Fashion is very changeable and capricious. What was fashionable yesterday is no longer relevant today and is hidden on the mezzanine in a closet. But there are things that are out of fashion and timeless. Such exceptional things include sneakers. Having appeared more than 100 years ago, they are becoming more and more in demand not only among young people, but also popular among the older generation.
This is explained by their versatility, practicality and ease of care. So, is it possible to wash sneakers and how to do it correctly?
Machine washable
Not all shoe models can be put in the washing machine. Before washing, be sure to look at the information indicated on the tag - this way you can understand how and at what temperature to treat the sneakers.
Modern washing machines have a “Shoe Washing” mode. If you are the happy owner of a simpler or more rare model, choose the “delicate wash” mode with minimal speed.
It is worth washing sneakers in a special bag; this way, shoes and expensive elements of the washing machine will not be damaged. It is not advisable to wash more than two pairs of shoes at the same time - the soles will knock heavily on the glass of the door and the drum, which can damage the device.
Sneakers with defects should also be washed by hand - the hole will increase during the washing process, and your favorite pair will go straight from the drum to the trash.
The optimal water temperature is 30 degrees , the maximum is 40. If the temperature is higher, the glue will not hold up and the sole will simply fly off. It is forbidden to dry shoes in a washing machine - this will ruin both them and the shoes. Washing powder or gel should be selected taking into account the fabric from which the sneakers are made. All-purpose powder is not suitable. It is advisable to use liquid products. When using powder, the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the shoes will be difficult to rinse.
Features of washing different sneakers
The material from which shoes are made may vary. Depending on it, the cleaning method and the choice of detergents are selected.
It is not recommended to machine wash suede sneakers (if the shoes are completely suede, and not just small inserts). This material is not friendly with aggressive detergents, so there is no need to remove stains with acetone and especially gasoline. Before washing, they must dry thoroughly, otherwise the dirt will only smear more.
- Make a solution from alcohol. Moisten a cotton pad with it and carefully treat the outside of the item. Dirty areas can be wiped with the finest-grained sandpaper. To consolidate the result, additionally moisten the suede with a very weak 1% vinegar solution.
- Talc will help remove grease stains from your item. They need to powder the sneakers and after 3 hours wipe them with a rubber brush.
- Another clever way to remove oily shine is to rub it with match sulfur.
- Most often, sneakers have a white sole, on which dirt is very visible, which can be removed with a simple eraser.
- Brown material can be refreshed by rubbing it with coffee grounds. Afterwards it should be treated with a damp and then a dry brush.
Leather sneakers definitely cannot be machine washed. The skin absolutely does not tolerate water procedures, but if necessary, you can wash it by hand and only in cold water. Also, when dealing with leather items, you should not overuse formulations containing soda (although it does a good job of removing odors).
It is easier to wash rag sneakers. Serious stains can be removed by hand washing, but for regular washing you can easily put them in the washing machine. One condition is that the water should not be hot, otherwise the sneakers will turn yellow. Denim shoes are washed with liquid soap or baking soda.
Mesh shoes can be washed both by hand and in a washing machine (gentle wash mode). When washing by hand, use toothpaste, adding lemon juice to it in advance.
Insulated sneakers for winter are also washed according to the material. It is more difficult to spoil them by improper cleaning than summer options, and washing dirt from the insulation is problematic. It is better to take such a pair to the dry cleaner once a season.
Washing white sneakers
White sneakers remain popular, despite the fact that they get dirty incredibly quickly. Lovers of white things need to take note of this fact - nothing can ruin your look and style more than dirty white shoes. When buying such sneakers, you need to immediately prepare yourself for the fact that they will need to be seriously looked after.
Cleaning white sneakers is much more difficult in practice than in words. They need to be washed as quickly as possible after soiling so that they do not absorb dirt.
Washing such items is no different from caring for sneakers of other colors. The only difference is that this requires a chemical agent that has bleaching properties. It takes longer to achieve the whitening effect than regular washing.
