A nice pair of white sneakers look great with almost everything, but one thing that they don’t look great with is dirt and grime. You’ve probably scoured the internet and tried countless remedies for making your sneakers look new again, but search no more. We’ve compiled a list of some of the most effective ways to clean white shoes.
Washing Machine
This is an intuitive way to clean your grimy white shoes. However, don’t just throw them in, take precautions first.
Preparation
Before tossing them into the washer, be sure remove the shoe strings. You can wash them along with your sneakers, but it’s crucial to remove them to ensure that the eyelets get cleaned. To avoid your shoestrings getting tangled in the wash cycle, place them in a mesh zip-top bag. Next, pre-treat your shoes by spraying them generously with a pre-treatment product like Resolve or Oxiclean.
Wash Accordingly
Setting your washer to the gentle cycle is crucial. The gentle cycle puts less stress on your shoes which helps to preserve them. To provide a buffer, it’s a good idea throw in some towels to prevent your shoes from banging around in the washer. If there is a temperature option, choose cold for hot could melt the adhesive of the shoes. When adding detergent, use the amount you would use for a small load of laundry. To add, there is no need to go out and purchase specialty laundry detergent, the one you normally use it perfectly fine.
Let Them Air Dry
After the wash cycle is completed, let them air dry. Putting them in the dryer is unnecessary considering that they will be damp when you take them out of the washer. If there are any insoles, remove them and let them dry separately. To maintain the shape of your shoes while they are drying, make sure to stuff them with newspaper. Once they are completely dry, lace them up and they’ll look brand new.
Using Household Products
Cleaning your shoes using household products seem like the most conventional method. A young lady’s recipe for the perfect shoe cleaner went viral after she posted a before and after picture of her white Converse sneakers, even deeming herself a ‘miracle worker’. For this miraculous method, all you need is a toothbrush and a 1:15 mixture of baking soda and laundry detergent.
Pretreat and Scrub
First, dampen your shoes and scrub them using the detergent and baking soda concoction. After you’re done scrubbing them, let your shoes sit with the soap on them for about 1 hour.
Toss Them in the Washer
Once you’ve let your shoes marinate, following the steps outlined previously, throw them in the washer. While this method takes a little more elbow grease, your precious white sneakers are totally worth it.
How to Spot Treat
What happens if you only have a small scuff mark? No need to be melodramatic and throw them in the washer, just use these simple and effective hacks.
Bleach
First, dip a sponge or toothbrush in a solution of one part bleach and five parts water and scrub the stain. After scrubbing, rinse the stain and repeat this same process until the stain is removed.
Rubbing Alcohol
For this spot treating method, all you need is rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball. First, saturate the cotton ball with rubbing alcohol. Then, cover the stain with the alcohol and wipe it away.
Magic Eraser
Mr.Clean’s Magic Erasers are truly magical. Not only can they tackle household messes but they can renew your white sneakers. The great thing about Magic Erasers is that you don’t need to mix a solution, they contain water activated micro-scrubbers that do all the work at lifting stubborn stains and scuff marks.
