How do you protect your leather soled shoes?

[shopafrolic]

I have just spent over £100(!!) adding thin rubber soles to several pairs of leather soled shoes and it has made them really slippery to walk in, particularly on wooden floors. I caught sight of this product and wondered if anyone has ever tried it or can recommend anything else?

Do you get your shoes dry after daily use? Do you have a rack-style shoe rack where the soles get a good airing? Also, you're not supposed to wear the same shoes daily if they are exposed to the elements, give them a breather to dry out completely.

Good tips lljkk I thought that if it was raining you shouldn't wear leather soled shoes full stop? Have I got that wrong? I don't have a shoe rack, perhaps I should invest........

I got made redundant from A Very Expensive Shoe Place in 2008. People stopped wanting £600 Swarovski-caked 115mm dancing slippers for a period, can you believe it? Still bitter!

Anyway - one must wear-in leather soles shoes in the dry. It 'packs down' the leather fibres so they become very hard and then they're impervious to a small amount of rain. They'll never be waterproof but theyll withstand a shower. But not a puddle.

For the future; don't put rubber soles on them as then you can't send them back for repair. Proper expensive shoes are/should be repairable. For a fee, of course.

Yeah probably don't wear at all in rain, but not always easy to forecast weather or unexpected wet patches. Good advice from Kali.

Thanks lljkk. When the leather soles are black (with dirt) and shiny and rock hard that's when they don't slip and can handle wet pavement. But you'll see the very edges where they join the upper are still pinkish/weird flesh coloured leather - you don't want the water to soak that as it'll swell and become misshapen.

I can't remember if it's impossible to resole them when they have rubber on... I'm sure it isn't. We put a shoe care card in the boxes which explained what I've said and always thought that people who put leather soles on hadn't read the card properly. If you've got one it's probably what the spare heel tips (they must have a proper name but I can't remember that either! I've completely changed careers!) are attached too.

My point is rubber shouldn't be necessary and I'm afraid I don't have a solution to the slipperiness. And if one is spending £400+ on shoes they need looking after Cab to kerb only!

people who put rubber* soles on
attached to*