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Nothing feels better than a new pair of shoes. Nothing feels worse than getting those shoes dirty. But just as nothing stays new forever (unless you never wear your sneakers), dirt stains don’t have to be permanent—if you know how to clean your sneakers. Just like watering your plants, exercising, or following a diet, it’s healthy to maintain your sneakers over time.
While some sneakers do look better with a bit of wear, no sneaker looks good with food stains or mud on them. To get a better idea of how to clean your sneakers and keep them in tip-top shape, we talked to sneaker cleaning guru and co-founder of sneaker cleaning brand SneakersER Rob Stewart.
Below you’ll find out how to clean every part of a shoe. There are techniques for a quick wipe down and waterproofing, as well as more advanced processes like de-fogging an Air bubble or making sure your midsole doesn’t crumble. In a day and age where you see people wearing cooked Air Force 1s, this is how you can avoid that plague.
All illustrations by Naomi Otsu
Take the laces out before cleaning. Stick them in a bowl of warm to hot water with a couple of capsules of solutions while you clean the shoe, which should take 20 to 30 minutes. Take them out, give them a scrub with your hands, then run them through a microfiber cloth. If there are more stubborn laces, put solution on the microfiber cloth and then use the edge of your nail.
A cleaning should take at least some of that out. Deodorizers have antibacterial properties in them, and you can also use an insole that has silver ions in it. The inside of a shoe can be harder to reach. Get as much as you can with the hot water and solution. Brushes can be too big, so you can use a cloth instead.
With suede, there are a few things you need to take into account. First off, what color is the suede? If it’s a deep color, like navy or burgundy, you have the risk of a color bleed. Choose your product, warm water, and a soft brush. The best technique is to do as dry of a clean as possible. Before using water on the shoe, scrub the shoe with a dry brush. There are also rubber erasers you can use as well. If you do need to do a wet wash, do it as dry as possible.
Once you have your solution and water on the brush, place it against a microfiber cloth and take as much of the moisture out as possible. Then, go into the suede and take the stains or dirt out. Be very careful if, for example, there’s a navy panel next to a lighter panel—the colors will bleed. The drying process with suede is more important than the actual washing. After you’ve finished your clean, get as much moisture out of the suede with a microfiber. Pat the suede and twist the cloth on it, so it puffs up the nap on the suede. It might take three hours for the shoe to dry, but I’ll go back every half hour and do that technique on the shoe. If you just leave it and don’t babysit it, that’s when you can get problems. If the suede gets hard, you can work it with a series of brushes.
You can use a stiffer brush for outsoles. Since it’s rubber, you can go hotter with your water. Use a couple swishes of cleaning solutions, then scrub. Deglazer works if there’s something super hard to remove—put it on a cloth and work your way at it.
Midsoles are made out of foam or rubber, so you can use a stiffer brush. Once again, use cleaning solution and scrub. If something isn’t getting out, you can use a “neat” solution on a microfiber cloth. If that doesn’t remove it, you can use a bit of deglazer on a microfiber cloth. If that still doesn’t work, the last move would be to use paint or a midsole pen. That’s what we’d recommend for Boost material. You can spend 12 hours scrubbing it and it still won’t look white.
This is a temporary measure. We can take it out with shoe trees, but, naturally, as you bend your foot again, it’s going to come back unless you use one of those plastic toe crease devices. I’ve never used them. You should expect creases; shoes can’t stay brand new forever.
Pick out what you can using tweezers first. Then, use hot, hot water, almost to the point where it’s boiling, and rub it in with microfiber cloth. The gum softens over time. Rubber erasers can grab the glue or sticky residue until it’s a ball and you can pick it off. It takes quite a long time.
There are two types of waterproofing. If you’re after a quick fix, an aerosol protector will do the job. It will be done in 10-20 minutes. But for an all-leather shoe, you can use a wax. The best performing is a super hydrophobic nanoprotector. It creates a layer of breathable glass around the shoe. Coat the entire shoe. You work it in with a brush, let it sit for 10 minutes, then you do a second layer on the shoe. Then, it takes 24 hours for it to cure. It’s more work, but in terms of performance, it’s night and day.
It’s possible to get yellowing off a shoe. You’re going to be exposed to pretty harsh chemicals though—it’s a peroxide bleach. You’ll need good gloves and access to a ventilated space. You’ll need either a huge lamp or access to a very sunny climate, because that’s where the activation of the peroxide happens. You’ll also need to wrap the shoe up in a see-through plastic.
Use a normal hairdryer, but don’t have it on its highest setting or it might warp the plastic bubble. The hair dryer has enough heat in it. Hold it six inches from the bubble, move back and forth, and you’ll see the mist magically disappear.
If you scratch a leather shoe, there are leather fillers you can use. It will bend and be flexible. You can sand it down and paint over it. There are products out there that are being developed for furniture, and they’ll have a flexible filler. You just have to be smart and savvy.
Crumbling is an age-related problem with polyurethane foam. We’re seeing midsoles on certain brands that are 18-months old that are not very wear-resistant. To prevent it, a lot of problems originate where the moisture is high. If you buy shoes from Asia, sometimes there are problems with that due to the climate. Keep your shoes in a room with low humidity. If you wear your shoes, the effects can be less, compared to leaving your shoes in a box for years.
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