Saphir Rescues Stricken Brogues 2nd October 2013

When spending a lot of money on a pair of shoes you expect them to last a lifetime, but sadly if your shoes are not properly looked after then you may end up with a pair that look like this (shoe fans of a delicate disposition may want to look away now).

With the right products you can keep your footwear in tip top condition or recover them from the shoe graveyard, so in this blog I am going to show you just how excellent the Saphir shoe care products range is with a step by step guide and try to breathe new life into footwear in an atrocious condition as shown above. Firstly we need to cover our working space as we will be using products which can stain or mark porous work surfaces.

Once your work space is prepped we are ready to start, using a medium or large Saphir shoe brush remove any loose dirt. Ordinarily this step would be fine as it is for just normal soiling but as the shoes I'm tackling look like they have been in a bar brawl I need something with better cleaning power.

Saphir saddle soap is just the item I need. To use this you moisten the included sponge, add the soap and lather over the shoes. Once done make sure that you rinse the sponge and remove all soap suds from the shoes, then allow to dry as below. Right, now your shoes are nice and dry we can start to use our lotions and potions.

As you can see above I have my Saphir Pommadier Cream in a matching colour and the Saphir Pommadier brush. Using sparingly we start from the welt with a side to side action and move around the base of the shoe, this helps to give the seam around the welt some water resistance. 

Leave the cream for a few minutes or so and you should be set to continue. Taking a Saphir horse hair polishing brush use a graceful, back and forth sweeping motion until the shoes have a good shine. As you can see above the Pommadier cream has eliminated the discolouration, and covered the scuffs and scratches giving a lovely even tone.

Personally I think these are now looking pretty good compared to the sorry state they were in but I haven't finished yet! I like to have a good shine on my shoes so to get them to have a more reflective surface I need a wax polish so please bring out the Saphir Pate De Lux.

To start this process I need my Saphir Cotton Cloth, a small bowl of water and the polish ready. Wrapping the cloth around your fingers dampen it with water, apply the wax to the cloth and then to the leather in a small circular motions paying attention to the harder parts of the leather such as the toe. As you feel resistance on the surface, ie. the cloth begins to drag, use your finger to add a drop of water directly on to the leather, continue to rub gently using the same cloth in small circular motions.

Achieving the ultimate shine takes time and you may need to alternate between the left and right shoe to allow time for each side to dry properly before buffing. Once finished you need to leave the footwear for a good thirty minutes, so time to make yourself a cup of tea, dunk some biscuits and peruse the sports section of your favourite newspaper before donning your Saphir Polishing Glove and gently buffing to a high shine like below.

At Pediwear we would not recommend products that we do not believe in and we do firmly believe in the quality of the Saphir Shoe Care Range, but rather than just take our word for it we wanted to prove it and judging by the condition of the footwear I started with it's pretty clear to us that the proof is there for all to see.