December 5, 2000


Will shoe polish clog a Gore-Tex boot liner?

In regards to the guy who asked about the "Matterhorn" boots, they are military boots with leather uppers and a Gore-Tex liner. They are the most common cold weather boots in the Infantry. There is an old boot myth in the Army that putting shoe polish on Matterhorn will clog the Gore-Tex liner. Certainly it will make the leather a little less breathable, but not to the extent everyone claims. You can check the boots out at http://www.rangerjoe.com

— Josh Brittain Stillwater, Oklahoma

You're quite right, Josh. Thanks for the tip. The Matterhorn an earlier writer asked about (looking for waterproofing advice) is almost certainly a military-style boot. At www.rangerjoe.com you can take a look at it -— it's a very tall boot with a Gore-Tex bootie and Thinsulate insulation. At $160, and for the right person, it is a heckuva buy.

Still, my earlier advice pretty much stands: Best to use wax-based treatments such as Nikwax (a water-based wax that will not "seal" the boot like Sno-Seal can) or treatments that are silicone-based. And no, neither shoe polish nor any other boot treatment will clog the Gore-Tex —- the bootie is inside the leather, so no non-penetrating surface treatments (an exception would be a grease-based waterproofer) can reach it. However, I should think that shoe polish —- if buffed to a mil-spec sheen —- would indeed cut the breathability of the boot by a substantial margin. But, that's for someone willing to go to all that trouble to decide.

By the way, I was trolling around the Ranger Joe site and found what looks like a tremendous product: A sleeping bag called the NATO Softie. Rated to 24 degrees, yet weighs under two pounds. Looks like a great buy in a light, warm, synthetic-insulation sleeping bag.

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