How do you store tall boots so they do not flop over?

Put something inside the shaft to hold it open: rolled magazines, a length of closed cell foam, or a purpose made boot shaper. Then stand them upright on their soles with air around them. The fold at the ankle is what turns into a permanent crease.

Should boots be stored in their boxes?

Only if the box can breathe. A sealed box traps humidity against a worn lining, which is how mould starts. Leave the lid off, use a cotton dust bag or a pillowcase, and never a plastic bag.

Do you need shoe trees for faux leather boots?

The moisture absorbing benefit matters less on synthetics than on hide, but holding the vamp smooth matters just as much. A tree or firmly packed plain paper stops walking creases from setting deeper over a season.

Can you get a crease out of a boot?

Sometimes. Fill the shaft or the foot, hold the shape, and give it a week or two at room temperature. Once the crease has turned into a pale line or fine cracks the coating has split, and that does not reverse.

Boots

Storing boots so they keep their shape

3 November 2026 · 5 min read

A boot in storage is holding its own weight on a material that was pressed into shape and would rather not stay there. Left standing in a cupboard for a season, a tall shaft folds over at the ankle, the fold becomes a crease, the crease becomes a crack line, and the boot is finished at the point where it bends most. None of that is wear. It is storage. Fixing it costs nothing and takes about two minutes per pair, which is a better return than anything you can buy for the purpose.

Why a shaft collapses

A boot upper is a flat panel of material forced into a tube. The material has elastic memory and wants to flatten out again, and at the ankle there is nothing inside to hold the tube open. Gravity does the rest.

On a faux leather boot the consequence is worse than a sagging silhouette. A polyurethane coating is bonded to a fabric backing, and when it is folded hard in one place for months the coating on the outside of the fold is held in tension the whole time. That is exactly the condition that produces the fine craze lines which later open into cracks.

The same thing happens to the toe box if boots are stacked on top of each other, and to the heel counter if a boot is stored leaning against something. Anywhere the shape is held wrong for long enough, it stays wrong.

What to put inside a shaft

Rolled magazines are the standard answer and they work: roll one into a tube slightly wider than the shaft, slide it in, and it springs outward against the sides. Two per boot for a tall shaft, one at the ankle and one higher up.

Pool noodles cut to length are better, because closed cell foam does not absorb humidity and does not transfer ink. A noodle cut to the shaft height, or two side by side in a wide shaft, holds the tube open indefinitely and weighs nothing.

Purpose made boot shapers are plastic or stiffened fabric cylinders with a spring or a clip, and they are the neatest option if you own several tall pairs. What matters is not which of the three you choose but that something is in there. A mid calf laced boot is tall enough to need it and short enough that one rolled magazine does the job.

The foot, which people forget

The shaft gets all the attention and the forefoot is where the expensive damage happens. A boot comes off your foot with the vamp creased from walking, and if it is put away like that the creases set deeper every week.

A cedar shoe tree is the proper solution: it fills the foot, holds the vamp smooth and absorbs residual moisture from the lining. Unvarnished cedar is the kind that does the absorbing. On synthetic uppers the moisture benefit matters less, because there is no hide to dry out, but the shape benefit is identical.

Failing a tree, stuff the foot with paper, firmly enough to fill it and not so firmly that you are pushing the vamp outward into a new shape. Plain newsprint or packing paper, not printed glossy stock, which can mark a lining.

Where to put them

Upright, standing on their soles, with air around them. A rack or a shelf at floor level in a hallway cupboard is ideal. What you are avoiding is weight on any surface that is meant to be curved.

Not in the original box with the lid on, if the boots have been worn. A sealed box holds humidity and a damp lining in a dark warm space grows mould. If you want them boxed, leave the lid off or punch holes in it.

Not in a plastic bag, for the same reason and more so. The breathable cotton dust bags that come with some footwear are fine, and a pillowcase does the same job: it keeps dust off and lets air through.

And not in a loft or an unheated garage. A summer loft swings between very hot and merely hot, and heat is what softens the adhesive at a glued sole join.

Putting a pair away for the summer

Clean them first. Wipe the uppers down with a damp cloth and a little mild soap, get the salt and the grit out of the welt area, and let them dry fully at room temperature for a day or two before anything goes inside them. Storing a dirty boot sets the dirt, and salt left on a finish keeps working at it for months.

Take the laces out, or at least slacken them right off. Laces left tightened hold the throat closed and crease the tongue, and a flat lace left under tension across a coated upper can leave a permanent line.

Then fill the foot, fill the shaft, stand them up, and leave them somewhere with a stable temperature. Check them once in the middle of the season, mostly to confirm nothing is damp.

An ankle boot needs the foot filled and little else. A platform needs the shaft supported and should never be stored with anything resting on the wedge, because the sole unit is the structural part and it is not meant to carry a load sideways.

Getting a crease out, if it has already set

Fill the shaft and leave it. A fold that has been in place for a few weeks will often relax out over a week or two of being held open, and this is the only approach with no downside.

Gentle warmth helps and heat does damage, and the line between them is narrower than most advice admits. Room temperature and time is the safe version. A hair dryer on a coated upper risks softening the coating and setting a shine into it where the fold was.

If the crease has become a pale line or a fine network of cracks, the coating has already split and nothing reverses that. You can reduce how visible it is with a little black shoe cream worked in and buffed off, and you can stop it spreading by never storing the boot folded again, but the material is broken at that point. It is worth knowing that is permanent, because it makes the two minutes of stuffing look like a bargain.

Questions people actually ask

How do you store tall boots so they do not flop over?: Put something inside the shaft to hold it open: rolled magazines, a length of closed cell foam, or a purpose made boot shaper. Then stand them upright on their soles with air around them. The fold at the ankle is what turns into a permanent crease.
Should boots be stored in their boxes?: Only if the box can breathe. A sealed box traps humidity against a worn lining, which is how mould starts. Leave the lid off, use a cotton dust bag or a pillowcase, and never a plastic bag.
Do you need shoe trees for faux leather boots?: The moisture absorbing benefit matters less on synthetics than on hide, but holding the vamp smooth matters just as much. A tree or firmly packed plain paper stops walking creases from setting deeper over a season.
Can you get a crease out of a boot?: Sometimes. Fill the shaft or the foot, hold the shape, and give it a week or two at room temperature. Once the crease has turned into a pale line or fine cracks the coating has split, and that does not reverse.