1. First, insert your shoetrees, then remove any dirt and dust by brushing the leather with a horsehair brush. This prevents particles of dirt being rubbed against the delicate leather of the shoe during polishing and causing damage to the shoe.
2. Apply a simple shoe cream that will nourish the leather and keep it supple. Apply a thin coating all around the shoe with a cloth and rub it in well. Usually, we would use a neutral cream so that you do not alter the colour of the shoe, however, if you want to darken the colour, you could use a slightly darker cream. It can be very unpredictable what colour the shoe will be and although you can darken a shoe it is very difficult to lighten it if you make a mistake so please be very cautious. An added factor to remember is that leather is very absorbent so it will look darker when you apply cream due to the cream being absorbed into the shoe. Always allow the shoe 20 minutes or so after applying cream to see what change of colour there may be.
3. Apply a wax polish, the best contains beeswax, with a cloth and allow to dry for 5 minutes or so. The shoe will probably look fairly dull at this stage so now you can use a fine horsehair brush to polish the shoe by rubbing backwards and forwards. This action causes friction between the brush and the polish making it melt - this is what makes it seem to shine. You can apply a second coat of wax for a deeper shine and polish as before.
4. As a final touch, you can either use a soft cloth and rub the shoes down to get rid of any small bits of wax that are left or, even better, use a nylon rag such as an old pair of tights as they will bring the shine out even more.

This is a beautiful soft yearling leather with a natural lightly grained pattern. The skins are first chemically softened in wet drums and then tumbled in dry drums to achieve the required malleability. The burnishing is achieved by a second vegetable tanning process which allows the leather to bruise.

This is a chrome leather with a veg retan.