I know, real leather doesn't get this sort of damage. But sometimes, what you have is the faux leather. And once it's damaged, they look awful. What to do about it?
Faux leather is a plastic-like surface over a fabric structure. When some of the plastic surface gets scraped off (usually on the toe or the heel of the shoe), the fabric under part is revealed, and makes it so obvious that the shoes are a cheap, faux leather.
We've repaired this kind of damage to several pairs of shoes, over the years, using craft acrylic paint and clear fingernail polish.
About a year and a half ago, one daughter repaired her brown prairie boots. We didn't have a shade of brown which matched her shoes, so she took several browns that we had and mixed a suitable match. Her repair lasted about a year, and she recently retouched the surface of her boots.
About a week ago, my other daughter was lamenting needing to buy new black shoes. I told her to hold off, and we'd see about fixing her current ones. One day when she was sick, I decided to do something nice for her while she napped, and I fixed her shoes. They were pretty scratched on the toes and the edge of the buckle.
I used black craft acrylic paint (the kind you pay under a dollar for at Michael's or Jo Ann's), and a paint brush and dabbed paint onto the revealed fabric, under the plastic faux leather surface, on the toes as well as the buckle. I allowed the acrylic to dry thoroughly, and then a coat of clear nail polish over the paint. That's it. 5 minutes of hands-on time.
Here are the shoes, close up, with the fix.
And here's what it looks like from a normal, eye to shoe distance. Before, you could definitely see that the shoe was scratched and damaged. Now, you can't tell unless you are up close.
My daughter has a hard time finding shoe that fit her foot comfortably. So, we're always reluctant to have to replace a comfortable pair. Making these shoes last another year, at no cost (we had the supplies at home), is all Win.
