Suede is an ideal material for shoes, as its open-pored structure makes it very breathable. However, it also requires a lot of care in order to remain beautiful and stable for a long time.
Here we give you a few tips on how best to clean and care for your ZAQQ suede barefoot shoes.
What is suede?
The generic term for suede is rough leather. In contrast to smooth leather, the surface is roughened, as can be deduced from the name. However, it is not rough, but rather velvety.
Rough leather is often colloquially referred to as wild leather. Strictly speaking, however, this is not correct. Wild leather comes from wild animals and is extremely rare in the shoe industry. There are simply far too few animal skins from wild animals available.
Suede leather is a subspecies of rough leather. The outer animal skin is smooth (smooth leather), the inner side facing the flesh is rough (suede leather).
ZAQQ barefoot shoes made of suede leather
We particularly like to use suede because its open-pored structure makes it much more breathable than smooth leather. This makes it perfect for sports and outdoor shoes or summer sneakers.
Can you recognise suede at first glance? Maybe that used to be the case. Nowadays, there are vegan materials that look amazingly similar. So take a quick look to see if your shoe is actually made of suede to choose the right care. You will see the material information under the detailed description of the shoe.
Cleaning and care of suede leather
The best way to clean suede is with a soft brush or sponge. It is gentler to clean the shoe completely dry. So if you come home with wet shoes, allow them to dry well before cleaning and caring for them.
With the NUBUK Box Classic sponge or the dry cleaning brush from Collonil, you can gently clean your barefoot shoes and straighten the suede. This prepares it perfectly for care.
Once the shoes have been dry-cleaned, it's time to care for them. We recommend the organic Bamboo Lotion for this. It not only provides nutrients and moisture, but also removes stubborn dirt. After spraying, you can simply brush off the dirt. The lotion must dry thoroughly before you waterproof your barefoot shoe to protect it from water and dirt.
Waterproofing your suede barefoot shoes
Once you have cleaned and cared for your suede shoes, the final step is to waterproof them. The highly effective deep and surface impregnation spray Nanopro is particularly suitable for this.
You should always spray your shoes outside or in a well-ventilated room. Make sure that you spray the suede equally from a distance of approx. 20 cm. Then leave the shoe to dry in a sheltered place. However, never use heat to speed up the process. Firstly, this can cause unsightly stains and secondly, the impregnating agent cannot penetrate into the centre of the leather. Suede is only protected from water and dirt if the nanoparticles can penetrate deep into the pores. It is best to leave your ZAQQs to dry overnight.
Once the impregnating agent has been well absorbed and dried, the suede is treated with a soft brush or a soft sponge. This restores the typical velvety surface.
The soft foam rubber sponge that you used to clean the shoes can also be used to finish the suede.
Attention: Before wearing for the first time!!!
When you take your ZAQQs out of the box, you don't have to clean them of course, but they should definitely be impregnated before wearing them for the first time. Firstly, this will prevent fine dirt particles from penetrating the suede and secondly, it will make them water-repellent.
