Caring for Velvet Shoes: an adventure with Vivienne Westwood x melissa Cat Paw Pumps

 Recently my apartment had a termite infestation.... and they got into my shoeboxes!!  A pair of my Vivienne Westwood Anglomania x melissa Caw Paw Pumps got their nest material on it which clung to the velvet flocking and even dissolved a part of the velvet.

As these are my first pair of velvet shoes, I contacted customer service to ask how to best clean the shoes and the email I received back said:

Dear [Sparklewolfie],

Thank you for contacting Vivienne Westwood RoW Online Store Customer Service.

We are sorry to inform you but we do not have official information on how to clean the product at the moment.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with our Customer Care team for any further information.

Sincerely,

Miguel

Vivienne Westwood Online Store Customer Service

Well, that is unfortunate {{{(>_<)}}} 
I am assuming it is because this is a collaboration series and not a purely Vivienne Westwood design.  Instead, I searched online and most sites seem to just be quoting each other.  The provided recipes of baking soda and water or lemon juice and the tips are word-for-word copies.  

Eventually I did find a shop that sold velvet shoes which had similar tips, but wasn't a copy-paste, and had more detail about knowing the TYPE of velvet your shoes are.  Unfortunately, I closed out the window without bookmarking the site and now I cannot find it again, but if I do I will link it here! 

Key tips I remember from the site include how cotton/silk velvet should be taken to a dry cleaner, while polyester/blend velvet can usually be cleaned at home unless the stains are REALLY bad.  They also explain more about the nap of the velvet and recommend brushing off velvet shoes after each wear so nothing has a chance to build up.

So, on to the pictures!  Warning: the damaged shoes image might be a little gross for some people!  The way the termite nest material is built sort of icks me out as well.

Before

I used an old toothbrush (it is softer than a new toothbrush) and plain water to clean.

Using a DRY brush, I first brushed off as much dried material as possible.  It wasn't much, but I didn't want to risk wetting it all and working it deeper into the nap of the velvet.

Next, I wet the toothbrush and starting out with the main build-up portions, I scrubbed as gently as I could , and only went in harder on the parts that were stubborn.

As I said earlier, parts of the velvet have been dissolved completely by whatever termite nests are made of, but I was able to get the rest of the buildup and staining out!  In the above photo, you can see how the velvet will look like different colors if the nap is going different ways.  

Brush over the entire area so the nap is all laying flat to make the color look the same again.

In the bright sunlight you can see that some of the velvet is gone, and some is permanently damaged so I couldn't brush it flat again, but it is not very noticeable when worn so I am glad!

I will be getting a nail brush to use for brushing down the velvet for future use.  It's bigger than a toothbrush so it'll go faster.

Hopefully this was somewhat helpful to anybody who also has velvet shoes!  I want to wear these in a cat-themed coordinate soon :3  But I really have nowhere to wear it to XD