After you buy them
Two materials, two routines, one wear part.
We use smooth full-grain leather and brushed suede, and they need opposite treatment. The footbed is the part that wears out first on any pair worn daily, and on most of our shoes it lifts out and can be replaced.
Smooth leather
- Wipe the shoe down with a dry cloth after each wear, working into the welt seam where dust collects.
- Every eight to ten wears, work a neutral leather cream in with a cloth, leave it twenty minutes, then buff with a horsehair brush.
- Let a wet pair dry at room temperature away from any heat source. Heat drives the oils out of the leather and it will not come back.
- Use a shoe tree, or stuff the toe with paper, whenever a pair is going to sit for more than a week.
Brushed suede
- Brush along the direction of the nap with a crepe brush after each wear. Brushing against it lifts the fibres and leaves the surface looking patchy.
- Lift marks with a suede eraser. Never with water and never with leather cream, both of which flatten the nap permanently.
- Let a wet pair dry at room temperature, then brush the nap back up once it is completely dry.
- Suede here is not treated for water resistance, and we do not sell a treatment that would make it so.
Break-in
A crease across the vamp is the shoe fitting, not failing.
Every pair we make is built on a soft last with no rigid heel seat, which means the leather takes the shape of your instep rather than holding its own shape against it. The crease line that appears across the vamp in the first week is that process finishing.
How long it takes is stated on each product page, because it differs by construction. An unlined suede loafer settles in two to four wears; a lugged derby takes four to six. Wear the pair indoors first, which also keeps your right to withdraw intact.
What break-in does not do is change the size. If a pair is short or narrow when new, it will still be short or narrow afterwards. Measure first — the two measurements are on the sizing page.
Wear parts
Replace the footbed before you replace the shoe.
On most of our pairs the footbed lifts out. Each product page states the maximum thickness that pair will take. Nothing beyond thickness and material is claimed for any of these parts.
