polish for vegan shoes

[PirateAargh]

Well, this thread is a bit more specific than just vegan shoe polish. I know it'll probably work on vegan leather, like black or brown, probably on PU, right? But I have some silver boots, just called "all man made materials". I'm not sure the material, but the texture is kind of crackly, and the silver is kind of cracking like it's dry in places. What I want to know is if anyone thinks a clear vegan polish might help them to not crack a lot. I know you have to keep leather polished so it stays hydrated, so to me it's rational. Feedback would be much appreciated. And this also could pretain to any non-leather shoes in general, since I don't know much about this sort of thing.

[bjorn again veg]

I don't think there is a Polish equivelant of the word 'vegan'
but 'vegetarian shoes' in Polish would be 'WEGETARIAŃSKI OBUWIE'
Hope that helps you pirateaarghski

[missleigh]

I just bought some vegan shoe polish from Moo Shoes for my husband's dress shoes: http://www.mooshoes.com/invoice_variant.cgi?rm=edit&product_id=4831

It's black, but it's really translucent black, rather than opaque. Still, I'm not sure about using it in silver shoes.

[oriecat]

VeganEssentials has a clear polish made by the same company as missleigh posted. I haven't tried it, but it is available.

[PirateAargh]

VeganEssentials has a clear polish made by the same company as missleigh posted. I haven't tried it, but it is available.

Yes, that is what I was thinking of, but I just don't know if it'd help or if it'd ruin the silver finish. The material under the silver is white. I can't really figure it out. Any ideas on how I might at least figure out how to... figure out what my shoes are made of or something like that? At any rate, is that what shoe polish is for... hydrating the material? I had always just thought it made the shoes shiny. I don't exactly take care of my shoes... um, well I haven't had shoes like that in a while, always wore sneakers or more fabric shoes. Yeah, so the question is where to find vegan polish, but would it help keep my shoes in good condition or is it more of a looks sort of thing?

[missleigh]

Yeah, so the question is where to find vegan polish, but would it help keep my shoes in good condition or is it more of a looks sort of thing?

I believe it's more of a looks sort of thing. The black, for example, is for covering up scuff marks and also making the shoes shiny.
I'm not familiar with a shoe treatment.

[PirateAargh]

Hmm... well I know in leather shoes they dry out if you don't put stuff on them, I thought. I believe Kiwi wax did something? Not sure, my sister's ex was in the army... but I've had leather shoes that dried up, so I thought my boots might be doing the same thing. Maybe polish doesn't do it but something else would. In that case, though, clear shoe polish might not help much.

[oriecat]

The stuff is made by Vegetarian Shoes, so why not email them and ask if they think it would do what you are needing? It's called dubbin instead of polish, so maybe it does do something else besides just shine.
information@vegetarian-shoes.co.uk

[soilman]

shoe "polish" is really mostly just wax, mixed in are some solvents. Often it is a blend of caranuba wax, beeswax, and petroleum waxes. It may have tiny amounts of animal material such as animal fat or glycerin, to control its consistency, speadability. And of course it may have carbon black mixed in, to help hide scuff marks on shoes. It does the same thing to leather as it does to a car. It may contain different solvents than floor wax (the plain bowling alley wax kind of wax, not the liquid wax stuff), such as Butcher's brand wax, or it may have the same; I'm not sure. So you may be able to use floor wax on your shoes. I'd write the floor wax manufacturer and ask; floor wax is cheaper than shoe wax. It helps make leather waterproof. Does the same for air-permeable (fiber-impregnated) urethane, such as Lorica or vegetan. Also makes them shiny. It may smooth down the appearacne of course or damaged surfaces, somewhat, or it may not. I doubt it would harm any type of resin shoes.

Car wax sometimes does indeed have polish, that is, a fine abrasive, mixed in with it -- which might damage the surface of leather or resin shoes -- so I wouldn't use car wax unless it specifically is labelled as containing only wax and no polish. The put polish in car wax because the paint surface gets dull thru oxidation, and the polish helps abrade this away, which helps make it shiny. Floor was and shoe wax never do. Abrading your floor would only be done with sandpaper, if it needs it.