Leather Care OverviewUpdated 3 months ago

Caring for your Poppy Barley Shoes

The beauty of premium leather is in its ability to evolve.

While we craft all of our products to be worn and loved, the delicate nature of leather is unavoidable and our shoes will require proper maintenance and care in order to avoid premature wear! 

When properly cared for, leather maintains its strength and durability. Before wearing your shoes out for the first time, we strongly recommend using a leather protectant on the shoes, to protect from any potential water damage. While this will protect against the elements, it does not make the shoes waterproof. Leather is a natural and porous material, and should never be worn in excessive rain, slush, or snow.

To keep your leather looking its best, we recommend caring for your shoes and boots every 8-10 wears. 

We strongly recommend testing all of your leather care on an inconspicuous part of the shoe before applying the product to the entire surface to ensure you are satisfied with the result and to avoid any potential damage from occurring. 

Protecting your shoes

Before wearing your footwear outdoors for the first time, we recommend spraying them with a protectant spray to help prevent water damage. While this will protect against the elements, it does not make the shoes waterproof. Leather is a natural and porous material, and should never be worn in excessive rain, slush, or snow.

Increasing your shoes' longevity

To keep your leather looking its best, we recommend caring for your shoes and boots every 8-10 wears. A proper routine for smooth or pebbled leathers combines four key steps:

1. Cleaning away dirt, salt or dust.
2. Conditioning to moisturize the material and keep it supple.
3. Polishing for a high shine and colour maintenance.
4. Protecting to shield the leather from the elements.

Storage

Store your shoes outside of the sun and away from anything that could potentially rub or scrape against the leather causing marks or indentations. If you won’t be wearing your shoes for a while, we suggest storing your shoes in their dust bags and away from anything that can crease or damage the shoes while in storage. 

To keep the shape of your shoes, we recommend using a shoe tree or stuffing in the shoe to help with creasing or other dents from settling into the leather. 

Soles

As with anything that is worn and loved, general wear and tear is normal over time. 

The soles are the part of the shoes that will most likely experience the most wear and may require extra maintenance. We design our shoes with the ability to have them resoled after lots of wear. To help prolong the life of your soles, we recommend applying a topy cover/rubber sole protector to the soles of your shoes to help prolong their lifetime! 

Role of a Cobbler

Our products are designed to be worn and loved. This means that after time, some maintenance may be required beyond polishing and protecting the leather

Soles are typically the part of your shoes that experience the most wear. A visit to a cobbler is often a great investment to prolong the life of your shoes and maintain the appearance when scuffs or other marks occur to the leather, or when the sole has begun to show signs of wear. 

For any questions on other care tips or instructions, reach out to our team at [email protected]!