Yuya Hasegawa's Ardent Shoeshine Dojo: Polishing brushed material (basic)

This is a series of "Yuya Hasegawa's Ardent Shoeshine Dojo". In the 19th installment, Yuya Hasegawa talks passionately about basic polishing of raised fabrics.

With the recent shift to business casual wear, we have probably seen an increase in the wearing of shoes made of raised fabrics. Compared to smooth leather, raised shoes have a softer feel and go well with casual wear, and since scratches and stains are less noticeable, they are attractive enough to be worn without much care. In addition, leather itself is soft and comfortable, so many people like to wear shoes made of raised fabric because they are comfortable to wear from the very beginning.

By the way, there are two major types of raised materials. General suede is the back side (floor surface) of leather, and has long fibers and a soft atmosphere. There is also a raised material called nubuck, which is often used in sports shoes such as mountaineering shoes. This is the front side of leather that is furred, so the fibers are short and fine.

The care method is basically the same, but suede fibers tend to be more shaggy, so there are some tips such as burning the suede when long fibers appear, but we will discuss this in the next article (application). This time, I would like to teach you about basic polishing of raised materials.

This is a pair of John Robb brown suede side gore boots. There are no major stains, but the overall look is a little tired. Also, the fibers are popping out and roughing up. If you look closely, you can also see some spots on the right side of the foot.

The basic polishing of brushed material is to "remove dirt from the surface. Remove dust and mysterious stains. This is the only way to get rid of dirt. First, brush the entire shoe to see what kind of dirt is on it and dust it off.

Brush the shoes with a horsehair brush in all directions, aligning the fibers in one direction like combing hair, and then look at the shoes to see the dirt. The suede brush is used to remove the dirt from the dirty areas. Conversely, if the shoe is not dirty, a horsehair brush is sufficient.

Edoya's suede brushes are hand-planted with a thin, soft metal that you would not expect to find in a gold brush. It is arguably the world's best brush made of phosphor bronze, a soft metal. Because of its softness, it can be used on any material without causing harmful effects such as fluffing of fibers. (*Not for use on white, bristly materials).

Scrub the surface of the fiber as if you were using an eraser to remove dirt from the surface. Brushing with a little force will remove the fibers from the surface like eraser dust and clean the fabric.

After that, I brush it off once with a horsehair brush and spray it. This time, I used SAPHIR BROWN waterproof spray because I wanted to use a complementary color. If you do not want to use a complementary color, you can use a colorless waterproof spray. The can says "spray 30cm away" and "dry for 30 minutes after spraying", but my tips are a little different.

First of all, spray at a distance of "20 cm". The spray is not worth spreading, so I spray it thoroughly and generously at a distance of 20 centimeters. Spray generously so that the entire shoe changes color. The trick is to spray evenly with a fine wave of the hand. Many people get nervous and spray a little at a time, but this can lead to unevenness.

After spraying both feet generously, let dry for about 10 minutes and finish by brushing with horsehair. Brush the hair so that the fibers stand up on your side to make it look deeper and more beautiful.

Here is the finished product. The color is now more well-rounded and deeper than before the treatment. The oil in the fiber has increased the sense of moisture and it looks like a high quality material.

A lot of dirt has also been removed. In the case of raised materials, spraying may bring back stains and dirt, but in that case, it is a good idea to brush it again with a suede brush to make it less noticeable. It is beautiful and well-done to the fur. The basic method is the same for nubuck, so please try polishing it in this way.

This time, we have covered the basics of polishing brushed materials, but there are still more tricks to be learned, so next time we will teach you (application). We will teach you how to polish any kind of shoes beautifully in Yuya Hasegawa's ardent shoeshine dojo. Thank you for your continued support. Oshinobu ！！！！