Shoe Protector Spray
 

Do these things actually work? I bought some new pairs of shoes over the weekend, both sneakers and dressshoes and wanted to protect them from the rain etc...all the shoes stores seem to offer them, are they pretty much all the same? Do I have to get different ones for my sneakers vs leather dress shoes?

As a former shoe store employee I can honestly say they work to some extent. The spray will create a small layer between the water and the shoe so light sprinkles of water will bead off. Anything more than a light sprinkle then your shoes are fucked. I've owned many cans of shoe protector before and they work about the same.

i used to use that stuff on my soccer kleets and it worked pretty good at keeping the water out...that is if you stay out of HUGE puddles

all the same with different labels.

Isn't it just Scotchgard?

BTW, when you buy fabric protection for your new cars, that's essesntially what it is.

Shoe Trees are better for your footwear

For my leather shoes, I use Dayton OK Oil. Some people like to use mink oil. It doesn't just protect the shoes, it also conditions them. I imagine that it would be quite hard to use something like the OK oil for sneakers with mesh on it though :p