How to Shrink Leather Boots Without Ruining Them

Published by Ahmad Jamal on May 31, 2023

You obtained a brand new pair of leather boots online, and can’t wait for them to arrive at your doorstep.

Once you’ve got the chance to wear them, they’re not as tight as you’d want them to be, as they don’t hug your feet the way you’d want.

Now you’re thinking, how to shrink leather boots and get them to fit well on my foot.

Worry not, in this CleanersAdvisor guide we’ll take you in a drive through what happens when you want to shrink leather boots, and how to do it properly, addressing similarly relevant topics along the way.

We’ll also get to discuss how to unshrink leather boots in case things go out of the line for you.

Read through to master how to shrink leather boots properly and with little to no mistakes.


Do Leather Boots Shrink In Heat

Yes, leather boots can shrink in as little heat as possible.

The best temperature to dry the leather boots is to leave it under normal room temperature.

However, if you try to use external heat sources on leather boots, like drying it using heating machines or even drying it in the sun can potentially inflict considerable damage to the leather boots.

Do Leather Boots Shrink In Heat

How to Shrink Leather Boots

To shrink leather boots you’ll need to put your shoes totally underwater, then put on a pair of socks and dunk your feet inside the water. Afterward put on the wet boots over your socks immediately after you get them out of water, then they’ll start shrinking over your feet until they’re fully dried out.

Here’s CleanersAdvisor’s step by step on how to shrink leather boots:

1. Put your leather boots totally underwater, whether you soak them in a tub or in any other method, as both boots should be soaked evenly for even shrinkage.

2. If your leather boots are made of suede, you’ll need to only wet the inside of your shoes instead.

3. Wear a pair of socks then dunk your feet inside a tub with water covering your feet, this step helps your leather boots shrink to the proper size and protect against the shrinking.

4. Wear on your boots as soon as you remove them out of water, as they start shrinking right away. If it’s hard for you to wear them without trouble, you can use elbow grease.

5. Wear your wet leather boots on your socks until the socks dry out. This step may take hours but that’s the most important step, so go on with your day as you regularly do until this occurs.

6. By the time you’re done, you’ll feel the leather boots have shrunk over your feet.

How to Shrink Leather Boots

How to Shrink Cowboy Boots

Mastering how to shrink cowboy boots is a lot easier, you’ll need to get an insole, put it inside your boots, and let it do the work for you.

Once you put the insole inside the cowboy boots, it’ll make the boot tighter on the instep section around the ankle, in addition to making the boot’s width tighter.

Here’s a video on how to shrink cowboy boots properly in less than 2 minutes:


How to Unshrink Leather Boots

To unshrink leather boots you can apply a leather stretching spray, as those sprays are designed and manufactured to loosen the leather materials.

Apply it directly to the leather shoe, then stretch the tight-fitting areas accordingly.

You can also use a shoe stretcher tool after spraying your Leather boots.

Some would advise using heat to unshrink leather boots, however, we already established that leather boots are sensitive and it isn’t wise to use heat on the boot’s leather for whatever reason.


To Wrap Up

This concludes our guide on how to shrink leather boots, explaining the best method on how to do it properly, instead of just using heat as a main power behind the shrinking.

The methods showcased in this guide are tested and done by CleanersAdvisor experts, so as to make sure you’re not getting some information by non-experts that may ruin your precious leather boots.

Additionally, we provided you with one of the best methods on how to unshrink leather boots, to act hastily whenever things go south with the shrinking.