Care Advice

Thank you for choosing to buy O’Keeffe Artisan hand crafted footwear. O’Keeffe fuses Luxury Italian craftsmanship with Irish heritage.

General Care

We have chosen the best natural leathers and components to make your shoes and due to some of the handcrafted techniques, polishing and natural colourings you may find tiny differences in the leather patination of each shoe – please do not consider these to be imperfections – they add to the character and have been created by hand. The leathers have been chosen for quality and longevity so try your best to follow the care instructions for your chosen material.

If your shoes become wet, avoid overexposure to direct heat when drying, let them dry naturally.

Always try to use a shoe tree and please use the shoe horn provided. Also, give your shoes a rest, do not wear them more that two days in a row, they need to breathe – this is said for all shoes not just O’Keeffe.

Aged & Washed Shoes

These shoes have been washed and distressed by hand. We do not recommend that you polish the leather as this will undo the distressing. They do not need any treatment. If your antiqued shoes become wet, do not panic, the distressed look will return when the shoes dry out naturally.

Suede

We do not advise you to use a suede brush to clean your suede shoes. The wire brushes are quite harsh and can mark the high quality suede that we use. You can steam your shoes to add a little life but please take care not to scald yourself! Please note that some suedes can transfer colour onto light fabrics so do take care when wearing with light colour trousers or lounging on a cream sofa!

Patent Leather

Patent leather cleaner can be found at most shoe retailers, use a soft cloth to apply and buff lightly. When storing your Patent shoes, try to use a shoe tree or pack inside with tissue as Patent tends to crease.

If you have opted for our Antiqued, hand worked Cordovan leather footwear, please read the folowing information.

Genuine Shell Cordovan is rare due to it having to undergo several finishing processes by hand which can take up to 6 months.

The tanning procedure is unique and its final product is a non-porous, lustrous waxy finish which has superior durability and suppleness.

The leather is tanned by hand and from each piece of leather only one pair of shoes can be made. For this reason you may find a slight difference between one shoe and the other, this is not considered a fault, on the contrary it adds to its uniqueness and its rarity.

To obtain a long lasting and individual patina, we recommend that you care for your shoes in the following ways:

Humidity absorbed by the leather during the day must evaporate, for this reason we recommend that you let your shoes “rest” for a day with a cedar wood shoe tree inserted.The cedar wood helps the absorption and moreover softens the vamp thus avoiding unappealing corrugations and bulging of the leather. Please never use plastic shoe trees!

In the event of rain, it is normal for Cordovan to water stain due to its vegetable tanning, Contact with water can sometimes cause Cordovan leather to form small raised areas called “welts”. This is normal, and the welts will recede once the shoes are allowed to dry.

Please follow the procedures below to maintain the natural patina:

It is important that the shoes dry out naturally – never near a heat source like a radiator, fan or fire.

With shoe trees inside the shoes, use only the thinnest film of paste wax polish and rub this gently into the shoes in a circular motion and leave for 30 minutes then repeat this process wait for another 30 minutes. Then take a damp linen cloth and wipe over the whole shoe. At this point the shoe will appear totally opaque. Let them dry and then brush with a horse hair brush and buff with a soft cloth.

This intense cleaning and polishing should only need to be done a few times a year or when necessary. Every day cleaning can be done with a soft moleskin cloth or soft brush.

Do’s & Don’t’s:

Do not over polish, excess polish creates a build up of product, it really is not necessary to use polish very often. A soft dry cloth is ample.

Do not use “neutral” polish it must be a paste wax polish.

Do not clean Cordovan shoes using saddle soap.

Do not attempt to clean Cordovan shoes using furniture polish, waterproofing agents or cleaning fluids.

Do not polish Shell Cordovan shoes while wet.