How to Prevent Shoes from Peeling [Fix The Cracked Leather]

Wearing leather shoes on your special occasion, to impress your date, is a brilliant idea. But, It’s like a nightmare when you find your beloved shoe is peeling off its skin.

And after finding any peeling spots, you must try to fix and stop them before your dating schedule. Right?

Well, I’ll explain the causes and easy fixing methods along with the prevention process, Which I gathered from user feedback, including mine.

Without any delay, dive into it!

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How to Avoid Shoes from Peeling

Peeling your favorite leather shoes is quite disheartening. For your kind information, real leather shoes don’t peel, but you can’t wait until they leave their skin. So, try to avert the peeling situation from the beginning.

We all know, prevention is better than cure. Now I’m sharing with you some ways to keep your shoes secure. I’ll give you several tips that will help you to avert the shoe from peeling.

Let’s take a look to know the important tips to avoid peeling:

Try to purchase pure leather shoes that do not peel easily.
Don’t use harsh detergent or abrasive soap to clean your shoes.
After washing, try to dry them in natural airflow. Avoid direct sunlight because the UV ray makes your shoes darken so easily. And to lighten the leather boot color, you can use Acetone.
Apply some shoe polish to keep the moisture, because the leather shoe tends to dry after a few days.
Use the brush and cleaning tool to make them dirt free.
Without using proper precautions, try to avoid using your leather boots in the rain.
Before storing, make sure your shoe is properly dry.
To avert the hard cleaning process, just use some shoe oil to moisturize your leather boot.
Use the conditioner as often as possible, the peeling spot is coming from creasing. So, try to reduce the crease tendency of leather boots, by using some good leather oil.
Apply some leather shoe sealer to protect your shoes from external dirt.

These are the most effective and easiest ways to keep your shoes safe from peeling and flanking. After losing my favorite shoes for this peeling problem, I always took care of my shoes like a baby.

Try to apply some shoe oil or a waterproof coat to preserve your shoe for a long time.

Cause of Leather Shoes Peeling

The medicine works well when you know the exact diseases. So, causes are as just important as fixing.

Normally leather shoes are not peeling so easily, but there are some reasons behind these peeling off. And the peeling issues can come from any motive among them.

Here are the causes behind leather shoe peeling:

Old leather

Pure leather is manufactured from animal skin, and the skin lost its natural moisture and elasticity after getting old.

The old leather tends to be hard and sturdy. Because of their extra hard surface, you can’t bend them easily and little pressure leaves cracks on your shoe. Cracks are the first step of shoe peeling. You should follow some leather crack repairing ways before it’s too late.

Cleaning Products

Usually, we use some cleaning materials that are produced using alcohol. And alcohol is a little hard for leather products, they do not go well together.

Moreover, alcohol is the main reason behind discoloration. And the leather skin dehydrates quickly and eventually starts peeling off.

Stop using harsh cleaner or detergent, however, you can use some mild or saddle soap to clean your boots. It cleans your shoe properly without any harmful chemicals.

Direct Sunlight Exposure

Drying is the next step after cleaning your footwear. The leather shoes are quite delicate, and they can’t survive in direct sunlight exposure.

UV radiation creates some chemical reactions and breaks collagen. For the breakdown, the material lost its longevity and start peeling. So, you must dry your shoes in a natural airflow.

Synthetic Leather

Synthetic leather is cheap yet classy-looking leather for shoes. Synthetic and faux leather are quite popular due to their budget-friendly and affordable feature.

The well-known PU (polyurethane) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) synthetic materials are pretty famous in the shoe industry. And these kinds of leather have a more peeling tendency compared to pure leather.

They are not full-grain leather so, they don’t have much elasticity feature. Besides, for their sturdy feature, the crack appears soon.

Stain

Oil and grease stain are quite common in leather shoes. When the oil got stuck, the leather tends to stain for this reason.

You can not clear the oil easily and that trapped oil and grease invite the leather peeling situation.

