Boot care by leather type

Over the past few months, our team has been getting a lot of questions about boot care.

There’s an endless amount of colors and leather types available, that are used on riding boots, short boots, sneakers, and other De Niro products. While some leather types are used all over the boot, some are just used in small details. You may wonder how to take optimal care of your riding boots, with all these different colors and leather types?

Read all about it, in this week’s new blog post!

Boot care products

Below, you will find boot care tips for several leather types, like matte WRAT leather, lacquer Brushed or Patent leather, among other special leather types. Whenever a certain product is mentioned, simply click on it, and our website will take you straight to that product page. Therefore, we can try to make it as easy as possible for you to find exactly the right leather care products for your De Niro boots. Do you have any further questions after reading this blog? Please do not hesitate to contact us for more information!

Have a look at all boot care products here.

WRAT leather

The abbreviation ”WRAT” stands for De Niro’s unique technology that is used in their matte leather types. Read all about this WRAT technology here. WRAT leather is used for all matte De Niro leather types. This matte leather is available in more than 20 colors!

Boot care

Our standard boot care page will give you a general idea of how to treat matte De Niro boots. In this blog, however, we’ll go even further into detail on how to treat boots with matte leather! Want to have a closer look at how to clean matte leather boots? Have a look at the boot care video of our employee Janneke here.

Step 1

Firstly clean the sole of your boots with a soft brush. Next, gently brush off all the dirt from the bottom of the sole, and of the stitches in the sides, where the sole is stitched to the boot. Make sure that you don’t scratch the leather with the brush! Usually, a smaller brush is the easiest to use. A simple and soft horse grooming brush will do!

Step 2

Secondly, use a cleaner on the leather of the boot. Our De Niro boot cleaner can be bought separately, or together with our De Niro boot cream, in a very convenient boot care kit. In our boot care kit, you will find some sponges. These can be used to help get the dirt off the leather.  In order to get the most excessive dirt off, simply spray some boot cleaner on your boots, and gently rub off all the dirt with one of the sponges. If you got our boot cleaner separately, and don’t have one of these soft sponges, simply use a clean rag or sponge that you have at home. Make sure that you pay extra attention to cleaning any stitches and folds in the boot. This will prevent the leather from cracking in those areas.

Step 3

After you have gotten all the dirt off your boots, let them dry for a little while. When they are completely dry, use the second sponge from our boot care kit to apply our De Niro boot cream. Put some boot cream on your sponge and spread it out evenly all over your boots. Then gently rub it in, until you can no longer see any areas that are wet from the cream. In addition, make sure that you pay extra attention to the stitches and folds in the boot.

Frequency

By following steps 1, 2, and 3, you will ensure an optimal condition of the leather. Doing this regularly will keep your boots clean and supple, and prevent the leather from wearing out. We recommend that you treat your riding boots with our boot cleaner and boot cream at least once per week when you ride every day, and at least once every two weeks when you only ride once or twice per week. Below, you will find more information on how to take care of the additional parts of your boots and different leather types.

Extra care

If you want to make your boots shine a little brighter for a competition or clinic, or if you want to enhance the deep color of the leather, you can add a fourth step: De Niro shoe shine. Make sure to get this shoe shine in the exact color of the leather. If you use shoe shine in a slightly different color, it might stain your leather or leave stains on your other tack, such as your saddle pads.

The use of De Niro shoe shine is very easy. Start by putting a bit of shoe shine on the leather, spread it out evenly with a rag. Next, let it dry, and then rub it in with nylon. Rubbing it in when it has already dried well, will make your boots shine more than ever! Instead of shoe shine, you can also use our very convenient and easy-to-use De Niro shine sponge!

Please mind that it is also very important to take care of the zipper in your boots, because it makes them last longer! Use our De Niro zipper spray to help keep your zippers clean and easy to use. We also recommend that you keep your boots safe when stowed away, by using boot tensioners and a boot bag!

Special leather

Most boots that are partly made in brushed or patent leather, also have a part in matte leather. For example, most boots with a brushed shaft have a matte foot. Any matte parts of the boot can be treated as described above, under the WRAT leather boots care tips.

Any brushed or patent parts of your riding boots should be cleaned as described below in order to ensure the durability of the boots:

• Step 1: Use our De Niro boot cleaner and a soft, clean rag or sponge and gently rub all the dirt and sweat off the brushed parts of the boot.
• Step 2: Use our De Niro lacquer maintenance oil on all brushed or patent parts of the boot. You can get this product in black or natural. Use the black lacquer maintenance oil on boots that only have black leather, and the natural lacquer maintenance oil on any other leather color. Apply a minimal amount of oil, and spread it out evenly. Let it dry, rub it in, and your boots will shine bright as ever before!
  Instead of lacquer oil, you can also use our very convenient and easy-to-use De Niro shine sponge!

De Niro offers more than 100 special leather types! Since the material, the color, and the texture can be different for all special leather types, every type of leather needs its own way of cleaning. Do you have De Niro riding boots with details in a special leather type, and are you unsure about what to do in order to keep them as new? Contact us! Let us know what leather you have on your boots, and we will give you our advice and recommendations for boot care products.