polishing dansko's

[applicant2002]

so i recently acquired black dansko's
the problem is that i have managed to scuff the edges of the front
has anyone tried shoe polish on dansko's?

i don't want to ruin the shoes further by doing this...does it work?

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[MoosePilot]

so i recently acquired black dansko's
the problem is that i have managed to scuff the edges of the front
has anyone tried shoe polish on dansko's?

i don't want to ruin the shoes further by doing this...does it work?

I don't think you can ruin black leather shoes with wax based shoe polish. A little kiwi and some elbow grease should make them look nice again.

Note, I have extensive experience shining shoes and no experience with Danskos.

 

[Adcadet]

If the surface isn't nice and smooth to begin with it won't take a polish and get shiny, but some good high quality shoe polish (Kiwi and Lincoln are both pretty well known) should cover up scuff marks and get them looking decent (dark black). My guess is that Danskos will do just fine, but of course, use at your own risk.

I too have experience shining shoes. I spent 4 years wearing spit-shined shoes, and to this day I polish my nice dress shoes and keep them looking sharp. Usually not the mirror finish, but well shined. I hate it when people dress up and look sharp but their shoes look like crap - at least wipe them down and get the dirt off them. Damn, makes me want to get my shine on. I can almost taste the Kiwi already...

 

[applicant2002]

Thanks...when I decide what to do, I'll post the results...

 

[Dr. J?]

To the OP:

I went ahead and put saddle soap on the 'non-shiny' black dansko's to soften them up a bit faster when I bought them. Seemed to work fine. It also got out the scuffs, as well. If you have the 'shiny' (patent) leather ones I would just go ahead and polish them with some black kiwi polish - I really don't think this would effect the look at all. For a better, long lasting result - burn your polish before you apply it. Yeah, light the can on fire and then blow it out in a few seconds. It'll go on a bit thick, but polishes out very nicely.

 

[Adcadet]

To the OP:

I went ahead and put saddle soap on the 'non-shiny' black dansko's to soften them up a bit faster when I bought them. Seemed to work fine. It also got out the scuffs, as well. If you have the 'shiny' (patent) leather ones I would just go ahead and polish them with some black kiwi polish - I really don't think this would effect the look at all. For a better, long lasting result - burn your polish before you apply it. Yeah, light the can on fire and then blow it out in a few seconds. It'll go on a bit thick, but polishes out very nicely.

Whoa! If it's true patent leather (which I sort of doubt) you should NOT apply shoe polish at all. A damp cloth or even Windex is fine.

I've done the "fire" trick in various forms and I remain unconvinced as to it's usefullness. An alternative method is to use a butane lighter to "bake" the shoe polish without actually setting it on fire, and yet another is to use a lighter to melt a thick coat of wax. Unless you really think you know what you're doing, I'd avoid it; otherwise, it's playing with fire, literally.

If you demand very high gloss, you can use Kiwi Parade Gloss. But unless you're shining your shoes daily or have a one day event that you need your shoes liking primo for, I'd just stick with regular Kiwi. In my experience regular Kiwi does a slighly better job of looking decent while being slightly neglected wereas Parade Gloss is less forgiving.

 

[Espion]

Whoa! If it's true patent leather (which I sort of doubt) you should NOT apply shoe polish at all. A damp cloth or even Windex is fine.

I've done the "fire" trick in various forms and I remain unconvinced as to it's usefullness. An alternative method is to use a butane lighter to "bake" the shoe polish without actually setting it on fire, and yet another is to use a lighter to melt a thick coat of wax. Unless you really think you know what you're doing, I'd avoid it; otherwise, it's playing with fire, literally.

If you demand very high gloss, you can use Kiwi Parade Gloss. But unless you're shining your shoes daily or have a one day event that you need your shoes liking primo for, I'd just stick with regular Kiwi. In my experience regular Kiwi does a slighly better job of looking decent while being slightly neglected wereas Parade Gloss is less forgiving.

Oh yeah, I would definitely avoid burning the polish. I've seen many cadets ruin their shoes that way. I, too, have extensive experience in shining shoes. I endorse the spit 'n Kiwi method, but that's how I've always shined my shoes when I had to shine them. It just takes a little time to get a decent basecoat on there and you should be good to go. Just understand that to keep them looking nice, you'll have to continue putting in a little effort.

Then again, there is no way I'm shining my Dansko's. They're my OR shoes and I don't really have the time for a two-bar shine (as we used to call it...two bars for the fluorescent lights reflecting off of our shoes). I'm just going to use a soft cloth and buff them once in awhile.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

Oh yeah, I would definitely avoid burning the polish. I've seen many cadets ruin their shoes that way. I, too, have extensive experience in shining shoes. I endorse the spit 'n Kiwi method, but that's how I've always shined my shoes when I had to shine them. It just takes a little time to get a decent basecoat on there and you should be good to go. Just understand that to keep them looking nice, you'll have to continue putting in a little effort.

Then again, there is no way I'm shining my Dansko's. They're my OR shoes and I don't really have the time for a two-bar shine (as we used to call it...two bars for the fluorescent lights reflecting off of our shoes). I'm just going to use a soft cloth and buff them once in awhile.

Don't shine them. Having scuffed Dansko's is like a badge of honor. It's like how you start with a super white coat that eventually gets dingy with all of your hard work. 😉

 

[allylz]

i just pretty recently got my danskos, which are the shiny kind.

i've noticed the shiny ones only take like a few wears to get scuffed. they scuff REALLLLY easy. on one hand, the shoes are the only things that don't kill my feet after being in them all day, so i appreciate that, but i wish paying $110 for shoes i'd get something that would stay nice-looking so i can wear them in clinic too...

i advise all those thinking of buying danskos to buy the non-shiny ones because my boyfriend got those and they seem a lot less scuff-able. either that or i'm a klutz and he walks carefully.

also, at the fancy shoe store where we got the shoes, i remember the salesman offered us some nice roll-on type of polish for like $8 that matched the shoes. it looked nice and easy like it didn't require a cloth or anything. i wish i had bought it now, i thought my shoes would wear better than this.

p.s. clue to dansko shoppers, they are far cheaper if bought at outlet stores, there is one in conshohocken i believe near philadelphia. this is my area, not sure if there are others.

 

[Adcadet]

also, at the fancy shoe store where we got the shoes, i remember the salesman offered us some nice roll-on type of polish for like $8 that matched the shoes. it looked nice and easy like it didn't require a cloth or anything. i wish i had bought it now, i thought my shoes would wear better than this.

I would avoid all roll-on and spray on polish like the plague. Actually, I'd rather be exposed to plague than have my shoes exposed to that crap. At least it's possible to survive the plague.