Improper Fitting

Improper fitting play a vital role in creasing and peeling situation in leather boots.

On top of that, when you found ill-fitted shoes and try to improve the fittings by stretching them continuously, then that incident leads to peeling leather. Additionally. It reduces the actual lifespan of your leather shoes.

Irregular Care & Maintenance

You must maintain your shoes by following proper care and process. Our leather gears are so much delicate, little things easily spoil their natural beauty. A little rough and improper step can assist in starting peeling.

So, when cleaning or drying them, we should maintain each step precisely. And try to avoid harsh chemical products and high heat for easy drying.

I found these causes behind leather shoe peeling. Luckily, by giving a little care, you can decrease the chances of shoe peeling tendencies.

How To Fix Your Peeling Leather Boot

Usually real leather doesn’t peel easily, and when they start peeling, you wear them more than you want. Sometimes we found some leather shoes that show cracks and creases after wearing them for a couple of days, and they must be faux or synthetic leather.

But there is no use for an argument about real or faux leather, you just want to revive them. Right?

You can easily fix them in various ways. There are a thousand fixing methods, but now I’m sharing such methods that I use, and they work great during my time.

Let’s check the most effective methods of fixing your peeling shoes:

Leather Filler

Use leather filler, it’s a great option for all types of leather items to cover the peeling spots. Leather filler is specially designed for numerous leather items like leather jackets, bags, shoes etcetera.

You just apply the filler where you found the peeling spot after cleaning your leather shoes properly.

Just one thing you must remember before applying, pick the filler that matched exactly your shoe color. Because if you try the different colors, it looks weird and second class.

Paint or Dye

To remove or reduce the peeling spots of your leather shoes, the most used method is to paint or dye the leather shoe. You can use spray paint or acrylic color for dyeing.

First, you have to clean your shoe and remove the peeling leather precisely.

Secondly, spritz the spray paint all over the shoes, or apply the acrylic paint with a paintbrush.

Finally, dry them properly. Normally, a leather shoe takes around 24 hours to dry.

Nail Polish

I know it’s quite shocking to apply nail polish to fix the peeling spots. But trust me, this procedure works fantastic.

The nail polish is the instant hack for small peeling spots. You can say, it’s kinda five-minute crafts method. The nail polish patches the removed skin and offers an instant shiny appearance.

Note: Just use a small amount of nail polish because it contains acetone, which is eventually harmful to your leather shoes.

Shoe Goo Glue

You can find different types of peeling tendencies in your leather boots. Sometimes we found the skin is peeled from a vast area or lining, and the shoe goo glue is worked best in that situation.

Shoe Goo is a famous brand for its unimaginable shoe-repairing capability. This item is specially designed for leather shoe restoration.

Just apply the glue on the particular area and wipe out the excess glue from your shoe. Then completely dry the defined area before using the shoe.

Duct Tape

Duct tape works on the inner shoe lining to attach the line. It’s the only material that works on the inner sole, other products are only for the outer surface.

However, duct tape is good for a temporary solution, it’s not a long-term plan.

Being a leather shoe enthusiast, I applied each procedure according to my shoe color and nature. And these are the most effective methods I found. You can apply any of them and surely get a good result.

How to Store Your Shoes to Increase Lifespan

When you own a real leather shoe and don’t want to lose them in a short period, then you must take care of your boot to utilize every penny. There are some simple yet constructive methods of preservation.

Here is the procedure to store your leather shoes properly:

After every wear, you must clean your shoe and make them dirt free as soon as possible.
Replace your shoe with the other options, it helps to enhance the lifetime of your boots.
Condition your leather shoes after every cleaning. Leather shoes tend to be hard easily.
Try to avoid your leather boots in heavy weather such as rain or snowfall.
Polish your shoes before wearing them, it gives instant shine and keeps the skin moisturized.
When you preserve your shoe, make sure the area is well-ventilated.
You can use the shoe tree to polish them, which helps to prevent creases.

And these are simple methods of preservation. There is no need for any extra care to enhance your boot’s lifetime.