be coating them with some rain and stain of some sort. But as I mentioned earlier, some suede protector is something very clutch to have in your arsenal. I would spray it on the suede and let it settle before using your normal stain/water repellant.