How to clean Timberland boots

Let the mud dry completely, brush it off dry, and only then put anything wet near the boot - that is Timberland’s own first instruction and it is the step that decides the outcome. If you buy one thing for a pair of wheat 6-inch Timberlands, buy a suede-and-nubuck brush with an eraser block, because dry brushing and an eraser do most of the work and cost a fraction of everything else. Then proof the nap, and never put wax on it.

Timberland is the most-asked boot-cleaning question there is, and the reason is the material. The classic boot is nubuck - leather sanded on the grain side to raise a short nap. It behaves like suede, not like a smooth leather boot: it takes water marks, it mats when it is rubbed wet, and the pale wheat colorway shows every one of those mistakes. Everything below is either what Timberland publishes about its own boots or what the maker of the product publishes. We have not tested any of it, and where a step rests on our reading rather than on a published instruction, the page says so.

What Timberland publishes, in one table

Two of those rows are worth pausing on, because they are the two mistakes people make. The first is reaching for water while the mud is still wet, which pushes soil into the nap instead of off it. The second is wax - the instinct that a boot wants wax is correct for a smooth leather boot and actively wrong here.

The method, in order

1. 01

   Let them dry, completely, before you touch them

   Timberland’s own guidance starts here, and it is counter-intuitive enough that most people skip it. Wet mud brushed off a nap gets worked into the nap. Dry mud comes away as dust. Put the boots somewhere with moving air and leave them. If they are soaked rather than muddy, dry them properly first - away from the radiator, for the reason in the heat row above.

2. 02

   Brush dry, in one direction

   A suede or nubuck brush, worked in the direction of the fibers. This is the single highest-value step on the page: it lifts dry soil out of the nap and resets the lie of the fibers at the same time. Timberland is explicit about the direction, and so is every other maker publishing on napped leather. Brass bristles for stubborn nap, nylon for routine work.

3. 03

   Attack scuffs with the eraser, not the cleaner

   Timberland publishes the eraser bar as the answer to “leftover scuff marks… after cleaning and drying”, and lists it as suitable for nubuck, leather and suede. An eraser block is abrasive, so it works mechanically on the nap rather than chemically on the leather. Use it in small strokes and re-brush afterwards, because it will flatten the area it touches.

4. 04

   Only now use a wet cleaner, and use a napped-leather one

   Timberland’s own answer is the Renewbuck Foaming Cleanser, which it publishes for leather, suede, nubuck and canvas, and specifically for salt, grass and mud. It is not sold through the channel this site links to - see the next section for what is. Whichever you use, it must be a product whose maker clears it for napped leather, applied to the whole panel rather than a spot, and worked gently.

5. 05

   Dry again, slowly, stuffed with paper that has no ink on it

   Timberland says to stuff suede boots with paper to hold their shape, and warns against newspaper or any inked paper because the ink can run into the boot. Plain kitchen paper or a boot shaper does the job. Room temperature, no heat source.

6. 06

   Re-brush, then re-proof

   Cleaning strips whatever repellency the boot had. Timberland pairs its cleaner with Balm Proofer for exactly that reason, and publishes that the protector does not change the material’s breathability. A nubuck-rated spray is the last step every time, not an optional extra - here is how to tell when it has worn off again.

What to buy instead, and why each one

The brush is the thing to buy first, not the spray. Nikwax publishes Nubuck & Suede Proof as cleared for “all nubuck and suede footwear” and as a water-based wet-application treatment, which makes it the closest published equivalent to Balm Proofer’s job. The Leather Honey kit is the option if you want cleaner and protector together and would rather read one set of instructions. Bickmore’s Gard-More is the heavier-duty repellent of the four and the one to pick if the boots are working boots rather than city boots.

A note on darkening, because it is the fear that stops people proofing wheat nubuck at all: Timberland publishes that where a protector has darkened nubuck, “brushing with a wire brush” may help. That is worth knowing before you spray, and it is why the test-on-the-tongue habit matters on a pale boot.

