How to clean leather shoes is a very frequent question especially for those who care a lot about their shoes and cannot wear them ruined. Leather shoes are beautiful, comfortable, but also delicate, because they are made with natural materials that require a lot of care, attention, and special leather finishing products, but at the same time can be cleaned easily and quickly. However, cleaning leather shoes is an action that always creates a slight anxiety, which is why we are going to explain how you can clean your leather shoes.

It is good to distinguish two types of cleaning: ordinary and extraordinary. The first is more frequent and you can do it at home and by yourself every time you feel the need, the second is more thorough and requires tools, professional techniques, and leather chemistry. Let’s talk about the ordinary cleaning:

• Cleansing milk or drinking milk: Take a wad of cotton wool and pour in a drop of cleansing or drinking milk. Then rub gently on the stain and prevent the leather shoe from getting soaked. In this way, you will probably be able to remove the leather shoe.
• Breadcrumbs: It depends on the type of stain you need to remove, but passing over a piece of breadcrumb could help eliminate it.
• Marseille soap: Take a basin of warm water and melt some Marseille soap and dip a cloth. Pull it out, tighten it tightly to prevent it from being filled with water, and start rubbing.
• Vinegar: According to some experts of household methods, white vinegar in small quantities, applied with a soft cloth, can remove stains.
• Olive oli: Olive oil with a few drops of lemon juice can become an excellent polish for leather shoes to be applied with a thick cotton cloth or a sponge. Leave the product to work for a few minutes, clean, and polish with a clean cloth. In the end you can also apply a specific leather softener.

There are many things to know about leather shoes and about leather finishing products. A fundamental aspect that you definitely need to know before buying leather shoes concerns the linings. At first glance, it seems like a completely secondary thing, but it is not the case. In fact, the lining can determine, as well as the quality of the leather and the leather chemistry used, the whole quality of the shoes, therefore the success of the purchase.

Of course, the lining must be made of natural materials. Indeed, a synthetic material will make your foot sweat and give problems from the bacterial point of view, causing odors, fungi, etc. But it is not enough that the lining is made with leather, also in this case, there are top, medium, and cheap products.

The economic product par excellence is the pig leather lining. You recognize it, because you can clearly see the dot from which the hair came out. It is a rather dry material and with sweaty feet, it often gives off a characteristic – and unpleasant – smell. When you see a shoe with a pig leather lining, it is better to not take the product into consideration.

A beautiful shoe has a kid lining. It is a very light material, brilliant, which softens the leather of the whole shoe, thanks also to leather softeners. If it is of high quality and it allows a good transpiration.  Of course, like many other precious things, a beautiful shoe also requires a little care. We will talk about that in the next article.

Laser marking is one of the many applications of CO2 lasers. In this application, the energy emitted by the laser beam is used to mark the surface of a given fabric or material. During the last years, laser marking has proven to be a very efficient and useful tool for manufacturing applications, especially in the field of fashion and fabric decoration.

The variety of materials that can be marked with the CO2 laser is very wide and includes both natural as well as synthetic materials and metals. This technique find its natural use on products such as wood, paper, cardboard, rubber, plastic, etc. Materials of this type are extremely suitable for being marked with CO2 lasers.

Thanks to this feature, CO2 lasers are also ideal for other industrial sectors such as fashion, that make extensive use of organic materials such as natural fibers or leather. From this point of view, laser marking has proven to be an efficient and powerful tool for the finishing of clothing and textile products in general. In particular, the decoration of leather is one of the applications in this area that have most benefited from the introduction of the CO2 laser as a production and finishing tool.

Traditionally, leather processing uses hand tools, leather chemistry, like leather pigments or leather softeners, or even heat to decorate or cut this material. This type of work certainly has a strong artisan character. This kind of production, however, does not lend itself well to the quantities required by a mass market. Leather is a difficult material to produce industrially while maintaining high quality levels. However, the introduction of CO2 laser marking has changed the situation. Thanks to this tool, it is in fact possible to obtain high quality results in leather processing even on industrial applications. Laser marking produces a permanent result, perfectly defined and very accurate. The signs produced are very resistant, do not wear out with use, and do not fade due to exposure to a light source. Thanks to this technique, our leather products can now be even more charming.

Very often we take it for granted that we are able to immediately distinguish real leather from all other fabrics. Sometimes, in fact, some industrial fabrics appear like real leather. For this reason today, we are going to list all the characteristics of real leather.

Maybe it seems strange to hear it, but the main feature of real leather is its natural imperfection. The wrinkles and veins that you can notice at first glance on a sofa or a bag are one of the signs of the realness of this material. In fact, the clearly visible pore grain indicates that the material has not undergone grinding with abrasive paper or has not been further coated to look perfect. Leather is only treated with proper leather chemistry products. That of real leather is perhaps one of the few cases in which the more imperfect a fabric is, the more it acquires value, thanks to its uniqueness and authenticity.

Another element characterizing real leather is its compact and elastic structure, also thanks to leather softeners. Even after folding or stretching, the material immediately returns to its initial state. It is, in fact, a very flexible quality material.

And here is the third characteristic of real leather: A strong resistance even towards the worst conditions. Leather is one of the few products that the more it ages, the more it improves. Particularly rigid at the beginning, with the passing of time, it becomes soft and fleshy. Moreover, genuine leather is fireproof and breathable, elements that are difficult to find in other fabrics. Also, thanks to leather auxiliary chemicals, like waterproofing wax, it gets not affected by water.

The most inexperienced normally distinguish real leather from other materials thanks to its fragrance. It is a pleasant, delicate but never exaggerated smell, able to tickle the olfactory emotions. After sight and smell, real leather is also recognizable through touch: Real leather never appears cold, but particularly warm and natural.

All the aforementioned characteristics make real leather one of the most appreciated and valuable coverings in the world.

We have already spoken about the 10 essential tricks to clean your leather bag. A leather bag is a valuable thing and there are way more advice in order to maintain your object at its best, as well as a lot of leather chemistry products. Here are the 7 more essential tricks to clean your leather bag:

1. If you don’t have a dust bag, just use a simple pillowcase.
2. Consider buying a spotting cover product and a leather softener in order to be prepared to any kind of unexpected event.
3. Do not leave your bag exposed to direct sunlight, this can discolor and damage the leather heavily.
4. Do not wear light colored handbags with dark clothes, the color may shift from clothes to the bag, causing those spots that are among the most difficult to remove.
5. For really stubborn stains, look for a shoe polish in the same color as your bag and apply a minimum quantity on the affected area. You can also use proper leather pigments.
6. If you want to remove a bad smell from the bag, you can use odor removers, but avoid using the most aggressive, solvent-based or nebulized, because they could damage the color and the leather itself.
7. And to eliminate all traces of persistent odors, put a small container of baking soda in your bag, covered with a dust bag or pillow case, and leave it inside for at least 24 hours. Baking soda will absorb any unpleasant odor!