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A good pair of shoes can be hard to find. When you’ve broken in a pair to the perfect level of comfort, you might wish you could keep them forever. After all, they’ve been there for you on the day you started your new job, at the bar where you celebrated your promotion, and at your first big professional presentation.
Treat this everyday essential with a little TLC, and you’ll help ensure many years of lock-step companionship.
For your nicer kicks: Hlaximilian Deluxe Business Leather Shoe Care Kit
Amazon
Keep your leather shoes looking smart at conferences, trade shows, and in the boardroom with this portable kit in a stainless steel tin. Featuring quality horsehair brushes, neutral and black polish, a wooden shoehorn, a shining cloth, this choice is a great value. Note: For dry and cracked shoes, you’ll also need to also purchase a leather conditioner.
Hand-made: Otter Wax Leather Care Kit
Amazon
If you’re looking for leather care without strong odors, you’ll appreciate the lack of dyes, chemicals, or preservatives in Otter Wax’s products hand-made in Portland, Oregon. Clean your shoes, jacket, or purse with the saddle soap, apply leather salve to add moisture and repair cracks, and add shine with leather oil. Then apply water-repelling boot wax. The leather oil will darken your items (as your leather dries out it will get lighter), but it is not a colored shoe polish.
All-in-one: FootFitter Shoe Shine Valet Refill Set
Amazon
If you enjoy the ritual of taking care of your stuff, treating yourself to this valet kit makes sense. You’ll get classic hardwood horsehair brushes, four shades of shoe cream, a stainless steel shoehorn, and microfiber cloths, all tucked into a fragrant cedar box. The box surface is slightly smaller than a 8.5 x 11-inch piece of printer paper, and is a little over 9 inches high. The lid features a classic and convenient stand for your shoe while it’s being pampered.
For other materials: Pink Miracle Shoe Cleaner Kit
Amazon
Ditch the dress shoes for sneakers as much as possible? You still need to clean them. This concentrated solution of saddle soap, oils, and conditioners work on regular leather—but it’s also designed for nubuck, suede, vinyl, canvas, and cloth. Stash a bottle in your closet and use the included brush to turn your grey tennis shoes back to white.
Fix them all: FeetPeople Premium Shoe Polish Wax (Various Colors)
Amazon
Fluevog and Dr. Martens fans, don’t you worry. Even if your vintage-style heels are blue and green, or your boots a lovely shade of yellow, you can still keep them looking new. This inexpensive polish, which comes in 14 hues, is a sensible find for people whose shoes are anything but sensible.