#LifeHacks: How To Clean Suede Boots Without Destroying Them

My boots after cleaning. I forgot to take a before pic. (Duh!)

I bought a seriously gorgey pair of camel coloured suede boots from River Island recently, the kinda boots that had it all; they looked stylish, went with ALL of my favourite outfits and were super comfortable too, so you’d imagine my devastation when a week or two in I rather stupidly decided to wear them on a night out – a night that ended in Copper’s no less – and discovered the next morning that after all of the toe stepping and drink spilling, they were completely destroyed. Sob.

Suede is notoriously hard to clean, and despite an extensive Google search on my part (I found myself trawling speciality suede websites, srsly) I couldn’t find a fix that wouldn’t potentially make them worse or leave me out of pocket. Then I got chatting to fellow STELLAR staffer Jennifer, who told me that all I needed to bring them back to life was a little warm water and a baby wipe.

So I tried it, and guess what? They came up trumps. Moral of the story: don’t wear your favourite suede boots to a club, but if you do and they get destroyed, here’s what you need to do…

1. Grab a baby wipe. I used Johnson’s Baby Gentle Cleansing Wipes, €12 for 12 packets. Steer clear of face wipes though. They contain alcohol which may damage the suede.

2. Dampen the wipe with a little warm water.

3. Next, lightly buff the wipe over the suede in circular motions, covering the entire surface of the shoe.

4. Then leave them to dry. You might like to stuff some socks in there if you’re worried about them losing their shape while wet.

5. After 20 minutes your boots should be as good as new.

Psst! This technique will also work on bags, gillets and any other suede or suedette items you have. Life saver!

• Boots
• Fashion
• River Island
• suede