After washing, you need to spend a lot of time rinsing. After the machine finishes washing, it is advisable to rinse the sneakers by hand. Even a small amount of detergent on shoes will cause stains and streaks after drying. They need to be rinsed thoroughly and the water changed at least 2-3 times.
How to wash sneakers in a machine: how many pairs at a time, with what and in what mode to wash
The maximum number of pairs of shoes for one machine wash is two. This is the key to high-quality washing and insurance of the glass drum of the machine from excessive impact frequency. If you do not have a special mesh for washing, you can use an old pillowcase for these purposes or wash your sneakers along with rags or towels that you no longer use to dry yourself.
Is it possible to wash sneakers with other things? With linen, bed sheets and towels - definitely not. But whether to wash sneakers with other everyday clothes is a matter of your personal level of cleanliness. This will not cause any harm to your health, because the machine rinses everything to clean water. If in doubt, run an extra rinse.
What mode should I use to wash sneakers? It is ideal if your washing machine has a “shoe wash” program. However, most machines do not provide such a program, so choose the “delicate wash” mode.
When adjusting the washing parameters, do not forget to turn off the twisting, or, if absolutely necessary, set it to minimum. Due to intense twisting, the shoes are deformed and torn, and the machine is damaged by impacts. The water temperature for washing sneakers has limitations: 30 °C is the maximum temperature that average quality shoe glue can withstand. This temperature is also the limit for preserving the initial color of the fabric.
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You cannot dry your sneakers in the washing machine! Do not activate the drying mode when washing shoes. Even once dried in a washing machine, shoes significantly lose their wear resistance. In addition, it can ruin the machine!
What detergent should I use to wash sneakers? It goes without saying that it is unacceptable to wash colored items together with white ones. Therefore, choose a detergent that matches the color of the sneaker: for white or colored items. Universal powder cannot be used. Based on the consistency of the detergent, give preference to liquid. If you wash with loose powder, use as little of it as possible. Or rinse extra if there is a lot of powder. However, in case of heavy soiling, it is still better to use the pre-soak function.
Hand wash
You can wash your sneakers by hand, but be sure to do so in cold water, having previously cleaned them of any stuck-on dirt and dust. Before washing, they need to be soaked for about 20 minutes so that the thicker fabric gets wet and becomes softer. Instead of washing powder, liquid soap is often used, especially since it is much easier and faster to wash off than powder. Colored sneakers should be washed with a special product that preserves the color. To make your sneakers even softer, you can mix the cleaning product with baking soda. After completing the procedure, you need to carefully remove all chemical residues and rinse the material several times.
How to clean white soles on sneakers
- Washing powder is a universal answer to the question of how to clean sneakers and how to whiten the soles. There is no need to wash the soles by hand or with a brush. Just prepare a soap solution with powder and place the sneakers with the soles in a basin for half an hour. Then run a brush over the soles and they are clean. You can also use laundry soap, but you will have to brush your soles with it several times.
- Vinegar or citric acid. Cleans soles perfectly. How to wash white soles on sneakers with it? Prepare a solution in the proportion of 1 tablespoon of vinegar to half a glass of water and wipe the soles with a cotton swab.
- Toothpaste. Almost a classic on the question of how to clean white sneakers at home. Take an old toothbrush, apply toothpaste to it and brush. Labor-intensive, but effective.
- Soda. Apply baking soda to a damp cloth and rub thoroughly. If the sneakers are made of textiles, it is better not to use this method, otherwise you will be forced to clean them so that the soda does not get on the fabric.
- An eraser. A regular eraser can easily remove all the black stripes and stains on the sole so that rare products will wash the sole.
- Acetone. It is possible, but not recommended. Acetone is bad for rubber and there is no guarantee that your sole will tolerate it well. After washing it off, rinse everything thoroughly.
- Bleaches. It works on the same principle as a solution with washing powder, but the solution needs to be made more concentrated, since a small amount of bleaching liquid will not have an effect, and the soles must be left in it for an hour.
- Petrolatum. A simple and effective, and most importantly, safe cleaning method for your shoes. This is a fairly gentle cleaning agent.
