A question I often get as a professional shoe shine man is how to shine a pair of dress shoes with white or light colored contrast stitching. If that’s a question you've asked yourself as well, I’m glad you found me. Below I describe step by step how to achieve an amazing shoe shine polish as well as restore any light or white colored stitching that may have become dirty or dingy over time.

Before you begin to polish your pair of shoes, first remove the shoe laces and apply black or brown Fiebings brand edge dressing to the sole of the shoe and allow the shoes to dry on a newspaper to prevent getting edge dressing on the floor. Fiebings brand edge dressing is available for purchase on eBay for about $5 including shipping. Once the shoes have dried, clean the welt of the shoes using a welt brush lightly dampened Chamberlain’s Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1. The welt is the space or crack between the sole of the shoe and the leather upper part of the shoe - this space often becomes dusty. A quality horsehair welt brush can be found on eBay using the following search terms: +“Horsehair Detail Brush Detailing Car 7.25" 85647”. A horsehair welt brush is about $2.00 on eBay.

1. Apply Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment leather conditioner to the surface of the shoe to be shined using a latex glove to protect your hands along with a thin, clean and soft 12 inch by 12 inch cotton rag wrapped around both the pointer finger and middle finger of the dominant hand you use. Most experienced shoe shiners obtain this special fabric by cutting up old Santoni brand shoe bags. However, this same type of fabric can be purchased as a sectional at Walmart for about $5.00 per package.

2. Use a Meltonian brand "delicate - #170" or "neutral" color jar of shoe polish to condition the leather and rejuvenate the shoe's color using the same area of the rag used in step one. Meltonian delicate - #170 shoe polish is available for purchase on eBay for about $5 including shipping.

3. Apply Lincoln brand neutral wax to the surface of the shoe by first spraying one puff of Leather Care Liniment No. 1 into the can of Lincoln wax to make application of the wax easier. Lincoln brand "neutral" colored wax is available for purchase on eBay for about $5 including shipping. Use the same area of the rag used in step one and two.

4. Use an 18 inch by 32 inch piece of polyester blend fabric to wipe any excess polish off the shoes. This type of sectional fabric can be purchased at Walmart for about $5.00 per package. You will need to cut an 18 inch by 32 inch section from the fabric for your use in shining shoes.

5. Use a standard 8 inch long horsehair brush to buff the shoe for 30 seconds.

6. Use a nylon sock wrapped around your hand to buff the shoe as well as any excess residual film that may still be on the shoe.

7. If the white or light colored contrast stitching has already become dirty or soiled from either dirt or from previous shoe shines using the wrong color shoe polish then do the following. Purchase a "Prismacolor" brand PC938 white pencil from eBay using the following search terms: “Prismacolor, PC938” When you get this special pencil, use a pencil sharpener to sharpen it and then carefully go over the stitching stitch by stitch. This is a time consuming process and it requires steady hands, but the results will be truly amazing when you see the white or light color stitching restored to like new condition.

8. Clean the shoe laces by running the laces through the same area of the rag used in step one and two and three. Finally put the shoelaces back on the shoes and feel free to enjoy your newly shined shoes with white or light colored contrast stitching.

Note: The only leather conditioner that I’ve found that is compatable with both Meltonian shoe polish and with neutral colored Lincoln wax is Chamberlain's Leather Milk Leather Care Liniment No. 1. In my expert opinion, the same exceptional results simply cannot be achieved with any other leather conditioners on the market.

If you have black shoes with normal dark stitching, read our blog "How to Achieve a Tuxedo Quality Shoe Shine on Black Shoes"

Written by John Zarr, Professional Shoe Shiner
Feel free to contact John with any questions by sending him an e-mail at jnzarr@hotmail.com