Features of cleaning white and colored suede
Blue, black and any dark sneakers can be cleaned with ground coffee or coffee grounds, an eraser or carbon paper. Red, pink and bright items are cleaned with hydrogen peroxide and bread crumbs.
Rice. 1 – Cleaning light suede shoes
Beige, white, gray and other light-colored sneakers need to be cleaned especially carefully, otherwise there is a risk of discolouration. Dry wet shoes on a towel, remove dirt and stains with a mixture of milk and soda with ammonia (100 ml of milk, ½ tsp of soda and 10 ml of ammonia). Complete the cleaning process by blotting with a damp sponge or vinegar solution. Old stains are removed with a mixture of turpentine, talc and magnesia in equal proportions, and they are pre-treated with warm milk. Dry cleaning of light-colored shoes is carried out using talc, starch, tooth powder, starch or chalk.
Let's sum it up
Light-colored (especially white) suede sneakers are much more difficult to clean from dirt, but there are many ways to do it safely and effectively at home. All you need is to determine the nature of the stains and be patient.
However, it is much easier to maintain the original appearance of the shoes. Therefore, it is worth treating it with special water-repellent solutions in a timely manner.
How to clean from dirt, dust and grass?
Rice. 2 – Steps to cleaning sneakers
Very dirty sneakers are cleaned in 3 stages:
- Remove dust and dirt with a rubber brush.
- Carry out wet cleaning - dissolve a little soap in warm water and add ammonia, wet the brush and walk over the shoes in a circular motion. If there is no dirt, wipe the pair with a damp cloth.
- Dry your sneakers and apply a water-repellent treatment. It is optimal to apply it in 3 layers - each on top of the dried previous one.
To refresh the color, use aerosol paint or colorless cream. Use them after each pair of shoes.
How to protect suede shoes
Prevention and daily care will help keep suede shoes clean and attractive for several seasons. Key tips:
- In wet weather, shoes must be treated with impregnations and/or sprays that repel water.
- Absorbent wipes must be included in your arsenal of care products for suede sneakers.
- Outside the season of use, it is recommended to store suede shoes in a box or a special shoe box. It is better to wrap each sneaker with an absorbent cloth first. This will rid the product of excess moisture and light.
The given set of rules will help in any life situation to promptly clean suede sneakers and prevent damage to the product.
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Methods for cleaning suede sneakers
The main principle is regular shoe care. After each use, you can quickly wipe a pair of shoes with soapy water, sprinkle with talcum powder, or use an eraser. Also, there are a number of particularly effective methods for cleaning suede sneakers at home. How you clean shoes made from artificial or natural suede at home depends on what caused the stain, whether it is fresh or old.
Traditional methods
Rice. 3 - Gasoline for lighters for cleaning suede
Refined gasoline (for lighters) will help remove greasy stains. Wipe the contaminated areas with it. If the stain is old, mix gasoline with talcum powder and leave for several hours, then remove the residue with a stiff brush. If the suede is brown, you can freshen it up with coffee grounds.
Chemicals
Special sprays and foams can quickly remove dirt from any shoe. To get the effect, follow the instructions. Most compounds are designed to remove fresh stains, so trying to deal with old stains, stubborn dirt and grains of sand with them is practically useless - you will have to take your sneakers to the dry cleaner.
Cleaning white suede with whitening effect
To whiten sneakers, you can use a mixture of crushed chalk, starch and soda. Make a paste out of them using water, apply to contaminated areas and leave for an hour, then wipe off and remove the residue with a damp sponge. Very dirty shoes can be washed with foam from washing powder.
Using steam
Time-tested cleaning method. Use a steamer or a pan of boiling water, or a kettle. Hold your shoes over the steam and remove dirt with a damp cloth or rubber brush.
Brush
Use it to remove dust from your shoes every day. The brush should be rubber, ideally equipped with a wheel for cleaning seams. Work carefully, moving along the pile in a circular motion.
Eraser
Use it if the surface of your sneakers starts to get shiny. Wipe the contaminated areas with an eraser; instead of an eraser, you can use hard foam rubber.
Rice. 4 — Eraser for cleaning suede
Carbon paper
Black suede sneakers can be cleaned with carbon paper - apply it and go over the surface. Then apply a protective spray to repel moisture.
Black bread
It will also help remove shiny and greasy areas. Use the very dry crust as an eraser. Rye bread is suitable for dark shoes, white bread for light ones.
Talc
Effective for removing greasy stains or refreshing the color of light-colored shoes. Sprinkle the surface generously with talc, leave for a couple of hours and remove with a rubber brush or eraser.
