Everything You Need to Know About Storing Specialty Items: Part I

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In this series, we want to highlight those possessions that are very valuable and require a bit more effort when it comes to storage. Things like shoes, formal wear, sweaters and batteries are all very important to our everyday lives and have an incredible amount of longevity if we take care of them properly.

Don’t worry – it’s very do-able if you have the right information, and we’re here to give you the details you need to make it happen without involving a lot of new equipment or time spent organizing.

Part I: SHOES

If there’s any one piece of clothing that everyone owns – it’s shoes. For many of us, we own a lot of shoes. Like, A LOT. Owning a lot of shoes means storing a lot of shoes – you can’t wear all of them at once!

They’re our hardest working accessory, and typically very expensive to replace. We’re focused on storing them for longevity and helping them support you and perform as long as they can.

Unfortunately, many of us share a habit of simply throwing them into a pile. This doesn’t cut it. The most important things when you’re storing your shoes is to keep them clean, shapely, temperature-controlled and dry.

Too much moisture, extreme environments, harsh environments and dirt and damage can all wear on shoes over time and make them lose their quality.

A few of our recommended tools for storing shoes properly and keeping them in tip top shape:

  • Shoe Tree
  • Shoe Boxes – the ones they arrived in will work just fine for this!
  • Shoe Shelves – there are great DIY ones you can build for an organized mudroom
  • Show Horns – these will become your best friend, especially with those nicer shoes that have a very distinct point

You want to store your shoes for all seasons somewhere where they’ll be dry and protected from the elements. If you have no choice but to store in the garage or another place that’s less insulated, airtight boxes will become necessary.

Clean your shoes thoroughly before storing them – this detail is essential. Use leather conditioner on your nicer leather shoes, and wrap all of them in acid-free tissue enough to hold everything in place but not so much that they stretch out.

The last important tip is silica packets. While many of us find these in new shoes and immediately throw them away. They can actually be quite useful when storing shoes as they eliminate moisture and keeping them fresh while they’re in storage.

How do you store and protect your favorite shoes? Leave us a comment and let us know down below! We always love to hear from you. J