Why Did My Black Vans Turn Brown?

If you just got yourself a pair of vans shoes and after wearing it for some time you noticed that it has suddenly started turning brown. There is a reason for your Vans turning brown.

Your black Vans turned brown because of damage from the sun. In other words, you can say that your Vans shoes have been sun-bleached. This is as a result of continuous usage of the Vans when you are under the sun.

This usually occurs after seven to eight months of using your Vans. If you notice that your black Vans shoes are changing colors, you should understand that it has been sun-bleached.

Real reasons why black Vans turn Brown

There is a reason why your Vans shoes turn brown. That is what I will explain in this segment of this article. For you to tackle the issue of why your Vans shoes turn brown, you need to, first of all, know what causes it.

There are two main reasons why your black Vans shoes turn brown. They are :

• Sunlight damage
• Water damage

Sunlight damage

This usually happens when you have worn your Vans shoes for a period of about seven to nine months. Due to the fact that you may have been walking far distances with your Vans under the sun.

You will notice that it will begin to change color due to the continuous heating of the sun. Some people refer to this as when your Vans shoes have been sun-bleached.

Even after wearing your Vans for the day and you want to leave it outside to sundry in order for you to use it the next day, in the process of leaving it outside to dry, you may leave it outside for too long, and then the hot sun heats it too much.

If you do that repeatedly for too long, you will start to see that the sun will bleach your Vans shoes and it will start to change from black to brown color.

If you want to leave your black Vans shoes outside to dry, you should not leave them there for too long as the sun could bleach your Vans shoes.

Water damage

This is one of the major issues why your Vans shoes turn from black to brown. This is as a result of different weather conditions in different locations.

Most especially in regions where winter occurs. In winter, it is made worse by the combination of saltwater and grit being put on the ground during the snowy and icy weather. This combination of saltwater and grit has a very bad effect on leather or suede footwear in particular.

This is why when you wear your black shoes outside during winter or when it is snowy, the black could gradually be getting affected and as the winter lasts, it affects your Vans shoes the most, and it is only a matter of time, you will notice that your black Vans shoes have started to turn brown.

When you notice that the winter is here, you should limit how you wear your Vans because if you wear it repeatedly, it will start to deteriorate and you may not like how your black Vans shoes will look when it turns brown, it will not be as presentable as it was.

How to restore the color of your Vans shoes to black

If it happens that your black Vans shoes have suddenly turned brown due to any of the reasons that I have mentioned above, you should know that it is very possible for your Vans shoes to be restored to black. It will be restored to black and also be looking as presentable as it was when you first got it.

Take a look at some of the ways you can use to restore your Vans shoes to black :

• Use medicinal tapes to protect the soles
• Apply dye over the surface
• Once the dye has dried apply another coat
• Brush your shoes lightly to remove debris
• Spray with a protective spray to set the dye.

Use medicinal tapes to protect the soles

This is the next thing that you need to do after applying dye on the surface of your Vans shoes. You should use medicinal tapes to tape the soles of your black Vans when you want to dye them so that the black dye does not stain your white sole.

If your black dye stains the white sole it will not look presentable at all. That is the purpose of using medicinal tapes.

Apply dye over the surface

Once you notice that your black Vans shoes are turning brown and you want to restore them to black, you should get a black dye that will do the job for you.

Once you are ready to dye your black Vans shoes, you should get your dye and shoes ready. One you have your shoes and Vans ready, apply the dye over the surface of the part that has bleached from black to brown. Ensure that you touch dye around all the surfaces that need to be dyed.

Once you have done that you should move to the next step.

Once the dye has dried apply another coat

This will help the black dye shine better and become brighter. That is the essence of the coating. To help the black become so visible you need to coat it again and then let it dry.

Brush your shoes lightly to remove debris:

This is the next thing that you’re supposed to do after you have coated the black shoe with dye. You should brush it slightly and make sure that there is no form of dirt or debris on it. If it dries with dirt on it, you’re not going to like how it will turn out.