How to remove grease stains
Serious greasy stains can be removed with almost any solvent such as alcohol or acetone. But it is better not to use them on synthetic shoes. As an alternative, the following options may be offered:
- The dirty area should be rubbed with laundry soap and covered with sugar. After 15 minutes, wipe with a wet brush and put it in the washing machine.
- You can use mustard powder. It contains substances that break down fat, which is great for cleaning stains from things. The powder must be diluted in warm water to a thick consistency and covered with it over the oily area. After half an hour, you need to wash the sneakers in warm water and rinse thoroughly.
- Lemon juice and toothpaste also have a whitening effect, but this will only help in the case of a fresh greasy stain.
How to wash sneakers by hand
Are your sneakers not machine washable? No problem. We know how to wash sneakers by hand. It’s difficult to call this process exciting, but you can survive it!
1. Begin with the usual preparation: unlace, remove the insoles, clean from coarse dirt. After preliminary dry cleaning, the sole must be thoroughly washed.
2. The next stage is soaking: add a little soda and detergent to lukewarm water, and lower the sneakers, laces of NOT a contrasting color and insoles into this solution. Do something else for at least 30 minutes. If the sneakers do not have metal inserts, beads or rhinestones, then you can soak them for a longer time, up to 2 hours.
3. After soaking, armed with a hard brush, preferably an old toothbrush, and any detergent, they get to work: thoroughly clean each sneaker, centimeter by centimeter, inside and then outside. After washing the sneakers, proceed to the laces and insoles. All you have to do is hang the sneakers so that the water drains from them and wait until they dry.
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How to dry sneakers correctly
Drying is the last stage of shoe washing. The choice of location is very important. First of all, it should be well ventilated. A balcony or terrace is ideal. If the weather and conscientious neighbors permit, the sneakers can be hung in the yard.
It is better not to dry them on the radiator. When exposed to temperature, shoes can lose shape and even change color. Especially in winter, when the battery temperature is too high. There are also special shoe dryers that dry shoes without harming them.
How to remove yellowness
It is important to start with how to avoid this, that is, how to do it correctly and how to wash white sneakers so that there are no yellow stains on them later. Never use warm or hot water to wash white sneakers or sneakers, only cool water and rinse thoroughly.
If there is no suspicion about the quality of the powder, then there may be improper drying. White sneakers should be dried only in natural conditions, not on a radiator, otherwise they will turn yellow.
There is no need to dry it in the sun either. Let it be just a well-ventilated but shaded place.
What to do if the sneakers have turned yellow after washing and there are already stains, the first way to bleach white sneakers or how to bleach sneakers is to rinse again in cool water and dry under the conditions indicated above. This procedure can be repeated a couple of times. But if this doesn't help, then use the following methods.
Baking soda
Moisten a piece of cloth, apply baking soda and gently rub the sneakers by hand. This is not suitable for textile sneakers, especially if they are inexpensive and the quality of the fabric is questionable. Believe me, it can cause such harm and the fact that the fabric has turned yellow will seem like a trifle to you.
Vinegar
Prepare the solution as you would for the soles and clean the sneakers; it is important to rinse them well afterwards so as not to spoil the shoes.
Toothpaste
The safest, easiest and most reliable way to clean white fabric sneakers from yellowness. Take a brush and toothpaste and gently brush, and then rinse.
Remember that even after such cleaning, fabric sneakers need to be dried properly so that new stains do not appear. Toothpaste can clean white sneakers from yellow spots, but if after that you send the sneakers to a hot radiator or under direct sunlight, the problem will repeat. The shoes will become yellowish again and whether the stains will be removed again is a big question.
Choosing a detergent
Most often, when washing sneakers, we don’t think twice about adding regular washing powder to the machine’s compartment. It's easier. And the neighbor does exactly the same. Is this detergent really universal?
Yes, it's inexpensive. And you can buy it in any supermarket - just extend your hand. The powder can be selected for almost any type of material, focusing on composition and color. Powders for machine and hand washing are produced separately.
But this product also has 2 undeniable disadvantages:
- The first is high allergenicity.
