In honor of Mario Bemer’s recent visit to our showroom, we wanted to discuss the topic of footwear. Specifically, we want to help you keep those new Mario Bemer shoes as clean as the day you got them.
Long gone are the days of a shoe-shine on every street corner, now they seem like a luxury for the wealthy business traveler in the airport. If your shoes get scuffs or dirt marks, you could always take them to the cleaners, but why not just learn to do it yourself and save some time and money?
First off, you need the tools of the trade. These include:
- A tin of wax
polish
- Shoe brush
- Shine cloth
- Shoe leather conditioner
Shoe polish will depend on the color of shoe you have. If you have black, get back wax, if you have brown you may want a neutral polish.
The shine cloth doesn’t need to be anything fancy, even just an old t-shirt is fine.
The shoe brush should be made of horsehair. It will be used for removing the extra polish and buffing the shoe to make it nice and shiny.
The leather conditioner can be found almost anywhere, it will be used for cleaning the leather off.
Getting Started
Before you get started, make sure you are in an area that you don’t mind getting dirty. Maybe head outside or place some newspaper around the floor.
Using the cloth, wipe the shoe clean of any dust or dirt, then apply the leather cleaner to a clean cloth and rub it on the shoe leather. Work it into the whole shoe and then set it aside for 10 minutes. After that time, use another cloth to buff it.
Now that the leather is clean, it’s time to polish. Use a small amount of wax at a time. If you use too much, it can be hard to remove. Now rub the polish around in small circles with the cloth. Take your brush and removed the excess, you can put some elbow grease into it, it will not ruin the shoes. Lastly, take a clean cloth and run it along the toe of the shoe in a fast motion (like you’ve seen in the movies) and on the heal.
Here is a video to help you see the process in action.