How To Make Leather Shoes Stop Squeaking: 7 Best Solutions(DIY)!

Last updated on July 15th, 2024 at 11:32 pm

Some time ago, I was working in my office. Most of the people in my office are so busy with their work that not even a single sound comes out of the room. When I left my seat and walked, a couple of staff were laughing at me, I felt slightly offended because there was a sound coming out of my shoe.

Whenever you are wearing a shoe in public, a lot of things happen like bad odor coming from the shoe or squeaking, that time you want to fix them, but you can’t.

Squeaking mainly happens due to excessive sweating. The inside surface of the shoe gets wet, and the friction works between the socks and the surface. Also, the tongue area of the shoe creates noise due to the shoe’s friction with the insole.

It isn’t very pleasant when you are outside, so fixing the squeaking in leather shoes is very important. Therefore, we are here but first, you need to understand why this happens, and then we will move to the solutions.

What steps did I take? Which made my leather shoes soundproof and I didn’t even have to go to the cobbler.

Let’s start……

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Why are My New Leather Shoes Squeaking

The structure of the shoe is made in such a way that it will squeak, so you cannot change the structure. Understanding where it occurs and then applying solutions, particularly to that area is a quite good idea.

Inside and Outside the Shoe

• Toe cap, Hill Counter, and where the arch is, it means where the medial longitudinal arch of our foot is. When you walk or run, friction is generated from these three places, which affects your insole a lot.
• The shoe’s tongue and eyelet are also reasons for squeaking.
• The squeaking sound of the shoe comes from outside as well, at the stitching near the border of the shoe.

Temperature Effect on Shoe Squeaking

Shoes are also made from such raw materials that both weather and temperature affect them, In the summer season, the feet keep sweating anyway, so the moisture inside is maintained a little, so the chances of squeaking are less, but in the winter season, the leather shoe gets sweaty as well and becomes dry again. Hence squeaking.

Leather quality also matters in shoe texture, such as its stitching, finishing, and oily coating, the better it is, the less squeaking will happen.

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How To Make Leather Shoes Stop Squeaking

After being offended in the office, I was first thinking about what to do or not, because some wrong steps could spoil my shoe. Adopted many steps, some of them worked and some did not, so the steps which worked, I will tell here the same.

By Using Leather Conditioner

There is nothing to fear, the leather conditioner is specially made for leather shoes.

• Clean the leather shoe properly such that there will be no dust on it.
• Dry the shoe with a hair dryer. Buy a good leather conditioner and rub it inside the shoe, meaning in the insole.
• Keep in mind that the conditioner should reach everywhere inside the shoe.
• Leave the shoe for two days in such a way that the shoe absorbs the conditioner well, you can also keep it under the sun for some time, not for long, for ten to fifteen minutes.

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Using Petroleum Jelly

Squeaking happens whenever the leather shoe becomes too dry or is not properly taken care of. The stitching of shoes has a big influence on squeaking.

First, it must be softened a little, so coconut oil or any natural jelly must be applied on the top of the shoe which is stitched that is on the side of the vamp, quarter, and border. This process is also very effective.

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Using Adhesive Moleskin Fabric

When you walk or run wearing the shoe, there is also friction near the shoe tongue, that’s why the squeaking occurs in the same place. For that, the pattern side can be used.

So, how do you use adhesive moleskin fabric?

To stop squeaking on the leather shoe at the tongue area is very effective.

This product will be available at any online store or pharmacy at a very low rate. The identification of it, one side of it remains cohesive, the opposite side remains the soft cotton fabric.

• First, you remove the shoelaces, I mean the eye stays on the shoe (on the side of the eyelets), not above the eyelets.
• The inside between the insole and tongue of the shoe is to be fitted with moleskin fabric.
• The width of the cotton fabric should be 1.5 inches and the length should be 3.5 inches.
• Now for testing wear your shoe and walk for a while and check if it produces any noise or not.
• If the shoe is still noisy then check properly whether you fitted the fabric correctly or not.

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Using Dryer Sheet

A dryer sheet helps to reduce the friction between your feet and insole. Also, the other benefits are it makes the material soft and releases fragrances.

• First, remove the insole from your shoe, now the shoe is empty, put dryer sheets on it, then put your insole on top of that.
• You can do this according to the size of your insole, you can cut the dryer sheet and put it inside of your shoe, just keep in mind that the dryer sheet should remain below the insole, not above it.

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Using Cotton Pads

If the sound is coming specifically from inside the shoe, then this method works like a charm. However, you cannot find this, especially for shoes but can make one according to the insole size.

By this, we will cut the friction happening between the feet and insole. Not only this the excess sweat will be also absorbed by this.

• Take out the insoles first and measure a piece of clean cotton cloth.
• Now cut the cloth according to that size.
• In the same way, make six to seven layers of it. The thickness should be around 2 to 3 mm at least.
• Make sure to stitch all layers properly and avoid using any glue or tape.
• To give extra padding use a cotton wool layer between the pads.
• Now use double-sided tape and put it well on the insole. Make sure to drain all air from inside the insole and cotton pad.
• Now put the insole inside the shoe.
• It is also necessary to remove that padding and clean it after a gap of one or two days.

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Using a Rust Remover

Some brands make eye stays of metal to give a premium finish to their shoes, but after some time it gets rusted due to air. When you walk wearing such a shoe, due to the stretching of the laces, continuous noise comes from the lace stays.

• Take out the laces from the shoe first.
• Clean all the dust particles around the eye stay or lace stay.
• Now first using paper hide the areas around the lace stays. Also, put a cloth ball inside the shoe for safety.
• Take a spray-type rust remover and spray the solution on the lace stays.
• Wait for a little. You will notice a foam structure on the lace stays.
• Use a cloth and clean the foam by pressing a little.
• Now take some petroleum jelly and put it on the metallic lace stays.
• Put the lace again like before and remove all paper and cloth used for protection.

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Candle Wax

Most probably the sound comes from your shoe because of the friction between the inner parts of the shoe. Candle wax helps to reduce this sound causing friction and as it is water repellent, no worries if you sweat more.

In the market, there are several types of candles, but you need to find the best quality because others are made up of different chemicals. The best way to find the original is the soot, less soot means the best quality.

• First, find where the squeaking sound coming from, it would be at the seams.
• Take a piece of fragrance-free and colorless candle and rub it over the noisy areas.
• Put some wax on the edges of the seam also.
• Take a dry cloth gently rub the surfaces and make the wax smooth like a polished shoe.
• Let the shoe set for some minutes 10 to 15.
• Check now if the shoe still squeaking and if needed repeat the process with other areas.

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Final Thoughts on How To Make Leather Shoes Stop Squeaking

You will get many results if you search the internet for how to make leather shoes stop squeaking. Some are working and helpful and some are fictional.

Some people say to stop squeaking use talcum powder, but this is the worst idea. When your feet sweat, then this will mix with the powder and create a paste structure, which will exaggerate the problem.

The solutions told by us are working and we tested them. So, you can try all these on your shoe without any harm.

The last solution of this article will vary from person to person because everyone not using metallic lace stays. For better clarity, you can use WD-40, mainly used to remove any type of rust. But it can damage the shoe material also so follow safety first.

If you like our effort, then do not forget to share this with your friends and families and also comment down below.

Thank You……

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FAQs on How To Make Leather Shoes Stop Squeaking