- Secondly, traces of powder are more difficult to wash out from dark materials. Sneakers cannot be wrung out, as they will lose their shape, which means there is a high probability of getting black shoes with unsightly light stains after washing.
Another option is gels or liquid detergents. Their cost is much higher than the cost of washing powder, but there are almost no downsides. In addition, gels are recommended to be used to remove dirt when a particularly gentle washing regime is required. These products are washed out of the fabric faster. This property is great for sneakers made of synthetics, cotton and even suede.
For leatherette shoes we will use traditional methods. To remove stains from sneakers, wipe them with an alcohol solution. You can use wet baking soda. And the stains that remain from it will be removed with lemon juice.
Washing powder does an excellent job of washing sneakers, but can create stains on dark shoes
A weak solution of vinegar will perfectly remove dirt from light suede. 9% vinegar should be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:5, apply the solution to a rag and wipe the dirt with it.
Grease stains on sneakers after a weekend with barbecue can be removed with talcum powder: sprinkle it on the stain, rub it in, let it sit for several hours. Afterwards, the shoes must be washed in a machine.
Colored shoes should not be washed with bleach or chlorine-containing products, or with white items.
Proper drying
Once you've finished washing, dry your white sneakers.
Proper drying of shoes
Dry with a towel or other absorbent cloth.
Important! Do not use heaters, convectors, hair dryers, or microwaves when drying. Do not leave the product in direct sunlight for a long period of time.
The impact of high temperatures on the glue and impregnation may cause yellow marks to appear on the surface of the sneakers. It is quite difficult to get rid of them.
Drying sneakers should be hung on a clothesline by the tongues or using laces threaded through loops.
Something went wrong while washing
Binge-watching your favorite TV series or miscalculating the water temperature. A minor mistake, and it already seems that the sneakers can be thrown into the trash. Red stains appeared on the once snow-white shoes. Or the sole began to turn yellow... Any problem can be dealt with!
The sole has turned yellow
If the sole has turned yellow, folk recipes will help us:
- white toothpaste;
- soda;
- tooth powder (sold in every pharmacy);
- table vinegar and water in a ratio of 3:1.
Any of these products is applied in the same way: with a wet toothbrush on the sole. We make an effort to clean and wipe the shoes with a damp sponge. The result will depend on how actively we use the brush.
Video: how to remove yellowness from a white sole
Yellow streaks appeared
The sneakers are covered with yellow stains and now resemble a tiger cub... There may be several reasons. For example, you didn’t rinse your shoes properly. Then you need to wash it again and rinse thoroughly in clean water. Divorces will disappear.
If you didn’t guess the temperature of the water in which the white sneakers were dipped, then the unpleasant result will be red or yellow spots all over the surface of the fabric. In order to get rid of such a pattern, the sneakers must first be dried. Then we use any of the proposed means:
- white toothpaste (colored ones can tint);
- dentifrice;
- ammonia;
- hydrogen peroxide.
Distribute toothpaste or powder over a toothbrush. We carefully clean the sneakers until the whiteness returns. As for ammonia or peroxide, apply it to a cotton pad and wipe the stains until they disappear completely.
Stains are removed with toothpaste, ammonia and peroxide only from dry shoes.
After cleaning with these products, the shoes should be thoroughly rinsed and dried.
You washed your sneakers and they shrunk
What to do if your sneakers “shrink” due to being in hot water? I immediately remember Cinderella’s sisters from the fairy tale. We will not torture our own legs. It's better to retrain as a fairy.
- You can increase the size with hot water. Soak the sneakers for a few minutes and put on woolen socks. We wear the shoes until they dry. Of course, you shouldn’t expect an immediate effect, but going to work the next day will clearly be more comfortable.
- The sneakers can be stretched using ice. To do this, place a plastic bag with water inside. After which we take the shoes out onto the balcony if it’s winter outside, or put them in the freezer if it’s a warm season outside. Leave it for a day. Then physics does all the work for us. How much extra space inside the shoe can you get this way? Surprisingly, ice expands the sneakers by almost one size.
