Collonil Carbon Spot Cleaner Block – Dry Mark Remover for Suede Shoes

Description

Collonil Carbon Spot Cleaner Block – Dry Mark Remover for Suede Shoes – a crumbling dry cleaning block for suede and nubuck, made in Germany and boxed on its own, for marks and scuffs

Suede goes wrong between the wearings rather than during them, which is what makes it so annoying. A mark picked up leaving a car park, a scuff off a kerb, a smear from a table leg under a desk at work, and the pair comes home looking perfectly fine until the light catches them properly the following week. By then whatever caused it has dried in and become part of the nap itself.

The trouble is that the obvious response is entirely the wrong one. Water on suede spreads a small mark out into a large ring and flattens the nap all around it, which turns a job of thirty seconds into a job of a whole afternoon. Suede wants working dry, and that is the whole point of a block like this one.

A single block from the Collonil Carbon line, made in Germany, and it will cost £9.99.

Why choose this collonil carbon spot cleaner block?

• It works completely dry. No water, no foam and no drying time, which is what suede and nubuck actually want from you. You can deal with a mark five minutes before you leave the house rather than writing off the pair for a whole day while they sit on newspaper beside a radiator.
• The block renews itself as you rub. The surface crumbles gently in use, so a fresh clean face is always the part doing the work. That is why it keeps lifting dirt rather than smearing it about, which is exactly what a used cloth or a tired brush will end up doing instead.
• Aimed at marks, not at whole shoes. This is a spot treatment, so it earns its keep on the scuff by the toe or the shiny patch on the vamp rather than on a full clean. Working small keeps the nap even and stops you flattening a panel that was perfectly good already.
• Suede and nubuck, trainers included. It belongs to the Carbon range that Collonil build around trainers, but there is nothing at all trainer specific about the block itself. Suede boots, desert boots and everyday nubuck shoes all respond to it in exactly the same straightforward way as a trainer does.
• Nothing to mix, measure or wait for. There is no liquid to shake up, no cap to lose and nothing that will dry out in a cupboard between uses. It lives in a drawer, it lasts a very long time indeed, and it is ready the moment that you pick it up.
• Boxed on its own, £9.99. A small white carton with a green stripe, the range name up the side and Made in Germany printed along the edge, with the block inside and nothing else. It is a tool rather than a treatment, which is why it is sold that way.

How to use the collonil carbon spot cleaner block

Using it is simple, and the result depends on the brushing afterwards, because the block loosens the dirt and the brush is what carries that dirt away.

1. Check the suede is completely dry before you begin at all.
2. Rub the block over the mark in one single direction only.
3. Keep the pressure firm but work over a fairly small area.
4. Brush the crumbs and all the loosened dirt cleanly away.
5. Repeat the process once more if the mark remains visible.
6. Brush the nap back up across the whole panel again afterwards.

My tip as a shoe specialist

Work the block along the grain of the nap rather than across it or in circles. Suede has a direction to it, which you can see by brushing a panel one way and then the other and watching the shade change, and a block driven in circles leaves a patch that reads lighter than everything around it even after the mark has gone. Follow the direction, then brush the entire panel the same way afterwards rather than only the bit you have just cleaned. That last step is the difference between a repair you can see and one nobody notices at all.

Specifications

Product details

• Type: A dry use cleaning block
• Contents: One block to a carton
• Suits: Suede and nubuck leather
• Method: Rub dry, then brush
• Range: The Collonil Carbon line
• Made in: Germany, boxed singly
• Best for: Spot marks and scuffs
• Brand: Collonil, Carbon range
• Price: £9.99 each

Frequently asked questions

Does the block wear away with use?

It does, and quite deliberately so. Crumbling is how a clean surface keeps arriving at the job, and a block used on marks rather than on whole shoes will still be going strong a good couple of years from now.

Will it lighten the suede where I use it?

Not if you brush the nap back up properly afterwards. Any pale patch you see is flattened nap rather than lost pigment, and a decent suede brush will lift it straight back up again.

Is it any use on an oily mark?

Only partly, if I am being honest with you. Grease wants a dedicated stain remover first, and then the block can tidy up whatever shadow is left behind once the leather is dry again.

Where can I buy the collonil carbon spot cleaner block in the UK?

Pick one up from Shoespecialist.co.uk, where an order in ahead of 5pm on a weekday is away the same day. Nothing to pay for carriage above £50, and 60 days in which to return.