How To Clean Your Shoes

Cleaning:

An important part of buying a new pair of shoes is knowing how to take care of them.

I have personally done testing and research to give you the best possible information on how to clean your shoes. All of my shoes have white bottoms, many have white leather or a white knit material, and all of them can get dirty in one way or another (after all, they are shoes and they live on the ground).

Each material should be cleaned differently for the longevity of the materials and for efficiency. 

Cleaning LEATHER sneakers.

1.     JAMES O’REGAN provides a leather cleaner that is perfect for wiping
off the dirt marks and stains left on your leather shoes, whether they are
white, black, tan, brown, or any color of leather. 

2.     It is important to NOT USE the following items for cleaning your
leather. This will strip the leather of its natural oils, shorten its life
span, possibly fade the colors, and cause the leather to crack over time.

DO NOT USE THESE ON LEATHER:

- Clorox wipes

- Carpet cleaner

- Bleach

- Any other harsh household cleaners that aren’t
specifically for leather.

(A damp paper towel used to wipe of dirt marks and
then dried quickly is okay, but leather should not be over exposed to water. Do
not put leather sneakers into a washing machine)

 

 

The RUBBER OUTSOLES of all JAMES O’REGAN
sneakers can be cleaned by the following:

1.     Because they are rubber, these outsoles will be tougher to clean with
a leather specific cleaner. They can handle a harsher cleaner. I recommend
scrubbing with a Clorox wipe in this scenario. But remember, do not clean any
other part of the shoe with this harsh cleaner.

 

Cleaning a WHITE KNIT sneaker:

If the shoe has a small and singular dirt/stain mark
on it:

1.     Use a Carpet Cleaning and spray directly onto the dirty area. 

2.     Use a terry cloth, microfiber towel, or if necessary, a paper towel to
blot the area. The technique is to press and then pull up, to try to lift the
dirt from the area. Sometimes scrubbing the area is necessary if the stain is
deep into the knit material. If you do scrub, limit the surface area that you
are scrubbing so that you don’t spread the dirt to other, unaffected
areas. 

 

If the shoe is older and has been dirty for a long
time, follow these instructions below with caution. This is last case scenario,
but can revive old, dirty white sneakers. 

Make sure that the shoes do not have a lot of
leather on the upper, this process can permanently damage the leather. 

1.     Remove the laces

2.     * DO NOT spray any leather areas directly if possible (if the shoe
upper has small leather pieces on it).

3.     Spray the knit material surfaces of the shoe with carpet
cleaner. 

4.     Then spray the same knit surfaces of the shoe with bleach.

5.     Spray the laces separately with both the carpet cleaner and bleach.

6.     Place plastic shoe trees into the shoes (if you have them), if you do
not, you can stuff socks down by the toe of the shoe to keep its shape.

7.     You will then put the shoes into the washing machine (DO NOT put
leather shoes in the wash, DO NOT put any shoes in the wash unless this is a
last resort)

8.     I personally like to put the shoes into a small perforated mesh bag
and add in one to two towels into the washing machine to reduce loud
clunking. 

9.     Run the washing machine for a normal cycle with a small amount of mild
detergent.

10.  Let the shoes completely air dry. DO NOT put them into the dryer.