Kiwi has been keeping shoes looking sharp since 1906, when a Scottish-Australian bloke named William Ramsay started mixing up polish in his garage to impress his wife. She was from New Zealand, and he named it after her nickname — and the country’s native bird. More than a century later, we’re still the tin that’s tucked into military footlockers, backstage at theaters, and under kitchen sinks around the world.

We’ve watched fashion change from oxfords to sneakers and back again, but one thing stays constant: well-cared-for shoes say something about the person wearing them. Whether you’re polishing up for a job interview, keeping your work boots weather-ready, or bringing an old pair back from the dead, we make the stuff that helps you put your best foot forward. No fancy promises or complicated routines — just reliable polish that does what it says on the tin.

Our formula hasn’t changed much since those early days in the garage, because honestly, it didn’t need to. The same blend of natural waxes that protected leather through two world wars still works today. We source our carnauba wax from the same Brazilian palm trees, our beeswax from the same family-run apiaries, and we still hand-check every batch to make sure it spreads smooth and buffs to that perfect shine. Some call us old-fashioned. We just call it doing things right.