Suede is the fabric equivalent of a good blow-dry: it looks effortless and quietly expensive, and it takes about four seconds of rain to undo. Every October I watch the same thing happen — the chocolate suede boots come out of the box, they get worn on a damp Tuesday, and by Friday they have a greyish bloom across the toe and a dark splash up the side. Most people then do one of two things: nothing, or something far too wet. Both shorten the life of the shoe.
The good news is that suede is far more forgiving than its reputation suggests, as long as you work dry, work gently, and understand what you're actually dealing with. Suede is leather that has been buffed on the flesh side to raise a soft, fuzzy surface called the nap. Everything that makes suede look bad — shine, flatness, dark patches — is the nap being crushed, clogged or soaked. Everything that makes it look good again is lifting that nap back up.
Start completely dry, always
Never clean wet suede. If your shoes come in soaked, stuff them firmly with plain paper or cedar shoe trees and leave them somewhere cool and airy, away from radiators and hairdryers. Heat shrinks and hardens leather from the inside, and you'll feel it in the fit long before you see it. Drying takes a day, sometimes two. Resist the temptation to speed it up.
Once they're bone dry, take a suede brush — the crepe rubber and brass-bristle kind, though a clean soft nail brush will do in an emergency — and brush the whole shoe in one direction, following the grain of the nap. This alone removes a surprising amount of surface dust and lifts the pile so the colour looks even again. Do this every few wears, not just when there's a problem, and you'll rarely need anything more aggressive.
