Back in September, Hubby and I vacationed in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. Seeing a Fuller Brush shop at an outlet mall in Reading, I stopped to see what was offered. There, in addition to two brushes made mostly of plastic, I found these US-made and evidently plastic-free shoe brushes. The small one is for daubing polish, the larger for bringing up a shine. Shoe care has been one of those mainly manly domestic tasks that I thought I should be better at, and old rags have a role but when used alone leave me covered in shoe polish, so I avoid the task. Besides: care for goods is a corollary to reducing consumption, plastic included. And they’d make a nice stocking stuffer.
These brushes were sold loose, which it why I mention it here. The only other shoe brush I recall buying — somewhat rougher made than the one pictured here — I got for my father when I was visiting the West Bank, also loose.
Not much good that does you, unless you live in southeastern Pennsylvania or Bethlehem (as in “O Little Town” not the former steel center), right? Well, a few days ago, I noticed in my neighborhood market, a cardboard-packed shoe brush, under the Kiwi brand, almost identical to the one above. So they may be more widely available for sale, certainly at a shoe repair shop.
