If you want to know how to clean leather work boots, the process is more or less the same as with any other kind of shoes and footwear. However, with leather, you have to be a tad bit more careful since rough scrubbing and powerful detergents can eat away at the material and spoil the whole look.
In this post, we’ll go over some basic steps that you can take to clean your leather work boots and make them spick and span.
What Household Items Can I Use to Clean Leather Boots?
While leather cleaning kits can be helpful in cleaning leather boots, you can usually do it using the items available at your home.
Here are the items that you’ll require for cleaning your leather work boots:
- Detergent
- A microfiber cloth and a normal soft cloth
- Talcum powder or corn starch
- Dryer
- An old toothbrush or wash brush
How do You Clean and Restore Leather Work Boots?
Once you have your items ready, you can follow these steps to properly clean your boots (these steps are only for the outer part):
- Make some soapy water using the detergent
- With the microfiber cloth, put on the soap-water solution on the outside of the boot to get rid of dirt and dust particles. Be gentle with the scrubbing; otherwise, the material can get damaged.
- Once the boot has been rubbed with soap-water all over, take the other cloth and dampen it a little. Then, gently wipe the boot with it to get rid of any soapy residue.
- For the outsole, you can use the old toothbrush or wash brush to loosen any bits of stuck dirt and grime.
- After all these steps are done, you should use a dryer to quickly remove all moisture from the leather boots. Drying in the sun can be harmful to the material.
These steps are easy and simple to follow – even for someone who is not very familiar with how to clean leather work boots.
If there are some stubborn grease marks on your boots, you can follow these steps to remove them:
- Cover the stained parts with talcum powder or cornstarch.
- Once applied, let the boot sit for several hours (ideally overnight).
- Dust the powder off afterward, and the stains will come away.
How to Clean the Inside of Boots?
The above process is only for the outer part of the leather boots. If you want to clean the inside as well, here are the steps that you can follow (the same materials are needed for this as well):
- Take out the insole. (This is very important. You should wash and dry the insole separately.)
- Use the microfiber cloth to apply the soap water to the inside of the boots.
- Once it is thoroughly applied, fill up the boots with water to remove any type of remaining soapy residue.
- Just like the outside of the shoes, you should use a dryer to make sure that there is no moisture left inside.
How to Clean Leather Work Boots: Some General Tips
When cleaning leather boots, you have to be a lot more careful than with other types of boots. There are many things that can spoil the leather, such as extended exposure to sunlight or too much water.
You should try and use as little water as possible when cleaning your leather boots. You should use dry and damp clothes instead.
If, after cleaning your boots, there remains some odor in them, you can use baking powder to get rid of it. Just scatter some baking powder on the inside and let it sit for some time. After a few hours, shake out the powder, and the smell should be gone.
You should try doing this little exercise every day so that the smell never gets too unbearable.
Conclusion
For people who don’t know how to clean leather work boots, the above guide covers most of the basics. Cleaning leather boots is not very difficult, and it can easily be done with normal everyday household items like corn starch, talcum powder, detergent, and some clothes.
