Guides
Maintaining hiking boots
Extend the lifespan of your hiking boots
After investing in new Alpina hiking boots, make sure their lifespan is a long one. This is easily achieved through proper footwear care.
Footwear care has three basic goals
- Ensure adequate water resistance, which fades over time and needs to be restored.
- Maintain breathability, allowing excess moisture from foot perspiration to escape the footwear.
- Preserve shape and appearance, since most of the footwear is made from natural leather, which occasionally needs its fat content replenished.
Footwear maintenance and care procedures
- First, remove the insoles so they can dry and air out.
- Before spraying and cleaning, remove the laces.
- Remove larger dirt using water, a cloth, and a brush.
- The interior can only be cleaned with a damp cloth or soft brush, to avoid damaging it.
- When drying, footwear must not be exposed to direct sunlight or heating elements.
- Footwear with a damp lining should be filled with newspaper, which is removed once dry.
- The best time for impregnation with a colorless spray and/or cream is before the shoe is completely dry, since the (still slightly damp) leather has more open pores at that stage. It’s recommended to first rub the cream well into the leather parts with a brush, then apply a thin layer of spray over the entire exterior of the footwear.
- Leather requires regular maintenance with a colorless spray and cream to protect the leather parts. Protection should be renewed every time the footwear is used in wet conditions (after drying) and with every cleaning.
Impregnating footwear
Almost any leather impregnation product is suitable for hiking boots. This includes sprays as well as various creams, waxes, and other conditioners. However, the following should be kept in mind:
- In addition to adhering to the leather surface, these impregnation products also penetrate into it. This introduces additional fatty agents into the leather, which help prevent water from entering through the natural pores.
- The sole is attached to the shoe through a special injection molding process, bonding the PU component (of the sole) to the leather. If this part of the leather (where the PU bonds) is over-greased, it changes the leather’s properties, which are crucial for effective bonding. As a result, the sole no longer adheres optimally, and it may begin to peel away.
- We recommend applying less grease in the area where the leather meets the sole (regardless of which spray or wax you use to protect the leather). Keep the leather soft and clean, but avoid oversaturating this area with waxes or sprays. An impregnation spray may actually be a better choice here, since individual applications are very thin. However, this thinness also offers considerably less protection to the leather.
- Keep in mind that wax will slightly darken the leather’s color.
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