UKH

I was caught out in the rain yesterday in my newish leather shoes. stayed nice and dry, but today they have unsightly watermarks around the toes and sides.

Are my shoes wrecked?
Can they be made presentable again?

In reply to goldmember:

They can be restored to perfect condition again by the liberal use of shoe polish and elbow grease!

In reply to Dave Perry:


Especially by cleaning them twice: and by leaving the polish on for 30 minutes before brushing them. Good luck!

In reply to goldmember:

The marks could be salt/dirt from the water: if so, consider rinsing them first, before you attack with the polish.

In reply to london_huddy:

Thanks for the replies folks, what is the best way to clean rinse them?
The boots are light tan colour i'm worried polishing ruin the look

In reply to goldmember:

Good advice above. Not sure if you'll get them pristine again, but you'll go some way to restoring them. I'd then recommend treating with a good leather protector spray (and some sort of sole guard if you have leather soles too).

In reply to goldmember:

If they have a shiny finish then cleaning with a brush and water, followed by applying the right colour polish will do the trick. If they're a suede or nubuck then you've got yourself a pair of very high maintenance shoes unless you just give in and convert them to a shiny finish by polishing. In my experience it is very hard to maintain the original finish of nubuck. You could try brushing the marks vigorously with a dry brush, if this takes away the stain then treat with a suede/nubuck waterproofing wax or spray. and brush up the nap.

In reply to goldmember:

Dilute white vingear removes salt marks immediately