Why Shoes Left Unworn for a Long Time Get Broken Easily When Finally Used?

I normally experience this with leather (or fake leather) shoes (men’s and women’s).

And is there any way to mitigate this problem without regularly using said shoes?

  • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    10 months ago

    Leather dries out over time when left to sit and becomes brittle. It must be treated with some thing like a leather oil rub or “saddle butter”. Fake leather is similar.

    When you wear them regularly from new before they dry out, the sweat and oil from your skin goes a long ways towards keeping the leather pliable.

    Artificial fabrics obviously don’t have this problem, unless exposed to sunlight.

    • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I’ve used mink oil on some of my leather items (belts, knife sheathes) and I found it softened them up quite a bit

      • mommykink@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Mink oil is good to have but I’ve never found anything to top Bicks #4 conditioner. It took me years and several thousands of dollars of leather products to cave and buy a bottle and I’ll never use anything else. If you’re serious about leather care, I’d recommend it highly