6 easy tips to protect your leather shoes this summer

While storing your leather shoes properly is important, it need not be a tedious process. In summer, be especially careful that your favourite leather footwear are not exposed to sunlight for long hours. Experts offer tips to maintain your leather shoes:

■ Avoid keeping socks in shoes: If socks are left inside the shoes, they will cause your shoes to stink.

■ Keep them away from direct sunlight: Sunlight can lead to faster fading, drying, and cracking of leather. Ideal places to store leather footwear are darker places and slight ventilation to avoid formation of mildew.

■ Do not wear the same pair daily: Leather shoes need time to dry up naturally as they tend to soak moisture from your feet. Wearing the same pair daily will lead to the shoe wearing out faster.

■ Do not store shoes in plastic/grocery bags :As leather shoes need air to pass through the material, storing them in plastic or grocery bags is a strict no-no. Use bags made of breathable fabric instead.

■ Cleaning is important: You should clean, polish, and condition your leather footwear regularly to increase its lifespan. Always clean with a soft cloth before applying special shoe cream on soft leather hand-crafted products.

■ Keep away from water: Don’t get your leather products wet, especially hand-painted products.

LEATHER SHOES SOAK UP MOISTURE FROM YOUR FEET AND NEED TIME TO DRY. SO, AVOID WEARING THE SAME PAIR DAILY IN HUMID CONDITIONS

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK Avoid exposing leather shoes to direct sunlight for long hours