What the Hell is a Shoe Tree?
11 Comments Published by Joel September 25th, 2006 in Clothes. Share This
Shoe trees are devices to be wedged into shoes to keep the leather supple and in shape. In the plastic age of the last century shoe trees were made from synthetic materials instead of the traditional cedar wood, pretty much negating the moisture absorbing properties of a proper tree, which is probably why everybody stopped using them.
The other reason might be that cedar shoe trees are pricey, especially considering you need a pair for every pair of shoes you own. Shoebuy.com has a set of cedar shoe trees for $25.45 with free shipping, but if you use coupon code AZOOGLEADS10 they’re only $15.45. (It’s a $10 off coupon, so it only works for one set.) If you own a pair of leather shoes that cost you’d like to keep forever, you’ve got a purchase to make. If your shoes aren’t in perfect shape in twenty years, I’ll refund everyone’s money.
Men’s Johnston & Murphy Woodard Shoe Tree [Shoebuy via DealNews]
Nice site. Discovered it via the mention at Gizmodo – just RSS subscribed purely because any site with ‘What The Hell is a Shoe Tree’ and the words ‘Beer School’ on the front page just has to be added immediately …
I linked over here from Gizmodo. Cool site so far.
I was told by a very helpful shoe salesman at Nordstrom that you really only need 1 or 2 sets of shoe trees. When you take off your leather shoes, slip the trees in immediately. The tree will help the leather maintain its shape while the shoe cools, and wick away any residual moisture.
Next morning, take out the trees and wear your shoes again, or store the shoes back in their box. You don’t need to store your shoes with trees in them, because the trees have already worked their magic on your shoes.
At least, that’s what the dude told me. Hell, I don’t care if he was right or wrong, it saved me a lot of money, and my shoes still look great! Maybe it’s placebo.
A salesman at Saks Fifth told me the same thing once. Since I figured he’s only losing money by telling me to buy fewer shoe trees, I took his advice… although maybe that was his way of convincing me to splurge on expensive ones.
Ah well. I have two pairs of shoe trees (and a plastic pair for travel), and it seems fine.
I have found decent cedar shoe trees for $9.99 at Target retail locations. They might not have had quite the fit and finish of these, but they were very affordable. I don’t see ‘em on their website, and I’m not sure if they still carry them at the store, but it’s worth a look next time you’re there.
Great site, by the way. I’ll be back daily.
Shoe trees are good to use in all your “good” shoes whenever you aren’t wearing them. If you have a pair of expensive Johnston and Murphys with leather soles, for instance, you want the shoe tree in all the time. Why? It helps the leather, whichundowbtedly needs polish, in shape and smooth all the time. All-leather shoes need the support – the leather doesn’t hold the shape of the shoe without this support.
My father had really, really good shoes that he was able to keep for — no kidding — 40+ years, just because he resoled them when required and used shoe trees.
By the way, shoe trees don’t have to be wooden to be effective . . .
Container Store has them for $18 and Nordstrom for $20. I was concerned they’d stretch out some of my shoes, but after a couple of years that hasn’t been the case.
Speaking of good shoe maintenance, anyone know a good cobbler? I’ve got some nice shoes that don’t trust the local dry cleaners with, but should I?
Any idea what those hook-like deals are on the top towards the heel?
One of my feet is a full size larger than the other and one of my shoes always winds up deformed around the toe flex area because the shoe is too big. Will these help resolve that problem?
Khufu01: The “hooks” are simply handles so that you can pull the shoe trees out of your shoes without having to muster up too much leverage.
AZ_ST, yes, this will help your shoes to hold their shape. That’s the whole point. All shoe trees are adjustable, whether by springs that push the trees end-to-end in your shoes, or by pegs that are adjustable on the trees themselves.
The best thing about shoe trees. If you really like a pair of sneakers that are a bit small and you want to buy them anyway…Do it. Wet the sneakers on the inside and then put the shoe tree in it. Do the same thing for next couple of days and then just let them chill for a week. After that the shoe will be properly stretched. Also, even if the shoe fits, but is just uncomfortable, like if you get blisters from Addidas Campus shoes (damn them), you can try the same trick and it will rectify the situation and make them feel like they have been broken in.