Hi! As a punk leatherfag, I have always had an appreciation for leather as a material, and the beautiful items that can be made out of it. In my late teen years, I bought my first pair of doc marten boots. They made me feel handsome, sexy, powerful, and they quickly became one of the most beloved items in my wardrobe. As I worked to break them in, I gained a close bond with my boots, and over time developed a level of love and respect towards them that remains difficult to describe to this day.
Those boots served me faithfully for almost 6 years, before I was forced to retire them. The leather tore, chipped, and flaked. The soles split from their base, and the stitching frayed at every possible opportunity. The cause of this is, in large part, because I never put in the effort to care for and maintain them, despite the bond we shared. Sure I occasionally wiped off dust and debris, and made sure I cleaned off anything particularly gross, but the beautiful leather panels of my boots never once met saddle soap, cleaner, conditioner, polish, wax, dressings, or trimmings. This fact certainly showed on their overall appearance.
Right now I am wearing my second pair of doc marten boots. However, this time Im putting in the work to maintain them for as long as I can. The fact that I think caring for them is incredibly hot is another story.
Today, I would like to teach you some of the lessons I've learned about bootblacking, and talk about the tips and tricks Ive found to keep my care plan low-budget, environmentally conscious, and friendly to my specific disabilities (and maybe share some musings on my love for the leather kink community along the way!)
Like many natural materials (such as wood and wool), leather requires care and maintenance to remain in good condition for long periods of time. Whilst there is an understandable aversion to leather some people may have because it is a material that can only exist due to the death of a living creature, leather has some extremely meaningful differences to plastic leather alternatives that make it worth serious consideration. Most notably, leather can have its life extended! With proper love and care, leather products can last in wonderful condition for decades upon decades without major incident. Plastic leathers, however, cannot meaningfully have their life extended, and are ultimately destined for landfill. Inevitably, they will flake, rip, tear, disintigrate, or take on some other damage that will render it unusable. Natural leather can be maintained, repaired, reused, and recycled almost indefinitely. Many leatherworkers recycle leather from handbags, wallets, jackets, boots, and other items to make brand new creations that can be worn and loved all over again. This keeps it out of the trash! Yay! Also, its super fucking cool to see these creations (I, for one, have a collar I adore that was made out of recycled material from a discarded leather handbag).
Bootblacking also allows you to gain a greater appreciation for the items you own! It brings you closer to your shoes and increases your appreciation for the craft and skill that went into their creation! We live in a society in which we have become increasingly alienated from the labour that goes into the creation of our everyday items. We are asked to view our clothing as easily disposable, highly breakable, and only relevant to us so long as it's 'trendy'. Loving and caring for your leather, working to maintain them, and continuing to wear them for as long as you can is a radical act.
It would also be deeply remiss of me -- and highly hypocritical -- to ignore the erotic element of bootblacking. While it doesnt have to be erotic for you, its a practice that is erotic, sensual, or sexy for many people! You deserve to have the space to try that out and see if its for you! Leather kink rights!!!
That being said,
You can add other things to your kit like leather dyes, cement, and abrasive files, but if youre just looking to do basic maintenance the above list should suffice ^^
If you want additional resources on things to add to your bootblacking kit, check out anyone can shine!
Make sure to get that area between the tongue and eyelets! A bunch of dirt tends to get trapped there
You can also probably remove it by knocking your boots together over a bin, or with some paper towel
Work the cleaner into the leather with your toothbrush or dauber. I find that going in small sections panel-by-panel helps make sure Ive cleaned the entire boot and not accidentally missed an area.
Wipe it off with your rag, and repeat until the entire boot is clean. You may need to clean the same area multiple times.
There are two main ways of applying leather conditioner to your boots; with a rag, or with your hands. If youre averse to the scent or texture of the conditioner, or have sensitive skin that might have a reaction to it, applying it with a rag, letting it sit on the leather for a while, and then buffing out the excess with a cloth or horsehair brush will give you a lovely finish!
If, however, youre kind of a freak like me, applying the conditioner with your bare hands feels great. Letting your body heat warm up the product before applying it is genuinely helpful, and can let it glide on much smoother in my experience. Theres also something... very hot about being able to massage the conditioner into your boots, and feel how the texture of the leather changes as it meets the conditioner. Its also very useful to be able to gauge how the leather is absorbing the conditioner. I know with the conditioner I use, it tends to get a bit tacky once its been properly worked into the leather and had some time to absorb. Once absorbed, buff out the excess with a cloth or horsehair brush! It gives it a nice sheen and prevents the excess product from messing with any future steps.
Coloured polishes are great for recolouring scuffed areas and generally making the leather's colour nice and rich. Polishes and waxes can both add an extra layer of protection to your leather (such as waterproofing the leather), and will help achieve your desired level of shininess! Apply and buff to your hearts content. Allow to dry before further steps
Generally, you only need to clean and condition your boots every 3-4 months. If youre like me, this is a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, you get to enjoy your freshly maintained boots; the scent of the conditioner and polish, the beautiful sheen, the intoxicatingly smooth texture of the leather. On the other, you have to wait at least 3 months to do it all over again. Every time I do leather care for myself, I understand why people go to leather-bars and bootblack for others.
To my knowledge, our city only has one proper leather-bar. I've never been to it, mostly because I'm worried about having a poor experience. I'm transmasculine, fat, and disabled, and relatively young for the crowd. I wish those parts of my personhood didnt constitute as barriers to gain better access to my community. I hope that one day I'll be brave enough to go.
One of the things that can cause issues for me when Im bootblacking is bending. One of the main symptoms of our disability is chronic vertigo and nausea; both of which are severely exacerbated by bending for extended periods of time. Ive tried doing boot care at a desk, although I find the height to be a quite awkward. Its a bit too high up to comfortably get a good hold on the entire boot and be able to effectively manouvre it around as I work on different parts. Generally when taking care of my own boots, I find putting a rag on my knee, placing the boot on it, and then working from there helps. Ive also tried sitting on a low-ish stool so that I can put my boots on the floor when Im not working on them. That also means I dont have to put newspaper or an old plastic bag on the surface Im resting my other boot on while not working on it. This, however, raises the concern of standing up again (which is its own challenge with our condition).
I've also encountered some challenge with the materials. One of the leather cleaners Ive tried left a gross sticky sensation on our skin if it made contact with our hands in the course of cleaning our boots. Luckily, it wasnt too offensive to our autism, but it was definitely a mild sensory barrier to doing maintenance on my leathers. Leather care and maintenance can definitely be a high energy cost when we're having a low spoon day. I think this can be a real barrier to a lot of people taking care of their leather (that and the purchasing cost of cleaner and conditioner). I'm a staunch believer that even if all you can do is occasionally wipe your boots down to remove dirt, or do one big clean + condition a year, or hand them off to someone else to do for you, that youre doing a great job. It's also not a moral failing to not be able to do any care on your boots whatsoever, irrespective of my pitch on a moral justification of leather and boot care earlier in this article.
Part of my intention with this article is to introduce/reintroduce the idea that part of owning leather is having the dedication to maintain it, rather than viewing all clothing and accessories as purely disposable items that do not deserve the consideration or time necessary to further invest in taking care of them. It is another thing entirely to not be able to do that stuff or struggle to do so due to accessibility concerns.