Top Tips For Hiking Boot Care

By Aimee Jackson


Which are the ideal ways to clean and protect your walking footwear? Cleaning along with looking after your walking boots is a guaranteed way to extend the life of your mountaineering footwear. In turn this will postpone the need to buy new boots. However with so many products and solutions on the market, what exactly is the best practice to clean and protect your walking boots?

First of all, take out the shoelaces and insole from your shoes. A lot of boots feature a completely removable insole for this function. Doing this will help to thoroughly air the shoe, get rid of odour, and replacing these shoe inserts is yet another important factor for stretching out the lifespan of your walking boots. Removing the shoelaces can help you get to parts of the leather which are normally folded within the tongue of the boot. This lets you achieve a more in-depth clean. Additionally, removing the laces will let you spot any kind of deterioration and then determine whether or not they need to be replaced.

After taking out the laces and the sole inserts from the shoe, utilize a brush along with tepid running water to remove dirt on the walking footwear. If they're extremely dirty it might be necessary to use special boot cleaning solutions. These can help lift the soil and debris in order to clean the boot more effectively. When the shoes are washed, the leather will be in a state which is able to soak up water. Adding a water resistant spray whilst the boot still is damp will work to protect the shoe and the leather from water. This kind of treatment is typically sprayed on top of the boot and, after being left to dry thoroughly, water will bead off. It's recommended that footwear is left for 24 hours in order to dry out.

Adding a water based cream to the footwear can help the leather sustain the natural softness. Without this, the leather of the walking boot may become brittle and crack. This can harm your hiking shoe in a way which cannot be restored. Creams are preferable to oils or even greases which could block the pores within the leather and impact the breathability. Leather which has been clogged by using oil or grease functions a lot more like wellington boots.

After using these boot treatments, give your boots lots of time to dry. Leaving them on a radiator, in the car, next to the fireplace or on the back step in the sunlight should be avoided. These can all cause damage to the walking boot. Keeping them confined or in a damp space, in the boot of your car or your shed for example, can allow your boots to go mouldy. It is not worth the risk. Let your Walking Boots breathe and they will keep working hard for you.

There have been many cases where I've heard people moan that their boots are disintegrating or the leather has become stiff and unpleasant to walk in. In each of those cases, this could have been prevented. If they had simply looked after their boots properly it would not have happened. It does not take a lot of effort or time, and the results are always positive. And it is so easy to extend the life of the boots and delay having to but a replacement.




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