How do I clean suede and nubuck shoes?

Suede and nubuck are leather with the surface raised into a nap. Everything that makes them look bad is the nap being flattened, filled with dirt, or stained. That means the tools are abrasive and dry rather than wet, and it means grease is very difficult, because it soaks into the fibres rather than sitting on a finish.

What you'll need

• A suede brush, ideally with brass or crepe bristles
• A suede eraser or a clean pencil rubber
• Suede protector spray (optional)
• White vinegar (optional)

Step by step

1. Let everything dry before touching it.Wet mud brushed off pushes into the nap and stains. Dried mud lifts away in flakes. This single point makes more difference than any product.
2. Knock the loose dirt off, then brush.Brush in one direction along the shoe rather than back and forth, which tangles the nap. The aim is to lift the fibres up, not to scrub.
3. Use an eraser on marks and shiny areas.Rub firmly with a suede eraser, then brush the crumbs away. Shine is the nap crushed flat, usually at the toe crease and the heel, and abrasion is the only thing that restores it.
4. Raise a stubborn shiny patch with a brass brush.Light strokes only, and check as you go. A brass-bristled brush lifts flattened fibres, but over-brushing removes them and leaves a bald patch that cannot be restored.
5. Treat a water mark by wetting the whole panel.A tidemark is the boundary between wet and dry, so the fix is to remove the boundary. Damp the whole section evenly with a barely wet cloth, blot, stuff the shoe with paper and dry slowly at room temperature, then brush the nap up when dry.
6. Try vinegar on salt marks.A weak solution of white vinegar in water on a cloth, applied evenly across the panel, then dried slowly and brushed. Salt from winter grit is one of the few marks that responds well.
7. Accept that grease is usually permanent.Cornflour or talc left on a fresh grease mark overnight draws out some of it, and a suede-specific degreaser sometimes helps. Oil that has soaked into the fibres will not come out completely, and household solvents strip the dye.
8. Never use water and soap, and never machine wash.Soap mats the nap and leaves a residue; machine washing hardens the leather and delaminates glued soles. What comes out is a stiff, shiny, misshapen shoe.
9. Protect once clean and dry.A suede protector spray applied outdoors in light coats. It does not make the shoe waterproof but it buys time to wipe splashes off before they soak in.
10. Store them with trees or paper in.Suede creases hard and the crease is where the nap crushes first.

Tips

• A nail file works as an emergency suede eraser on a small shiny mark.
• Nubuck is finer-napped than suede and shows brush marks more, so use lighter strokes.
• Reproofing before winter is far more effective than cleaning after it.

Common mistakes

• Spot cleaning a water mark — Every wet patch dries to a hard-edged tidemark. Damping the whole panel evenly and drying it slowly is the only way to avoid a visible boundary.
• Putting suede in the washing machine — The leather hardens as it dries, the nap mats permanently, and the heat and agitation break the adhesive holding the sole on. It is not recoverable.

If it doesn't work

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