Shoes ruined or in need of tlc?

[Blommetje]

Hey guys,

I've just my Lowa Renegade GTX quite a bit but not nearly as much as I was hoping.

There a made of this gore tex layer and the outer layer is what looks likes blue suede.

Anyway, my feet do not smell like roses in general, so you can guess what happens when hiking. After a 3 week hike a local shoe guy in Nepal cleaned them (hot water and soap I assume) and gave the outside a treating with Meindl after wax with Honey or some. Small jar, was for leather boots.

Well, now my feet have their own swimming pool since breathebillity is gone and the leather looks like sheit.
See the pic. So, can this be cleaned, fixed and I'm I good to go? All advice welcome.

Note, I'm piss poor currently so buying new ones is not going to happen..

Thanks!

Alex http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160301/bb2f183d572004667098b57ee18344e6.jpg

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[Puddlefish]

I'd imagine the treatment will wear off over time. Could probably try to wipe down with denatured alcohol or something relatively mild that quickly evaporates to speed up the process. Once you get them breathable again, go with a dedicated gore-tex revitalizer.

[Rain Man]

"Breathable" fabric, especially in footwear, is pretty much a fiction anyway. IMHO. Many feet sweat far faster than so-called breathable fabric can "breath" out. Personally, I wouldn't think the treatment on the outside had much to do with the sweat on the inside.

Just my two cents.

[Slo-go'en]

The Renegade boots are mostly leather, both inside and out. The only venting is some holes poked in the leather around the ankle area inside and the fabric portion around the heel and tongue on the outside. Weather proofing the leather isn't going to change the breath-ability and is a good idea to keep the leather from soaking up water.

The only issue would be if the weather proofing clogged up the breathable fabric or soaked through the leather so much it clogged up the Gortex liner.

I have a pair of Renegades which I hate. They leaked like a sieve until I seam sealed all the stitching and they don't breath very well. Why they even bothered with a GTX lining is beyond me.

[Blommetje]

Thanks all for the info. I have to agree with a lot. The sweat has always been an issue... and they are also leaky at the moment. So I guess I have to go with new ones.

Truth is.. I bought them about 2 years ago and used them 1 year. I expect shoes of this kind to last a little longer. Considering the brand and cash paid.

Ah well, I'll wear them down and get new ones after I find wealth somewhere

Alex

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[Blommetje]

Ok, bumping an old topic but with new info.

I cleaned my shoes very, very well and to my surprise they came out real nice!
The original light blue came back real nice.

I cleaned them with a special hiking boot cleaner, lukewarm water and after drying for a bit I impregnated the leather with a special liqued. So, all was supposed to be well. I left for the day and came to find that there is a strange, black pattern in the shoe. One way worse then the other. The leather feels very dry here and not smooth, as where the blue is shiny and beautiful.

Is it glue from the sole? Any good tips/advice on this?

I'm quite excited on how the cleaning turned out so hopefully this can be fixed too! Tomorrow a fresh of laces and coming Friday a short hike. Wooohooo!

Alex

[brswan]

Ok, bumping an old topic but with new info.

I cleaned my shoes very, very well and to my surprise they came out real nice!
The original light blue came back real nice.

I cleaned them with a special hiking boot cleaner, lukewarm water and after drying for a bit I impregnated the leather with a special liqued. So, all was supposed to be well. I left for the day and came to find that there is a strange, black pattern in the shoe. One way worse then the other. The leather feels very dry here and not smooth, as where the blue is shiny and beautiful.

Is it glue from the sole? Any good tips/advice on this?

I'm quite excited on how the cleaning turned out so hopefully this can be fixed too! Tomorrow a fresh of laces and coming Friday a short hike. Wooohooo!

Alex
Good idea keeping them. I've been reading a lot of the newer boots, expensive ones like Lowa, are having sole issues.

For future reference Obenaufs makes some great leather conditioning and preservative products for not too expensive.

[Traveler]

If the sweating issue is the core problem, have you tried using wool or smart wool fabrics? In full leather treated boots, the wool will wick foot sweat out of the boot for evaporation. Its not like air conditioning of course, but I have not had soaking wet feet in a very long time with Smartwool socks in any boot I have worn.

[RockDoc]

Regrettably the new "boot" construction is just like running shoes, with similar short life.

Goodbye, long life of the good old Vibram days with quality welts.

[Greenlight]

Good boots deserve a trip to Hakky or if you're lucky enough to have a mom and pop shoe repair shop near you. You'd be amazed at what they can do. I have been lucky in the fact that I found a really workable setup first time around with Merrell Moab Ventilators and green Superfeet inserts with merino wool socks. I'm talking four season fantastic. So I'm not gonna mess with what works. They go on sale occasionally for around eighty bucks, which is a good price point for me, and I'll stock up before my thru. But if you paid through the nose for leather hikers and are watching the life drain from them, you need to get them to a shoe repair shop before looking at any other options.