I fondly remember the first time I bought a nice pair of leather shoes. They were tan soft leather double monk straps – which made me super happy and proud of the purchase.
Cut to the day I decided to wear them to work – bright, sunny, warm – and stressful. I’ve never been so careful with anything in my life! But no matter how cautious I was, when it was time to take off those shoes at the end of the day, my apprehensions had come to life – in the form of leather creases.
Since then, these tiny little annoyances have caused me a lot of worries. But over the course of time I’ve come to accept, and sometimes correct them. In this article, we will concentrate on the methods to remove such leather shoe creases, as well as those that you should avoid – so that you can enjoy your lovely shoes stress-free
The first step towards correcting or removing these creases from leather shoes is handling them properly. Inserting a shoe tree immediately after taking off the shoe can fix most of the creases formed during the course of the day. Minor shoe creases older than a day (but still fairly new) can be smoothened out by massaging the affected areas with a good shoe conditioner or oil. These two tips are easy to follow, and doing them regularly will keep your shoes looking good enough for daily wear without having to invest extra time in fixing the creases.
Old and rigid creases will require extra heat and massaging for removal though, and a blow dryer will be able to remedy this. Just be careful with the heat because over usage will actually harm the leather – follow the steps listed in the second half of this post to do it safely
Before we learn more details about addressing these creases/scratches, let’s first discuss the crux of the issue at hand –
Why do leather shoes crease?
1) They are supposed to!
My apologies if you were looking for a better answer, but leather shoes will naturally crease from daily use. The only way to avoid this is to NOT wear them at all, which we can agree isn’t ideal OR purposeful 😉
Our feet flex while walking – they bend where toes meet the rest of the foot. So this flexion will naturally cause the leather to crease across the vamp. You mostly shouldn’t notice creases in any other parts of the shoe though. The area around the heel sometimes will get creased if you don’t wear the shoe properly, but that’s about it. Finding them anywhere else on the shoe would mean other issues due to improper shoe care
2) Incorrect size
Shoes that are too big in size will cause more creases in the shoe than usual. This is because the extra space will leave more area for the flexion of the vamp region leading to deeper and stubborn creases in the leather.
On the other hand, if the shoes are smaller than your size then that is a problem too because it will restrict the natural movement of the foot and thus leave behind more creasing than intended.
The right fit is the first step you must take in efforts to minimizing leather shoe creases. Lucky for you, my guide on shoe fit will be a big help
So shoe creases are inevitable, yes, but there are still a few methods you can try to correct them and restore your shoes. These will work equally well with all kinds of leather, be it smooth, suede, nubuck or patent
Methods to remove creases from leather shoes
All of these methods have the same principle behind them – a creased portion of the leather will have to be softened through heat/products and then gently stretched either by shoe trees/massaging to restore it.
1) Start storing them properly – Use Shoe Trees
Two words: Shoe Trees. These foot-shaped pieces of wood (or plastic) go into your shoes when you’re not wearing them. Their main aim is to help the shoe keep its original shape for as long as possible.
It is recommended to insert the shoe trees into your shoes immediately after taking them off. The leather of the shoe would still be warm at this time and the trees will help even out any creases that might have formed during the day
Shoe trees will not make your shoes look good as new, but they will definitely play an important part in the future life of the leather and the shoe.
2) Use a good shoe conditioner/oil
The creases due to the day’s wear can be smoothed out by shoe trees, but if you’re looking at fairly recent and small creases then try a good shoe conditioner/oil. Shoe care products like these will soften the leather which can then be massaged to free the creases. Use this method in combination with the above to further reduce the chances of creases.
Note that both the methods discussed so far are for small and new creases only.
3) Try the blow-dry method
The blow-dry method works for older and stubborn creases that shoe trees/conditioners aren’t able to correct. This involves the use of a blow dryer to provide extra heat in order to soften the creased portion of the leather:
- Insert the shoe trees into the shoe you are working on
- Set the blow dryer to its lowest heat setting. You can always increase it later on but it is better to start with this
- Hold the blow dryer above the creased areas, about 6 inches away from the shoe. Keep it moving constantly so that the leather does not get burnt
- As you work with the blow dryer, gently massage the creases with your other hand to smoothen them against the support provided by the shoe tree. Keep doing this until you start to see the creases open up
- Turn off the blow dryer and allow the shoes to cool down, while still having the shoe trees inside them
- Polish and condition the shoe to finish the restoration 🙂
- Be extra cautious to not overheat – this might have the opposite effect instead causing the shoe to lose shape in certain areas
- Test out this method on a small postion of the inside of the shoe first – the heat can cause leather to darken
The Shoe Snob Blog has a very useful video tutorial for this method
Methods you should avoid using
The below methods are an extension of the ones mentioned above, but they are easier to get wrong so it is better to avoid them in my opinion
1) Rubbing alcohol
Rubbing alcohol mixed with water (equal parts) works similarly to conditioning oils i.e it helps soften the leather and thus smooth out the creases by inserting shoe trees.
The downside of using alcohol is that you have to be very careful with the proportions because using it in excess can rapidly dry out the leather
2) Using Iron
This method calls for placing a slightly damp washcloth over the creased portion of the shoe and replace the blow-dryer in the blow-dry method with an iron to stretch the creases
An iron can be very effective against creases, provided you use it with extreme caution. Too much moisture and heat is bad news for leather and its better to be safe than sorry
Summary:
With the regular usage of shoes, the formation of creases is unavoidable. Creasing would occur more if your shoes don’t fit properly, but if the fit is not the issue then they shouldn’t be a major cause of stress to you because the creases are very natural with leather.
Inserting shoe trees in your shoes immediately after taking them off, and conditioning the shoes regularly will keep them looking good enough for day-to-day use without having to put extra time in methods like blow-drying. The blow-dry method works well for older, deep and rigid creases, but attention needs to be paid to the effects of overheating the leather. Similarly, rubbing alcohol or ironing the leather can help with removing the creases too but are not advisable because it is easy to get it wrong
Have leather creases bothered you in the past? What do you feel about them now? Let me know in the comments
