Help! I ruined my shoes before I had a chance to wear them!

Hi! So, being the incredible nincompoop that I am, I got this amazing pair of nude Stuart Weitzman patent leather heels for my sorority's recruitment and already ruined them. I'm a tall girl, and of the ilk who uses that as an excuse to wear flats all the time, so I know very little about shoe care, especially for heels. I was a complete idiot and put my heels in my luggage in the same compartment as a plastic bag (I didn't have enough room to keep them in the box, and it didn't occur to me that they needed any kind of special protection). Subsequently, some of the dye from the plastic bag transferred into the patent leather, I guess. I tried some good old soap and water, which didn't work, and I also brought it into my local cobbler, who said he couldn't do anything to fix them (and Yelp says he's super helpful so I'm inclined to believe him).

They're wonderful shoes, aside from my newly-inflicted blue splotches, and I'll be incredibly sad if there's nothing I can do to salvage them, especially since I've never had the chance to wear them aside from trying them on.

Do you have any suggestions as to what I could do? I already called Stuart Weitzman and they didn't know.

12 years ago

shedev

Veteran

An internet search on how to clean patent should help. Good luck.

Sarah A

If you can't get them cleaned you could look into dying them darker (either doing it yourself or having a cobbler do it).

lyn*

(website)

If the cobbler says no, then I'm inclined to believe him as well - can he salvage by dying them a darker colour?

rachylou

You might try rubbing alcohol or hairspray.

Anonymous

Yeah rubbing alcohol or some other solvent would be my first suggestion. Too bad, you must have been gutted!

unfrumped

It bothers me that the cobbler won't suggest something since this can't be the first time something like this has happened.. I wonder if he/she is afraid that if something doesn't work there'll be liabilty for ruining the finish on the patent even though the blue is obviously a problem already. Internet Search needed.

Gaylene

The cobbler's issue might be more with the patent than with the stain removal. It might also make dying more tricky because the glossiness of the patent finish might resist the dye, or give a splotchy look.

I'd test whatever product you choose in an inconspicuous place to see how it affects the patent finish to avoid ending up with a bleached, rough spot on the shoe. I've seen patent leather cleaners in some shoe shops so they might be worth a try.

rae

I thought of alcohol too. Or maybe mineral spirits, which are used to clean varnish off of paint brushes. Did you ask the cobbler to restore to original, or did you ask if there was any way to make them useable?

Here's an older link from Imogene's site on removing scuff marks from patent leather that might have some ideas:
http://www.insideoutstyleblog......ather.html

amiable

My suggestion may very well ruin the patent - so just be warned. But I've removed shoe paint with acetone before, then re-painted them the color that I wanted. It worked perfectly. But acetone is nasty stuff, and you will need to repaint afterwards. (I used a good quality spray paint)

Are those your shoes in your profile pic? OUCH.

rebekahphoto

might try windex

Susie

How about a Magic Eraser? Maybe with a bit of glass cleaner?

Accident Prone

Member

Wow, thank you for all the responses!

Yup they are the shoes from my profile picture. I'll try the cobbler again and see if there's anything he can do, as I mostly asked about getting them back to the way they were, which I don't think is possible.

I tried hairspray, as that was the only one of those items I had on hand, but that didn't do anything. Not sure if that's because I used the pump kind instead of aerosol, or if the shoes are that far gone.

I do wish they'd told me when I bought the shoes that I needed to keep them separate! I'm sure that's a common sense thing that most people know, but it can't hurt to remind people when they buy patent leather products.

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