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Statutory footwear material notation, shown in Portuguese and English.
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Conservação

Five
methods.

A brass brush that rescues suede will ruin smooth leather. Each material here gets its own instructions, and each one says which marks come out and which do not, because the second half is the half people need.

A white rubber midsole being scrubbed with a stiff brush, half clean and half still grey

Four rules that apply to everything

  • Never a washing machine.

    The drum and the heat separate the sole from the upper, on every model here. This is not a warning about shrinkage; it is the shoe coming apart.

  • Never heat to dry.

    A radiator, a hair dryer or direct sun shrinks and hardens leather permanently and drives yellowing in cotton. Stuff with white paper, dry slowly, in the shade.

  • Never bleach or optical brightener.

    On white leather and undyed cotton they set the yellowing rather than lifting it. The product looks better for a week and worse for a year.

  • Treat the whole panel, not the spot.

    Cleaning one small area gives you a clean circle inside a dirty panel, which reads as a stain of its own. Work to a seam.

01

Smooth and coated leather

Uppers declared couro or couro revestido with a smooth surface, and leather linings and insocks.

Method

  1. 01Take the laces out. They hold most of the dirt and they wash separately.
  2. 02Brush loose dust off dry with a soft brush before any water touches the shoe.
  3. 03Work a pH-neutral foam over the panel with a damp cloth, in circles, one panel at a time.
  4. 04Wipe the foam off with a second cloth, clean and barely damp. Do not let it dry on the leather.
  5. 05Stuff the shoe with paper and dry it away from radiators and sun, for at least twelve hours.
  6. 06On uncoated leather, finish with a colourless cream once a month if the surface looks dry.

Comes out

  • Dust and dry street dirt
  • Dry scuff marks that sit on the surface
  • Water-based food marks caught the same day
  • Salt tide marks from winter pavements
  • Grey transfer from rubbing against a bag or a doorframe

Stays

  • Oil and grease, once absorbed — the surface is porous and the oil goes in, not on
  • Dye lifted from dark denim or a dark car seat into pale leather
  • Ink
  • Deep cuts and abrasions through the finish, which can be filled but not undone
  • Heat damage from drying on a radiator, which shrinks and hardens the fibre permanently
  • Never put these in a washing machine. The drum separates the sole from the upper.
  • Never use bleach or a cleaner containing optical brightener. Both accelerate yellowing.
  • Never dry them with heat.
  • On coated leather, never use a solvent-based cleaner: it lifts the coating along with the mark.
White Care KitApplies to 20 models

02

Suede and nubuck

Uppers declared couro with a raised or sanded surface.

Method

  1. 01Let mud dry completely. Wet mud pushes into the nap; dry mud brushes off.
  2. 02Brush the whole panel with a brass or crepe brush, always in the same direction.
  3. 03Work dry marks with a crepe rubber eraser, then brush the crumbs away.
  4. 04For a water mark, dampen the entire panel evenly rather than spot-treating, then dry it flat and brush the nap back up.
  5. 05Re-apply a protector spray after cleaning, and always before the first wear.

Comes out

  • Dry mud and dust
  • Scuffs where the nap has been flattened rather than removed
  • Light water marks, if the whole panel is treated evenly
  • Salt marks

Stays

  • Oil and grease — on nap they spread further and faster than on smooth leather
  • Dye transfer
  • Areas where the nap has been abraded away to the base, which cannot be regrown
  • Marks set by heat drying
  • Never put these in a washing machine.
  • Never use a smooth-leather cream or wax on nap: it mats the fibres flat and does not come back.
  • Never spot-clean with water on one small area only. Treat the whole panel or you trade a stain for a ring.
  • Never use a brass brush on smooth leather.
Suede Care KitApplies to 9 models

03

Cotton canvas and woven textile

Uppers declared têxtil in a closed weave, and textile linings and laces.

Method

  1. 01Remove the laces and the insock and wash both separately by hand.
  2. 02Brush dry dirt out of the weave with a medium brush.
  3. 03Work cool water and a little neutral detergent into the fabric with a soft brush, in small circles.
  4. 04Rinse by wiping with a clean damp cloth several times. Do not hold the shoe under a tap.
  5. 05Stuff with white paper — coloured paper transfers dye into wet canvas — and dry in the shade for a full day.

Comes out

  • Mud and dust
  • Most water-based food and drink marks caught early
  • Grass marks, partially
  • Surface grime across the whole upper, which lifts evenly if you treat the whole panel

Stays

  • Oil and grease, which sit between the yarns rather than on them
  • Ink and dye transfer
  • Yellowing of undyed cotton, which bleach makes worse rather than better
  • Stretch: canvas that has given does not come back
  • Never put these in a washing machine or a tumble dryer. Heat and the drum separate the sole from the upper.
  • Never use bleach or a brightener on undyed cotton.
  • Never dry them in direct sun, which drives yellowing.
White Care KitApplies to 6 models

04

Engineered mesh

Open-structure textile uppers.

Method

  1. 01Brush dry, gently, with a soft brush only. A stiff brush snags and breaks the mesh filaments.
  2. 02Wipe with cool water and neutral detergent on a cloth, blotting rather than scrubbing.
  3. 03Press a dry cloth against both sides to draw the water out of the open structure.
  4. 04Dry in the shade, stuffed with white paper, away from any heat.

Comes out

  • Dust
  • Light surface marks
  • Most water-based marks caught the same day

Stays

  • Anything oily, which coats the filaments on all sides
  • Broken or snagged filaments, which cannot be rewoven
  • Dye transfer
  • Never put these in a washing machine.
  • Never use a stiff brush.
  • Never wear them in heavy rain and then dry them with heat.
White Care KitApplies to 1 model

05

Rubber midsole and outsole

Every outsole here, declared outros materiais.

Method

  1. 01Work a stiff short-bristle brush with foam cleaner along the midsole, not across it.
  2. 02Run the brush into the join between sole and upper, where the grey collects first.
  3. 03Wipe the foam off before it dries, or it leaves a tidemark of its own.
  4. 04For the tread, a brush and plain water is enough. Do not soak the shoe to clean the bottom of it.

Comes out

  • Grey street film, which is most of what makes a white midsole look old
  • Scuffs from kerbs, mostly
  • Marks at the join between sole and upper

Stays

  • Yellowing of the rubber itself, which is oxidation through the material rather than dirt on it
  • Cuts and gouges in the rubber
  • Tar
  • Never use acetone or a solvent on rubber: it softens the compound and it attacks the cement at the join.
  • Never soak a shoe to clean its sole.
  • Never use a whitening product that relies on bleach. It sets the yellow rather than lifting it.
White Care KitApplies to 35 models

Cleaning does not undo ageing.

None of these methods reverses yellowing, and no product we sell claims to. Yellowing of white rubber is oxidation through the material, not dirt on the surface of it. What you can remove is the grey film of street dirt that sits on top, and doing that regularly is why a well-kept pair looks better than a neglected one — not because the rubber went back to white.

Creases do not come out either. Both are set out on the product page of every light-coloured pair before you buy it, and the line between them and an actual defect is drawn with examples on Garantia.