Shoe Trees - the life extenders for your shoes

Have you heard about "Shoe Trees"? It is hard to guess the application/purpose of this device, with just its name. Recently, I came to know about this device from a friend of mine, who has been there in US for 30+ years. We both were attending a trade show and our conversation led to my brand new shoes. I told him that this is the costliest pair of shoes that I ever bought. He asked  what do you do to maintain your shoes or extend its life? I was puzzled with his question. He continued to ask "Do you know that there is a way to keep the shoes from smelling bad?" He said, you should buy "Shoe Trees" and shared with me lots of interesting details about it.

Shoe Trees are very commonly used in US. The main purpose of Shoe Trees is to absorb moisture from the shoes and there by, extend the shoes' life and prevent the shoes from smelling bad. It looks like many young kids are forced by their parents to use Shoe Trees. Parents do not want to spend big bucks on high quality shoes and that too, not very often. Hence, they wanted the kids to use Shoe Trees to extend the Shoes' life. Moreover, kids get involved in intense activities and hence it makes sense for them to use Shoe Trees to absorb moisture from their shoes. Once you return home in the evening, you just need to insert these Shoe Trees into your shoes and leave them for the whole night. They'll take care of the remaining job.

On hearing about Shoe Trees, I was wondering, why "Shoe Trees" aren't very common in India. In fact, our feet get moist easily because of the hot weather in India. I guess the economics are making Shoe Trees unaffordable? In US, Shoe Trees are sold anywhere from $20 - $40. In India, many people cannot afford shoes. And the ones who buy shoes look for a bargain and end up buying shoes for half that cost. Also, because of the excessive wear & tear of shoes in India, you cannot technically "extend" the life of shoes. If you are using your leather shoes everyday, it may hardly last for a year or two. Also, during the winter season, you cannot avoid stepping into water clogged roads. So, the mantra of 'long life for shoes' doesn't hold good, here in India.

Anyways, if you have the practise of wearing leather shoes to work in US, you should definitely consider buying Shoe Trees. Based on what I heard from couple of people in US, these toys 'really' extend the life of shoes, if used regularly.


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