Although there are so many posts and a couple of stickies on breaking in hard shoe I just thought I would post my experience.

Bought some new leather bottom Fays from the Victorian Champs in August. Prior to these i had Fays Grey sole and these were second hand and already half broken in. I had read over and over the posts on DDN and until yesterday was unsuccessful in breaking in my shoes. I had gone down a size which meant that I could hardly walk in the shoes let alone dance. I had got to the stage where I was ready to list them on ebay because I couldn't dance in them and kept going back to my old shoes which felt like sneakers compared to my newies. I then thought I would try some leather softner from a horse store. The lady at Horseland suggested Oakwood Leather Conditioner it cost $11.95 AUD for 125g. Well after one coat i was able to get up on my toes with a litte effort and after a couple more coats they are beautiful. I love these shoes now they are actually comfortable. This is the most amazing stuff and i can highly recommend it.

Enjoy and good luck to anyone out there breaking in some new heavies. I Hope it will help someone else the way it helped my poor feet.

Wow, thank you for your informational post! I would never have guessed to go to a horse store, but all in all, it seems pretty logical. Thanks!

Can I get this in US? We have had gray soles that just wouldn't break in. Black seem easier, but i hate to waist the money.

Where did you put the conditioner, ie which part of the shoe?

sorry if this is a hijack, but its time for me to get new hardshoes, and i like fays a lot! i currently have grey soles, and im wondering what shoe would have more support? the leather bottom (tan coloured) or grey/black sole? i bought some hardshoe a while back, and i couldnt for the life of me, break them in! i used hotglove (baseball glove softener) and it barely worked! the heels were so stiff and hurt so badly to walk in, and it was an all around bad expirience.

if someone could let me know which they think is better, please do! i have a lot of complicated toe-stand tricks in my dances, and i can barely do them in my old shoes because they are so stretched out now!

Hi there,

njmom I just had a look on the internet and found this link (www.oakwoodusa.net). Oakwood is an Australian company however it looks like they market it in the US as well. The one I got was the one in the tube and is for sale for $10 USD. I wouldn't however recommend using this on suede (either the grey or the black) I used the conditioner on both the top and bottom so if the tops are the problem then this should work. As for the bottoms, that will just be a case of perseverance. My grey soled fays took time but were much easier than my leather bottoms.

Reelnut I think I answered your post. Both top and bottom. I bought my shoes small (they still hurt my feet after an hour or so) so I wasn't too concerned about the leather stretching out too much.

saoirse3473 if you are doing toe work then I think most teachers would recommend the Leather bottom shoes (not the suede). Some argue that it is your feet that should hold the shoes and not the other way around however when you run you don't run in a pair of floppy shoes with no support; it is bad for your feet. So why would you dance in floppy hard shoes? Just my opinion. The suede soles (black or grey) are fine at the start but they definitely soften... a lot! Although my leather bottom heavies have been painful they definately give a lot more support than my grey ones ever did. As far as the pain is concerned just keep at it. Keep molding the shoes to your feet and dancing in them. This is the only way I was able to dance in mine. After an hour they still hurt but this is because of the size (I think they are half a size to small) but every time I dance in them they are better and better.

I second what LoveSaoirse said, you can use the leather conditioner on the smooth leather of the shoes, the upper and the sole. Make sure that you are getting a good conditioner that consists of all natural ingredients, so the leather can absorb the conditioner.
After a few coats the leather of the sole could be a bit darker than before though.

Don´t use the conditioner on suede leather (grey and Black soles) this would ruin the leather.

Thanks for this.

hi there, dont mean to be a bother, but I have just recently bought a pair of rutherford leather soles in the same size as my old suede sole ones but in a regular (instead of wide) width. The reason for this is my foot isnt all wide just at the ball of my foot (odd shaped feet)
And although I can squeeze my feet in, I can barely keep them on,before my feet start tingling.
At the moment because of this I have my shoes at my dance studio for sale after paying $165 CAD, which seems like a waste of money, but now from hearing how you broke yours in I might consider trying it. Could you buy leather softener at a shoe makers or sports shop? The reason I'm asking is that there's no horse suppliers near where I live (city girl here) and would be willing to try if I could find it.

I´m sure anything you can buy at your shoemaker´s would be just as good, as long as you are choosing a conditioner that is all-natural. The conditioners that have petroleum as an ingredient always leave a greasy film on the surface, and you really don´t want this on the sole of your heavies.

Edit: I´m breaking in Rutherford shoes too, I used shoe conditioner on the soles and upper leather.
It doesn´t damage the shoe in any way, so if you find out that you still can´t wear them you can still sell them.

Hi All,
I'll second the idea of using equestrian/saddle leather conditioner - I used to ride competativley, and as such I sill have saddle oil/conditioner laying around

For anyone in Canada/US, try going online to Greenhawk - they're my first coice, and so anyone who lives in a city and doesn't know where to find the nearest tack store, this is a great choice.
greenhawk.net

Here's the link directly to the leather conditioners:
www.greenhawk.net . . .

Remember you're looking for leather conditioner, not leather shampoo or shine

Yeah definitely give any natural softener a go it has to be better than giving up and just selling them. There is nothing worse than buying a pair of shoes and not being able to wear them. Reading all the posts on Hard shoes it does seem that Rutherford's are tough to break in so it might just take persistence.

Good Luck

Hi there. My daughter is also trying to soften her new pair of shoes. Your suggestion sounds really good. I am wondering how soft are your hard shoes now since using the oakwood leather softener? Did you use it all over the shoes? Did the leather softener made the shoes a bit slippery to dance with after using it on the leather sole? How about going on your toes? Did it get slippery at all going on your toes? Would really like to know, thank you.

Hey, as I said my shoes are really tight because I bought them small however the leather on top is now really quite soft. I have applied more to the tops than the bottom as I didn't want them to become too soft. The directions tell you to rub the cream into the leather allow it to soak in and then rub it off with a dry cloth. It did not at all make the shoes slippery to dance in. I also used this on my soft shoes. Didn't make them slippery either but really did make them soft.

Hopes this helps.