[jitterbugbaby]

There are any number of things you can do yourself, and here are only a few:

--regularly brushing your shoes
--wiping them with soft clothes
--keeping them stored with shoe trees to hold their shape
--spraying them with stain/water repellent every few months

And there are lots of things a cobbler can do to help them, too. To wit:

--replacing worn down soles
--adding a sole with greater traction (particularly useful in the case of leather-soled dress shoes that wear down very fast)
--adding toe caps/heel caps to protect high traffic parts of the sole from wearing down as quickly
--sealing shoes with a wax-like material that makes them more weather resistant


Any and all of these will help keep your shoes in better shape and make them last longer.

Anyone else have favorite treatments?