a premptiv strike against winter salt for shoes & boots

[Bruce Wayne]

Does anyone have any suggestions for what one can do to protect against salt stains on leather footwear this coming winter?

Thanx!
Charlie

 

[Frunobulax]

Move south?

 

[stratcat]

Slather them in wax polish and don't get them too wet.
Don't go out in your best shoes?

 

[Eisenpforte]

Tingley shoe covers.

 

[APP Adrian]

I think back then people just gave their shoes a wipe when they got indoors. Did road salt even exist in The Golden Era?

A few months ago I went to Brooks Brothers to try on a pair of overshoes and it seems like the overshoes are rubbings against the uppers of the shoes and therefore damaging them. Is there any truth in this observation?

 

[HudsonHawk]

I think back then people just gave their shoes a wipe when they got indoors. Did road salt even exist in The Golden Era?

A few months ago I went to Brooks Brothers to try on a pair of overshoes and it seems like the overshoes are rubbings against the uppers of the shoes and therefore damaging them. Is there any truth in this observation?

Salt was first used as a de-icing agent on roads in the 1940s.

Interestingly, while states and municipalities regularly dump thousands of tons of salt on the ground each year, oil companies spend billions of dollars to "remediate" minor salt and salt water spills. It all depends on who's doing the dumping, I guess.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Salt was being used much earlier than that up here. Calcium Chloride, which is even more destructive, was in use by the late twenties.

Most people in the Era wore rubbers over their shoes, gave them a lick of polish when they looked dull, and didn't worry too much about minor scuffs.