There wasn’t any related topic so I thought about starting one.
I’m in a dilemma as to how to clean shoes off dirt marks, color fading, cleaning, washing etc.
While cleaning dark color shoes is not much of a challenge but when it comes to white it gives nightmares.
I have a pair of white canvas sneakers and it has been 2 years now they are in a terrible state. Muddy and all types of dirt marks. I was thinking about washing them but YT suggests many methods but I thought about discussing here how people are maintaining their shoes esp. white ones.
I clean my sneakers every weekend or every 2 weeks
Dry wipe with cloth
wet wipe with wet cloth
with toothbrush using washing powder in water.
wet wipe with wet cloth
Dry wipe with cloth
if you do it regularly, they dont accumulate long term dirt or patches.
new trend is sending to dry cleaners who do shoe cleaning thesedays. there are specialized businesses around shoe cleaning but services are expensive.
I have also seen some shoe/sneaker cleaning kits being sold online. not tried yet.
My go to quick & easy way of cleaning shoes is using a wet tissue/washable cloth to remove 80-90% of the dirt & marks. Works pretty nicely with white shoes. For darker color shoes the process works even faster.
I too use the wet method but what if the canvas cloth itself gets dirty stained just like our white shirts/jeans?
I heard we can soak the shoes in a bucket with some detergent.
Totally unrelated to this cleaning of shoes , but staying with the subject of shoes ,
The shoes available here in India are not as good as when I buy the same model in Eu or Usa . I have seen a distinct quality difference always . I guess most of the shoes here are made in Punjab/Haryana … If we are lucky then vietnam …
What Puns mentioned… I have been doing exactly that (except for dry wipe and wet wipe.
I first use handshower and toothbrush to take all the dirts and particules that may have got caught in the outsole.
then put some washing powder water inside the shoe and let it soak for a minute or two.
Rinse it few times with clean water and keep them for drying .
Oh and also take out the insole of the shoe and wash it separately.
White is challenging to clean but I am sure others can suggest better. I avoid buying white.
Use Vanish instead of detergent. 50 degree water btw
Had seen this video a while back.
She chose a program with 30 degree water. So tap temperature. Amazed Samsung actually has a program for this called ‘outdoor care’
Whitening will be better with Vanish than any non oxygen bleach detergent. Soaking only goes so far. It needs agitation. She uses bicarbonate to manually clean you can use Vanish powder in place.
Shrinkage is the only thing that comes to mind. Watch the video linked above. She chose a program with 30 degree water. So tap temperature. Amazed Samsung actually has a program for this called ‘outdoor care’
Whitening will be better with Vanish than any non oxygen bleach detergent. Soaking only goes so far. It needs agitation. She uses bicarbonate to manually clean you can use Vanish powder in place.
You can put in your top loader on a mix cycle. Though there seems to be quite a bit of effort required manually before the machine does the rest
If they are regular canvas shoes, soaking and washing works supremely well. I do that with my Vans, Supra, and Converse sneakers, and never had a problem.
), works well for removing tough stains. However, I do not recommend it for dark coloured canvas. There will be some fading.
If you are looking for stainproofing, vetropower is decent. Haven’t noticed much difference interms of breathability. But if it is an issue, I guess we can wash the shoes again.
For my Doctor Martens, I use their shoe care kit (
). Since they need little care, the balsam lasts 3 years or more for two pairs.
