All of our dance shoes feature suede soles since they work well on almost any dance floor. Even though our shoes are durable, the suede needs more care than regular soled street shoes. Here are some tips on keeping your suede soles in tip-top shape.

• Wear your ballroom dance shoes indoors only! Never wear your dance shoes outside.  The suede will pick up all of the dirt, chewing gum, and other debris found on sidewalks, etc.  This is very damaging to your ballroom shoes and it can be impossible get the debris out of your dance shoes once it is in the suede soles.

• Carry your shoes in your shoe bag. This is also a good place to keep your shoe brush and maybe some sand paper in a small plastic bag. (We will talk about that later!)

• When in clubs, be aware of what you step into! Don't step in a puddle of beer or soda, the suede has a tendency to soak things up and most things other than water will soak in and make the suede stick together in shiny smooth glaze.  Once the beer or soda has been washed up, you do not need to worry so much.  The water will temporarily make your ability to spin and turn more difficult because it makes them grip the floor, but they will be fine after they dry out.

• OK, we have all been to clubs, and lets face it, you can not always avoid those spills!  For a really thickly glazed-over suede sole, scrape all of the debris you can off with a dull kitchen knife, or putty spatula. Once you get the really nasty stuff of simply brush as usual (though it will probably take you longer).  If it is really bad, take an old toothbrush and scrub the soles with plain water (this will help release really ground in beer and dirt, scrub gently, let dry, scrub gently again and repeat if necessary) If the suede is not glazed but simply clogged up with dust, scrub gently.

• Wire brush. To keep the nap in your suede, we recommend our stainless steel wire brushes with short steel bristles. You should use this whenever the soles get clogged up with dust or simply are no longer providing you with the grip you get from the ‘fuzzy’ suede.  You will not need to use it very often if you generally dance in a studio or ballroom, probably after 4-5 hours of dance, and maybe longer.  You will be able to feel when they need it, the suede will eventually get too much dirt and gunk in them so the nap is all squashed together and your shoes will feel slippery.   Of course, you will eventually brush away most of the nap, but you only need the tiniest nap to get the good effects. Buy a new brush when the bristles start to get bent over and are dull, and just plain do not fluff the suede up as well as it used to.  Believe it or not, the brushes usually wear out before the suede, especially if you are going to clubs.

• Sand Paper.  I took my favorite dance shoes in to the cobbler to get new heels on them (which is another great way of extending the life of your shoes). The shoe cobbler told me that he worked on dance shoes very regularly for local performing arts groups.  He told me from his experience that using a fine sand paper to fluff up the suede can be very effective.  I tried this once, and since then I keep a small sheet of fine sand paper in a plastic zip-lock bag along with my brush in my shoe bag.