That is why it’s best you make use of the brush to brush your Vans shoes lightly to make sure that all the debris is gone.

Spray with a protective spray to set the dye

This is after you are done drying and brushing to remove all the debris from the shoe. What you should do next is that you should make use of a protective spray.

Once you do this you will see that the black dye will sit very well and lap well on your vans. This is the last step but it’s also very important.

How to prevent your black Vans from going brown

Note that there are ways that you can prevent your black Vans from turning brown. That is what I will explain in this segment of this article. This will help to protect the next Vans that you will get from turning brown.

Take a look at some of the ways that you can prevent your Vans from going brown:

• Avoid prolonged direct exposure to the sun
• Avoid regular and prolonged usage during winter
• Clean it regularly

Avoid prolonged direct exposure to the sun

Most times, just as I have explained at the beginning of this article. Prolonged exposure of your Vans to direct sunlight could cause the sun to bleach your black Vans and turn them brown. If you want to sun dry your black Vans after wearing it.

Just leave it under the sun for some time and make sure that when it is dried you bring it in. If you do not want the hot sun to bleach your black Vans, you should avoid leaving them under the sun for a long period of time.

Avoid regular & prolonged usage during winter

Winter is not a very good weather condition for your black Vans shoe. They usually have an adverse effect on it when you make use of the Vans during winter and you allow the salty water to contact your back Vans, it will have an adverse effect on it and could make it change colour.

That is why you need to avoid making use of your Vans shoes regularly during winter and when it is snowy. You could get snow boots and wear them when you want to walk in snow.

Clean it regularly

This is something that you should do not only for your Vans but also for other shoes. Cleaning your black Vans regularly can help to prevent it from going brown. Cleaning it will help to remove the dust and also keep it clean on a daily basis.

When you are done wearing it and you want to sun dry it, you should keep it outside under the sun for a while, when it is done you can take it in and then wear it again the next day.

The best you can do for yourself is to prevent your black Vans from turning brown by following these tips that I have made mention. Once you do these that I have made mention of, you rest assured that your black Vans will remain black and not be turned to brown.

Do all Vans change color after washing them?

All Vans will change color only if the water you use in washing them contains certain salts in your water supply. This is said to be water hardness. Or it can also be referred to as rusty water.

Only when this happens is when your Vans could change color after washing. This combination of salts in water is bad for your Vans shoes and it is responsible for the color change when you are done washing.

However, if there is nothing in the water, do not expect any form of color change on your Vans. One thing you should do is to make sure that you are not making use of hard water or rusty water to wash your Vans.

Your water should be free from every form of salt or hardness for it to be okay to be used for washing your Vans. The stain gets worse when your Vans come in white color.

When you wash white Vans in hard water you will notice how deep the stains will be. The stain could be in yellow color.

Conclusion

Your black Vans change color to brown when exposed to excess sunlight or when you expose it to harsh weather conditions like winter.

The saltwater and ice are a bad combination for your Vans and when you continue to wear them in harsh weather conditions like winter, you will see how the color starts to change and it even gets worse each day.

You should take note of this if you want your Vans to last long for you. The good news is that you can prevent this from happening and one of the ways you can prevent this from happening is by avoiding prolonged exposure to the harsh sun.

When you expose your black Vans to the harsh sun each day for long, you will notice that the color will start to change to brown after some time.

Another way that you can prevent your black Vans from changing to brown is by not wearing them too long during harsh weather conditions like winter.

I have mentioned this a lot in this article. Ice and salty water should contact your Vans at all. It will begin to deteriorate and change color with time. You should be aware of this.

If you have black Vans that have changed color to brown, there is a way you can restore them. You can restore it by applying dye on the surface of the black Vans.

Make sure that you apply the dye on all the surfaces of the shoe. If you want the shoe to get back to black completely, you should ensure that the black dye touches all the affected places.

When you’re done dying, you should coat it again so that the dye can get thick and set well. Allow it to dry for a while, or you could use a dryer to hasten the drying process.

Once it has done drying you should brush lightly to remove all forms of debris from the shoes.