The best boot care kits

A kit is worth buying over separate items for one reason: the brushes. A horsehair brush for buffing, a stiffer brush for dried dirt, a dauber for working product into the welt and a lint-free cloth are the tools that make care take five minutes instead of twenty, and bought separately they cost more than a kit. Check what conditioner is included and whether it darkens - if the kit's product is an oil or a wax and your boots are light brown, keep the brushes and use Bick 4 instead. That is not a criticism of kits; it is how everyone's boot-care box ends up.

What you give up: You give up control over the chemistry. Kit conditioners are generic, and on a light or exotic leather a generic product is a risk.

Bick 4 is the conditioner to buy if you only buy one, and the reason is a single property: it does not darken leather. That matters more on boots than on anything else, because the usual conditioners and oils will take a light brown boot several shades darker and there is no undoing it. Reviewers consistently note that Bick 4's non-darkening claim holds up, that it absorbs well and that it works across a range of leathers, with the caveat that it can leave a little surface build-up if you over-apply. Use it two or three times a year on a boot in regular wear, and after any soaking.

What you give up: You give up waterproofing. A conditioner is not a weather treatment - it keeps leather supple, it does not keep water out.

Saddle soap is a cleaner, not a conditioner, and confusing the two is the most common boot-care mistake there is. It is an astringent built for thick, well-oiled leather - it is very good at pulling dirt and stains out, and that same action is why you must follow it with a conditioner, because it takes oils with it. The correct order is: brush off dry dirt, clean with saddle soap on a damp cloth, let the boot dry away from heat, then condition. Done twice a year that routine is the entire difference between boots that last and boots that crack.

What you give up: You give up moisture. Saddle soap strips as it cleans, so using it without conditioning afterwards is worse for the leather than not cleaning at all.

The boot problem nobody warns beginners about is the shaft collapsing: leave a tall boot standing empty for a few months and it folds at the ankle, and the crease becomes permanent. Boot trees - or the cheaper boot shapers - hold the shaft upright and absorb moisture while they do it, and cedar does the second job better than plastic because it actually wicks. For a first pair this is a $20 purchase that protects a $200 one, which makes it the highest-return thing on this entire site.

What you give up: You give up closet space, and cedar needs light sanding every year or so to refresh its scent and absorbency.