Since there seems to be much interest about trekking shoes, I thought it might be a good idea to also write about how you can take care of them.

Most people seem intimidated by the caring for trekking shoes aspect of the footwear experience. The more expensive the shoes, the more people seem to worry that they may somehow spoil them by cleaning them. This is sheer nonsense. If you have invested in trekking shoes that will survive all kinds of conditions, I fail to see how a good cleaning will harm them.

Anyway, here is what I do with my shoes:

1. Regular washing: No rocket science, just water and mild soap. Most of the time, I just rub the soap in with my hands and rinse them off, or use a soft brush, if stronger initiative is needed.
2. Washing machine: I have washed them in the washing machine a couple of times, but I have found that it doesn’t do the job as well as my hands. However, each one has a different machine, and different experience with this, so experiment.
3. Frequency: I actually don’t wash them all that often. Usually, just letting them dry off nicely after use, and using fresh socks each time does the trick. If I get mud on them , I just brush that off. That’s it. When the work load is high, I alternate shoes each day, so that they remain dry.
4. Waterproofing and stuff: I have the waterproofing wax, but I can’t honestly say my shoes have really needed it much. Most of the time, they stay waterproof through washings as well. And when they get old, no amount of wax is going to get that waterproofing efficiency back, so I just keep them for dry stuff and buy new ones if I need good waterproofing. I have needed to do this only once. Most of the time, I have more interesting reasons to buy shoes. So, if stuff like that intimidates you, there is no reason you can’t skip it, and still have healthy shoes.
5. Repairs and replacements: I prefer to get repairs done on a minor scale than wreck the shoe and then go on a rescue mission. Same goes for frayed laces, torn lining, etc. Simple stuff I do, the rest, i get done. This will vary from person to person, I guess.

The point here is that it is really no different from washing clothes. If you are going to hesitate to get your trekking shoes wet with clean water, you are courting a whole load of trouble, or need to treat them as disposable once they are less than fresh.

Raka shares an awesome tip and phone number here. I admit that I use it sometimes too. He prefers to use this service called the Shoe Laundry run by a guy called Sandeep. There is a really wonderful story of ingenuity and enterprise behind this unique business, but that is for another day, and for my readers for training. Relevant here is that they do a wonderful job on all kinds of shoes, and also repair them and all. So basically, you make a call, their guy comes and picks up your shoes, and returns them fresh like you want to rub your cheek on two days later. His number is 09820526804.

So now you really have no excuse to not care for that precious investment.