There are many possible reasons why you might want to wash the interior of your shoes, from sweat to dirt, let’s see what are our options.
If your shoes are not really dirty but you just want to get rid of the smell:
When your feet sweat, that can cause bacteria to multiply and create an unpleasant smell. The two more popular options to this problem are baking soda or white vinegar.
- Using a mixture of white vinegar and water, just wipe the interior of the shoe with a sponge and let it dry.
- If you prefer a simpler solution, you can sprinkle a little bit of baking soda in the shoe more frequently, that is also an effective solution.
If your shoes are actually dirty on the inside:
Sometimes, it’s not really not a matter of smell, your shoes are just dirty, let’s see what our options are:
Hand-wash your shoes
In most cases, this will be your best (and safest) option. You will just need a brush and some hot water and detergent.
- Remove the soles and the laces
- Dry brush your shoes to remove as much dirt as you can
- Prepare a sink with hot water, soap and soak your shoes in it.
- Scrub the remaining stains and rinse
- At this stage, you might want to wash the soles as well if they need to.
- That’s it, let them dry and congratulate yourself for a job well done 🙂
Put your shoes in the washing machine
Sneakers and mesh shoes usually fare better in the washing machine than other types of shoes, and the process is actually similar to the one above.
- Remove the soles (laces can stay if you prefer)
- Dry brush your shoes to remove dirt.
- Put them in a mesh bag and start up the cycle using cold water.