Yes, random I know, but I woke up one morning and whilst sat on ‘ the throne ‘ i looked over at a pair of boots and leather trainers in my bathroom and thought ‘ when did you last polish a pair of shoes? ‘ The truth is I can not remember. Even whilst working as a teacher in a school environment, smart appearance and all that – I honestly can not remember. So it got me thinking am I the only one? I know I’m not.
So let’s think back to when polishing your shoes was de rigeur. School (Remember weekends or was it on a Sunday) when part of your returning to school on the Monday was polishing your shoes? Again, am I the only one? Most kids don’t polish their shoes anymore, I know that – I’ve seen them. Maybe some schools still enforce the smart appearance with polished shoes – I’m not going to typecast what type of school I think will do here( possibly a lost opportunity for future work).
So apart from school, your polished shoe game would definitely be interviews and celebrations such as a wedding. Well maybe not all of them, but it just seems to be one of those things we no longer really do. Or is it that women tend not to have to do it and more men do? I don’t really know – I guess your job may play a really big part of your polishing regime. Let’s face it, for the majority of us, do we need to wear polished shoes?
Guys, one for you, with the fashion or do we call it a trend for grooming hair, beards, skin regime etc- has this played a role in your shoe cleaning habits?
The only way to discover the trends for polishing or not polishing is to ask – so I decided to ask a random selection of people – Do you polish your shoes? My intention was 100, but I asked 85.
The results were interesting….. of the eighty-five questioned, ten said yes, ten said sometimes and twenty-five said rarely. That left forty saying no. So almost half said no. Of course, this data could quite easily be different if I asked in the middle of a financial district or in the centre of a nightclub.
Ok, so as someone who works with leather i can recommend that you add a barrier of some description to your shoes/boots/trainers every now and then. Leather dries out in extreme heat and cold. So here in the UK, we don’t get extreme temperature changes but we do get our fair bit of wet and damp conditions. Leather here would welcome some loving with the application of something or another. Your choice of shoe barrier may be a polish, conditioner ( leather not hair), protector whatever. It will not only give your footwear a new lease of life but also work towards its longevity, therefore, making your footwear more sustainable. Isn’t that what we should all be working towards?
Will I take note of my own words, probably not – but its certainly food for thought.