In our economy, polishing your shoes at home might be a better option so that you can save up more money for buying shoes. The jars are quite cheap, and if you invest in a kit or just a brush and a couple jars of polish and cream (white, cream, black, navy blue, tan and brown would be good to start with), you’ll be saving yourself quite a bit of money over the years and looking nice at all nices, not just when you have time to stop in for a shoe shine. So try polishing at home if you have a moment.

There are a couple different options when it comes to shoe cream versus shoe wax, but the most well known and used brands are Kiwi Shoe Polish and Meltonian Shoe Cream. These are the brands that my parents used in their shoe repair stores, and these are the brands that I trust. These labels and jars are so familiar to me that I could probably draw them in my sleep.

What is the difference between shoe cream and shoe polish you ask? Well, when you want a deep moisturizer, you’re going to want to use shoe cream. When you want a high polish, you’re going to want shoe polish. That’s the basic difference, but there are some more options.

You can alternate using one after the other, or you can use both. You could use a neutral shoe polish and a colored cream. The benefit of putting some color on your shoes is that it really covers up the scuffs. My mother’s vintage Ferragamo black dress heels have been beautifully black for years because she takes care of them, putting cream and polish on them in turns.

Black shoes with a black sole are easy. It’s the other colors that can be difficult to match. My parents sometimes mixed colors, but tried not to, instead trying to have the widest range of colors available for that picky customer who came in with chartreuse shoes. For you at home though, I’d suggest a neutral shoe polish unless there are scuffs. If there are scuffs, I’d take your funny-colored shoes to a professional or go in person with your shoes to buy the shoe polish so that the color is matched exactly.

How to polish? See our previous post. (And don’t forget to take out those laces!!! And to let the polish or cream soak in before polishing.)

When I took equestrienne classes in high school, we used Kiwi Parade Gloss on our riding boots. With more wax than other polishes, it’s shinier than the average Kiwi gloss even. The silicone repels water nicely for those rainy days, but I’ll post more on waterproofing your winter boots in my next cobbler post.

Happy shiny shoes!

2 Comments »

Hot word on the street is, Beyonce rehearses in HIGH HEELS ALL DAY LONG. Dancing, folks. Choreography. In Heels. All Day Long. Doesn’t she have a pair of character dance shoes she can do that in?

If she does it in $4,000 Balenciaga cage heels like the ones above, I’m not sure if she’s amazing or just insane. Probably both. I do not want to see the podiatrist’s bills, the shoe repair bills or the credit card bills, but I can’t help but be proud of and amazed by her.

From the Billboard interview:

Interviewer: WHAT DO YOU DO TO MAINTAIN YOUR TOUR STAMINA? I HEARD A RUMOR THAT YOU RUN ON A TREADMILL IN HEELS AND SING.

Beyonce: (Laughs heartily) No, I don’t run on a treadmill in heels. That’s a bit extreme. But I do practice my choreography in heels. And I have a rule that when I have my heels on, everyone has to have their heels on too. Sometimes the dancers are like, “Oh, God, we hope Beyonce comes in late,” because I’ll go all day. And in the end, I’ll have blisters and my toes will have bruises. It’s really hard sometimes. I still do all the boring things that everyone else does in regular workouts like squats and the treadmill. But I mainly get in shape from doing the choreography during those long 12-hour rehearsals for two months before a tour.

7 Comments »

My brother loves his hip-hop collection of sneakers. He’s got an enviable collection, and seems to keep certain ones up on the shelf just for gazing at. But in case you should actually want to WEAR your sneakers, you may want to know how to keep them clean. Especially with the impending slush, here are a few tips for keeping those white high tops or gym shoes clean and stink-free.

Here are a few different methods to try. I wouldn’t do this on preciously expensive Air Force Ones and such — take those to a professional or a crazy sneaker guy, or check out this crazy website!

But for the rest of you normal folks out there who just want to clean your regular sneakers, check out these suggestions. I can’t vet all of them because all I’ve done is watch my white sneakers in the regular washing machine, but they’re worth a try!

1. Only if they are designed as washable (Check the model online or contact the manufacturer. Not recommended for leather shoes): Remove your laces. Use some white sheets you don’t care about too much to keep your shoes from tumbling around too much. Add your detergent. Set your machine to gentle cycle, I did it on warm. I wouldn’t do hot as I think they might shrink your shoes, but if you have a really tough stain and they’re a little large, that might work. Hang to dry. Do not tumble dry. You can also try putting them in the dishwasher with regular dishwashing detergent.
2. For small scuffs: Use a toothbrush with a little bit of bleach mixed with water, or toothpaste, or try the Magic Marker.
3. If they are not designed for washing: Take out the laces. Mix household soap or dish soap with water. Scrub the outside with a toothbrush or shoe brush and the solution. Rinse off with cold water. Wipe down with a soft cloth. Repeat the toothbrush scrubbing rinsing and wiping down with the insides. Dry them the same way as the washable sneakers. Sprinkle the insides with baking powder or odor eaters.

1 Comment »

Jones Apparel opened a new Shoe Woo store at 59th & Lexington.

As part of the marketing campaign, the Woomobile is wandering around New York with a giant high heel on top, giving out all kinds of goodies. Follow it on Twitter and try to find it in real life!

Also from Twitter: “Win a gift card to ShoeWoo! Just Tweet a pic of the Woomobile to @shoeWoo Winners will be selected at random twice daily through October 8!”

They’re at Union Square as of 38 minutes ago, hurry! I’m going too!

And check out the bounty on their Flickr slideshow below!

1 Comment »

I just went to the Cooper-Hewitt’s current exhibit, “Design for a Living World.” Not only was it incredible and inspiring, but I learned quite a few new things.

From the website: “Ten leading designers have been commissioned to develop new uses for sustainably grown and harvested materials in order to tell a unique story about the life-cycle of materials and the power of conservation and design.”

Would you ever guess the materials for your shoes could come from a place like this?

And from a process like this?

As far as I know, there was one and only one pair of shoes included in the exhibit. These lucky shoes were the innovative, talented (and highly funny, I think) Isaac Mizrahi sustainable Alaskan white salmon skin shoes show below. Sorry for the slightly blurry photo but I had to work with what I could get and enlarge from press shots since photo was not allowed.

Salmon skin, ladies!! SALMON. SKIN. I assume they de-smellified them!

Consumers don’t need the skins and so they just go to waste. Here’s a way for those beautiful skins to go to use. Mizrahi sent the skins to Paris to be attached to flat, round paillettes and then attached them to make this lovely dress.

Mizrahi said in the accompanying exhibit video that he found that because the salmon skin was already pretty and iridescent, his work was cut out for him.

Mizrahi also said that he didn’t believe sustainable fashion design could work by sacrificing any level of glamour. Point taken, point agreed with.

Also check out Ted Muehling’s lovely jewelry from Micronesia.

This is the debut venue of the exhibit, which closes in January of 2010 to travel to other cities. Do go to see it if you love the place where design and sustainability meet!

7 Comments »