Leather is a flexible material that can be stretched out or even shrink with some methods. If you want to shrink your shoes that are stretched out because of too much use or even, if you have new shoes that are too big then you must know how to shrink leather shoes with vinegar.
Vinegar has the ability to contract the leather skin of the shoes and shrink its stretched condition and fit in your feet. Whereas the process of shrinking may not be difficult but it needs to tend with care otherwise you won’t get better results.
It has always been an issue that shoes perfectly match your personality are difficult to find. If you get them luckily then either they are slightly big for your feet or stretched out due to wear. There is a solution for leather shoes to shrink them to get better fit, like suede, leather, and canvas shoes.
You just need to use a wet cloth and apply heat to make the leather shrink of dress shoes, sneakers, boots, or heels or by adding inserts to them.
How to Shrink Leather Shoes with Vinegar?
Here is the procedure to shrink the leather shoes with white vinegar you can either use apple cider vinegar.
- Take a pair of old socks and 1 cup of white vinegar in a bowl, soak the socks in the vinegar and place them in each shoe one by one. Do not squeeze them just put as it is and let them soak by insides of shoes thoroughly for 1 or 2 hours approximately.
- As I have told you vinegar has the ability to contract tissues of leather so the socks full of vinegar would shrink the leather shoes. Now remove the socks and discard them from the shoes and place them in a warm location where they can dry completely. It’s better to keep them in sunlight it will help shrinking more easily and dry them fast.
- You can shrink them more with water wet them with water for damp, not for soaking.
- Expose them to direct sun and allow time to dry thoroughly but be careful when they are fully dried remove them from the sun otherwise, the leather would have cracks on it.
- Now put on your shoes and if you think they are still big to wear and need more shrinking then go with the procedure of using water.
Shrinking your Shoes with Water
Some of the leather shoes are so much stretched out or too big to wear. You are unable to stay stable in big shoes so you need to shrink them as the leather shoes look weird on your feet when they are stretched out too much. Apply the process to shrink your shoes.
- Well, this process is a bit risky for your new leather shoes because water has the potential to damage leather or even if you are shrinking old, stained, or cracked shoes to shrink. There is another option to prevent leather shoes from damage is to apply the leather protector solution where you want to do the process. But remember it will become more resistant to water and you cannot get the desired result.
So if you want to apply the leather guard then allow it to dry fully before going ahead to continue the process.
- Damp the shoe sides and top of the area which is too large such as toe. Take a small spray bottle and fill it with water or even you can dip your fingers in water and rub the area of the shoe you want to shrink. Do this until it gets damp enough keep in mind that do not let the water go inside especially on soles or the base of the shoe where it is not needed.
- keep them in direct sunlight and allow them to dry yeah it takes longer than the other methods of drying like with a blow dryer. But this process will reduce the chances of heat damage to the shoes. So put them outside or near sunny windowsill and keep checking them after a few hours if they are dry or not.
- If you do not have enough time or the sunlight level and temperature are inadequate for drying shoes, then you can use a blow dryer to dry them. Turn on the blow dryer and put it on the lowest temperature settings and keep the dryer at a distance of 6 inches away at least from the shoe to avoid burning or damaging the shoe.
- You can use other sources of heat or drying the shoes but they are risky like putting the shoes near the fireplace or oven may damage the portion of the shoe which is not wet and can burn the area. So drying with a dryer is a good option instead of heating up them with burning fire. Suppose if you do not have a dryer then you can put them near the fireplace but at a distance where it’s not very hot check by your hand.
- Repeat the procedure if necessary to make little adjustments while it depends on the thickness and type of leather shoes. If they are too large and stretched out then do this process 2-3 times to shrink the shoes and heat them the same way of course.
- When you finished dried your shrink shoes then apply some leather conditioner to them. You can get one from the market or purchase it online, as the water and heat treatment may cause cracks or stiff leather shoes. So the leather conditioner will help to smooth the surface of the shoes and prevent more damage. Read instructions on the packing and follow them for better results, if you don’t find any instruction then go in a simple way.
Use a soft cloth to rub the conditioner on the shoes and let them dry without any heat treatment anymore. Just put them aside for some time then you can wear them. The leather conditioners are specific with the type of leather ask the shopkeeper which one to use to condition your shoes.
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Good Luck?
Team – ShoesImpact
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