Water marks on wheat nubuck, which is its own problem

A single splash on dry nubuck dries as a ring, because the water carries soil and soluble matter to the edge of the wet patch and leaves it there. Timberland’s published fix is the counter-intuitive one: dampen the area with room-temperature water rather than trying to dry the spot out. Evening out the whole panel removes the edge, and with it the mark. The same logic applies to smooth leather, which is why we gave it its own page.

The rubber sole, the midsole and the hardware

Nobody asks about these and everybody notices them. The sole and the midsole take a brush and plain water happily - they are not leather and none of the nap rules apply. Keep the water off the upper while you do it, and keep the boots the right way up so nothing runs down inside. Blundstone, for a comparable rubber-soled boot, publishes soaking soles in a shallow bath of warm water for stubborn tread dirt while making sure “the water should not reach the leather upper” - a sensible precaution to borrow.

The eyelets and hardware are the one place a smooth-leather habit helps: wipe them dry rather than leaving them wet, because a wet eyelet row is where a tide line along the lacing starts.

The one contradiction in Timberland’s own guidance

Timberland’s cleaning guidance warns against a hair dryer or radiator because heat “can cause the upper parts of the boot to blister and crack, breaking your waterproof seal”. A separate Timberland care note suggests a blow dryer to help Balm Proofer bind to the material after application. Those two pieces of advice pull in opposite directions and we are not going to resolve them for you by guessing which Timberland means more. Our reading, stated as a reading: the warning is about drying a wet boot with heat, which is the case that cracks leather and is backed by every other maker on this site, including Atsko’s statement that force drying makes leather harden and shrink. Treat the warning as the rule.

What not to do, with the published reason

• No washing machine. Timberland’s wording is “never”, for leather boots of any style.
• No wax, no polish, no mink oil. Timberland says wax “will drastically change the look of suede” and excludes its own Waximum from suede and nubuck. Oils and greases do the same thing - they lie down the nap and turn a matte boot shiny and patchy. If you have mink oil in the cupboard, it is for a different pair of boots.
• No scrubbing when wet. Pressure on a wet nap mats the fibers, and matting is not reversible by brushing.
• No saddle soap. Fiebing’s publishes saddle soap for “fine saddlery, boots, shoes and other smooth leather articles”. Nubuck is not smooth leather.

How often

Timberland publishes no interval, and neither will we invent one. The useful signal is the same one every proofer maker uses: when water stops beading on the nap and starts darkening it instead, the repellency has gone and the boot wants cleaning and re-proofing. On a city boot that is a couple of times a season. On a boot that goes out in slush, it is more often, and salt is the reason to be prompt about it rather than the calendar.

If yours are the smooth-leather Timberlands instead

Not every Timberland is nubuck - the smooth-leather and full-grain models exist, and for those the nap rules stop applying and the normal leather routine starts. The smooth leather method is here, and those boots can take a conditioner and a wax or cream waterproofer that the wheat boot cannot. Check the material before you choose the product, not after.

Timberland PRO is a different animal

Worth separating out, because the two lines get asked about as if they were the same boot. Timberland PRO is the work and safety range - frequently smooth or oiled leather rather than wheat nubuck, usually with a safety toe, and bought to be worn daily on a site rather than at the weekend. If that is what you own, the material question above still decides the products, but the contaminant decides your first step, and that is a different page: how to clean work boots goes through concrete dust, fuel, salt and manure one at a time, because each of those is doing something to the leather that mud is not.

The one carryover worth knowing: Timberland’s heat warning applies to both lines, and a work boot is the one far more likely to get put on a radiator because it is needed again at six in the morning. That is the case a dryer exists for, and it is cheaper than the boots.

The short version, if you are standing in a shop

• Buy: a suede and nubuck brush with an eraser block. It is the cheapest item in this category and does the most work.
• Buy next: a protector whose maker publishes clearance for nubuck. Cleaning removes the last one, so this is a repeat purchase, not a one-off.
• Buy only if the brush and eraser have failed: a wet cleaner. Most nubuck does not need one most of the time.
• Do not buy: wax, polish, mink oil, saddle soap, or anything whose label does not name nubuck or suede. On this boot they are not a gentler option - they are the wrong product.