We all want our shoes to last us as long as possible. There’s nothing more disheartening than investing in a great pair of shoes, only to watch them fall apart too quickly due to overuse, improper use or lack of care. And the thing is, these factors can affect any shoe, so it’s best to get into the habit of proper maintenance and care for your shoes, so that all of your shoes can live long, happy lives.
The experts at Forbes Footwear have learned and developed a series of maintenance and care tips over their 80 years of experience in shoe retail. Let’s explain some of our finest maintenance and care tips for extending the life of your shoes.
Spread wear evenly across your shoes
Hot tip: your shoes will last longer if you wear them less. Of course, you don’t need to be an expert shoe retailer to figure that one out, but one common mistake we see from our customers is over-wearing one pair of shoes, instead of rotating pairs and evenly spreading out the wear.
By rotating your shoes, or in fact investing in several different shoes, you can prolong their life and take the pressure off each individual pair. A pair of shoes may have 400 days of life in them, which is just over a year if you wear them every day. But if you wear them 2 days per week instead of 7 days per week, they’ll last 72% longer at around 2 years.
Wear the right shoe for the right occasion
You wouldn’t wear thongs to a wedding, would you? (Well in most situations the answer would be no…). So, why would you wear suede shoes to the park? Or canvas shoes on a hike? Or snow boots to the office?
Picking the right shoe for the right occasion is one of the best ways to maintain your shoes, and keep them out of situations where they don’t exactly belong. It can be easy to get stuck in these situations – for example, you thought your white canvas shoes would be fine for a day down at the park, but then it started to rain and they got all muddy. Try to plan ahead when choosing the right shoe to wear, no matter what you’re doing.
Create a regular shoe-cleaning schedule
Most of us have a pretty regular schedule for washing our clothes, mopping the floors, or other tasks like that. We suggest you add a shoe-cleaning schedule to the list! Cleaning your shoes once a week or once a fortnight can really help maximise the life of your shoes.
Forbes Footwear has one of the largest ranges of high quality shoes across all styles. We’ve been one of Sydney’s favourite teams in shoe retail for over 80 years, and are highly experienced in shoe fitting and picking great shoes. Pop in to see the team or shop online today.