Starch
Sprinkle the powder onto the worn surface of sneakers with greasy stains, leave for an hour and wipe with a stiff, dry brush. Or mix ammonia and starch to form a paste, apply it to the shoes and let it dry, then remove.
Vinegar
To remove salt and reagent stains, soak a brush in it, rub the surface of the shoe and wipe with a damp cloth. After drying, apply a protectant.
Ammonia or hydrogen peroxide
Dilute 50 ml of ammonia or 100 ml of perhydrol in a glass of water. Apply the mixture to a rag and wipe the surface of the sneakers.
Rice. 5 – Cleaning sneakers with ammonia or peroxide
Laundry soap
Rub the dirty areas with a dry stone, then remove the stains with an eraser. Or make a soap solution and apply the resulting foam, let it dry and brush off.
Soda and milk
Soak a coarse cloth in the mixture (burlap is ideal) and wipe the dirty areas with it. Proportions for cleaning liquid: a teaspoon of baking soda per glass of low-fat milk.
Dentifrice
Sprinkle it onto greasy stains, leave for an hour and brush off. Or combine the powder with warm water to a creamy consistency, leave on the stain until dry and remove with a damp cloth.
Professional products
To remove dirt, moisturize, soften and make suede velvety, it is optimal to use special shoe products. Water-repellent agents Nikwax and Salton preserve the structure and softness of suede, its color, and they impregnate the entire surface. The quality product contains fluorocarbon resins; treatment is carried out every 2 weeks.
Cleaners or shampoos in the form of “Stroke” foam, Kiwi contain tensides that effectively remove dirt. Collonil, Duke Velor Cleaner erasers remove dirty spots in dry and wet conditions. First, use gentle products - foam, a soft brush, for severe dirt - hard bristles.
Care Tips
Suede sneakers are much easier to protect from dirt than to clean them later. Therefore, when buying shoes, sellers recommend also purchasing a water-repellent spray that needs to be used to treat the material.
The spray is applied in several layers (2-3). The distance between the sneaker and the can is at least 30 cm. After the impregnation has completely dried, the procedure is repeated.
Such water-repellent agents will not only help keep shoes in their original condition, but will also make cleaning suede easier: dirt will come off the material much easier.
Use of professional products
It is better to purchase cosmetics and compounds to combat stains on suede along with your shoes. Then you will always have ready-made solutions at hand. Before cleaning your sneakers, you should carefully read the instructions for use of each product.
Brush for suede Three ready-made solutions for combating stains on suede:
- Special brush. After each use, you need to remove dust from your sneakers using a double-sided brush. Dry sneakers are first treated with the fleecy side, then combed with the rubber side. In this case, the pressure should be light so as not to damage the material.
- Shampoo for suede. This special composition is used only if the brush does not help restore the original appearance. The product is dissolved in water according to the instructions and applied to the surface after completing step 1. Then the shoes are carefully scrubbed with a sponge.
- Stain removers. Intended for local use (simultaneously with step 2). Following the manufacturer's recommendations, apply the product only to heavily soiled areas and, after the required time, remove it with a cloth soaked in clean water.
Advice! Before you start cleaning suede sneakers, and after finishing the treatment, shoes should only be dried at room temperature, away from heaters. Accelerating the process can significantly damage the suede product.
Getting rid of salt stains in winter
In winter, even shoes treated with a good water-repellent composition inevitably suffer from the effects of snow and salt. How to clean a suede product from light stains that appear on it at home? For flawless instant results, use one of the following reliable products:
When asking how to clean dirt from suede, many people mean the automatic washing process. Unfortunately, you can’t just throw a dirty item into the machine to bleach it.
You can clean suede fabric, like its artificial synthetic counterpart, only by hand and only if absolutely necessary:
The item is quickly treated with a soapy solution with foam - do not soak, do not wash, do not twist. On heavy clothing (for example, sheepskin coats), the lining is lightly stripped before the procedure so that the product does not deform when drying without spinning.
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Important Tips
To remove dirt from suede sneakers as carefully as possible, you need to take into account the following recommendations:
- You should resort to treating shoes with water or washing them in an automatic machine only in extreme cases.
- You should not wear wet sneakers; you must wait until they are completely dry. A lot of dust will stick to wet shoes, which will be difficult to clean.
- To dry your sneakers, use only white paper. Colored newspaper can stain shoes, leaving unsightly streaks on them.
- To remove dust from suede, you need to use special brushes. They are sold in hardware stores and shoe departments.
- Suede does not tolerate rough handling.
If, after removing the stains, the color of the sneakers has become less bright, it can be restored using special aerosols.
