Side profileF-06 — Line F
Suede Starter Set
Sand suede with the eraser-and-brush kit it actually needs, plus a spare pair of insocks.
$168USD, one-off purchase
$20 below the $188 the three items cost separately.
Adding does not open the cart. The count in the header goes up by one.
- Free standard shipping over $129. Below that it is $12. Delivery windows
- 14 days to withdraw without giving a reason. Try them indoors on carpet. Livre resolução
- 3-year legal guarantee of conformity under Portuguese law. Garantia
- Livro de Reclamações Eletrónico
Specification
Everything we measured.
Figures are taken from a size EU 42 unless a range is given, and they are the same figures we hold in production.
Build
- 01
- Choose your size for the pair at checkout.
- 02
- Spray the pair before the first wear. That is the single step that matters most on suede.
Chemical compliance
- Chromium VI in leather
- ≤ 3 mg/kg
- Azo dyes
- Within REACH Annex XVII limits
- Nickel release, metal eyelets
- Within REACH Annex XVII limits
How this pair is cleaned, and what will not come out.
Suede and nubuck
- 01Let mud dry completely. Wet mud pushes into the nap; dry mud brushes off.
- 02Brush the whole panel with a brass or crepe brush, always in the same direction.
- 03Work dry marks with a crepe rubber eraser, then brush the crumbs away.
- 04For a water mark, dampen the entire panel evenly rather than spot-treating, then dry it flat and brush the nap back up.
- 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.
Rubber midsole and outsole
- 01Work a stiff short-bristle brush with foam cleaner along the midsole, not across it.
- 02Run the brush into the join between sole and upper, where the grey collects first.
- 03Wipe the foam off before it dries, or it leaves a tidemark of its own.
- 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.
Smooth and coated leather
- 01Take the laces out. They hold most of the dirt and they wash separately.
- 02Brush loose dust off dry with a soft brush before any water touches the shoe.
- 03Work a pH-neutral foam over the panel with a damp cloth, in circles, one panel at a time.
- 04Wipe the foam off with a second cloth, clean and barely damp. Do not let it dry on the leather.
- 05Stuff the shoe with paper and dry it away from radiators and sun, for at least twelve hours.
- 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.
What is in this set
Each item keeps its own label and its own care method. Sizes for the pairs are chosen above, separately.
- couroupper: leather.
- têxtillining and insock: textile.
- outrosoutsole: other materials.
Suede Cupsole
$118
C-01 · cupsole · Sand
Sand suede on a white cupsole. Suede is leather — the nap is the flesh side raised — so the label still reads couro.
Not footwear — composition listed
F-03
Eraser, brass brush and protector spray. The nap needs abrasion and lifting, not washing, which is why none of this is wet.
Not footwear — composition listed
Insole Pair
$26
F-04 · Natural
A replacement pair of leather-topped insocks. They are a consumable: the insock in a shoe you wear daily is finished long before the shoe is.