If you’re an active walker or runner, you need to throw on a pair of sneakers and head straight towards the door for your morning run. While staying active is an excellent way for you to maintain your good health, wearing worn-out shoes may cause pain and other complications.
A good pair of shoes allows your feet to heal as you walk or run because they can provide efficient stability and support to your feet. Wearing heavily worn shoes, on the other hand, may result in serious injury to your feet, knees, hips, back, or entire body.
Indeed, you need to ensure that you’re wearing a well-functioning pair of shoes so you can enjoy your daily walk or run. In addition, you keep your feet healthier and your body from any form of injury by aiding perfect alignment of your foot as it touches the ground.
In this article, you’ll learn four valuable strategies for extending the lifespan of your shoes.
- Store Them Properly
After a long day of working or running, people generally feel the urge to instantly throw their shoes anywhere at home. When you throw these items on a pile of other shoes, they can get damaged. Instead, you have to provide them with proper shoe care by storing them properly.
For proper shoe storage, it’s ideal for you to keep them away from direct sunlight and a humid environment so you can sustain the color and shape of your shoes. If you bought a high-end pair of shoes, chances are they came with a handy dust bag to keep them safe. However, if you’re not fortunate enough to afford any, you can use a pillowcase as an effective substitute for this item.
Maintaining a clean and dry closet is the key to preventing the growth of mold. This is especially important in warm and humid climates. Here are 10 simple ways to prevent mold on shoes in a closet.
- Repair If Necessary
Protecting your favorite pair of shoes and extending their life span requires you to replace the soles regularly. That said, you need to assess the soles’ condition and contact the nearest shoe service provider before it’s too late.
If these items are beginning to look like they’re on the way out, you must avoid using them. Doing so will affect the rest of the shoe, which makes it irreparable. On the other hand, you may attempt to fix it yourself if you don’t have time to visit a shoe expert or don’t want to pay for repair costs.
Meanwhile, you only need at least 10 minutes to replace torn shoelaces and fix frayed fabric instead of purchasing a new pair of shoes. However, if you don’t have available shoelaces to repair your existing one, you can tape the aglet tips so they can fit into eyelets.
- Clean Your Shoes Using Effective Shoe Care Products
Regular shoe care is essential to lengthening the lifespan of your shoes. With the help of premium shoe care products, you can keep using your shoes for a long time. These products include a polishing cloth, leather cream, water prevention spray, shoe cream applicator, cleaning gel, and sneaker whitening polish.
In addition, cleaning your shoes requires you to use these products and other supplies like baking soda, dish soap, leather conditioner, magic eraser, and white vinegar. But before you start your shoe cleaning session, you have to place your shoes on a shoe tree and fill them with crumpled newspaper to help them retain their original shape.
Meanwhile, you may begin by eliminating loose dirt from the midsole, outsole, and uppers with a soft-bristled brush. Then, apply a small amount of a mild cleaning solution to wash the laces. If you have to wash your insoles, you should take them out first. Next, clean with your solution, and make sure to give them time to dry before returning them.
Significantly, you have to avoid rubbing all sides of the shoes because doing so wears down the fabric and spreads any remaining bits of dirt. Finally, you must make sure to completely air dry your shoes for at least eight hours before wearing them for your next activity to avoid unwanted odor.
- Practice Shoe Rotation
One of the reasons people wear shoes is to protect their feet and legs from many risks, like sprains and blisters. Consequently, allowing your shoes to have a day off in between daily activities enables all pairs to sustain their structure longer. In turn, it provides you with the durable cushion to support your need.
However, if you regularly use your shoes, they become less capable of providing you with the protection you need to prevent small aches once they become worn down. Therefore, if you have a favorite pair of shoes and you use them every single day, you can purchase a similar pair.
Alternatively, you can choose another style and rotate them at least twice a week. This is to ensure that all the muscles in your feet and legs function slightly differently in each pair. As a result, you can successfully take good care of your shoes by reducing the chance of repetitive overload.
Key Takeaway
As an active user of shoes, you have to sustain the durability of your pairs so you can continue to take advantage of their benefits. That said, you have to consider following these four effective strategies to extend the lifespan of your shoes. In turn, you won’t have to purchase many pairs after you ruin one pair, which helps you save money.
Iskra Banović is our seasoned Editor-in-Chief at BlueFashion. She has been steering the website’s content and editorial direction since 2013. With a rich background in fashion design, Iskra’s expertise spans across fashion, interior design, beauty, lifestyle, travel, and culture.
