Taking care of your Lowa hiking boots is important in keeping them ready for the next adventure. And that doesn’t mean you should keep out of the mud or puddles, either. In order to maintain the quality and comfort of your footwear, proper care is essential. With a little TLC, the lifespan of your footwear can be significant.

Step One: Remove Laces and Insoles

After each adventure day in your boots, it’s always a good idea to remove the insole and laces to allow the footwear to fully dry. On multi-day trips, this is super important because your footwear is soaking up a lot of moisture. If possible, letting your footwear dry for up to 24 hours before using again is ideal, especially for leather fabric boots.

Step Two: Remove Any Dirt or Debris

Once you have removed the insoles and laces, place the footwear under lukewarm water and use a soft bristle brush to clean them off. If your boots are more heavily soiled, you may want to use a special shoe-cleaning product or warm water and soap suds.

Step Three: Waterproof & Protection

Using water to wash the dirt away from your boots will remove the natural oils, so it’s important to apply a water-based conditioning cream to the boots – especially after they’ve been wet and dirty. Lowa Active Cream is a leather conditioner that will help keep your footwear from drying out. Applying the cream frequently in the flex and forefoot area is important because that’s where the leather gets stretched most often.  Using a blowdryer on LOW heat to help get the cream absorbed is fine, but DO NOT use a dryer on high heat. (Do not use products that contain beeswax or petroleum as they damage the leather)

Step Four: Drying

Never place boots to dry near a radiator, heater, fireplace, oven, inside the trunk of a car, or anywhere in direct sunlight. Wet leather can actually burn very easily and can become brittle and shrink. Rips in leather can be created from heat, especially in flex points.

Step Five: Storing

Do not store wet boots in a damp room or car – they will mildew! When your boots are wet, you can stuff some newspaper into the boots’ toe area – the newspaper will absorb the moisture and also help keep the boots’ shape. Change the newspaper each day until the boots are dry.

Stop in at any of our locations for more boot care tips or to purchase products to help protect your boots.