Tennis shoes can easily become smelly when they are used often. Cleaning tennis shoes and athletic shoes without damaging them can be a real chore. This is a page to cleaning tennis and athletic shoes.
This page contains the following solutions.
Has the white leather on the edges of your tennis shoes turned dingy? I have found a simple way to successfully clean this. All you need is soap, water, and a battery powered toothbrush. Wet the toothbrush bristles, turn the brush on, and push the bristles against a wet bar of soap.
Scrub along the nooks and crannies of the leather carefully, rinsing the brush and scrubbing once more. Then wipe clean. Very easy and cheap! Here are the before and after photos. Amazing difference!
I spray the tennis shoes with Shout laundry stain remover and rub off dirt with a rag. Then I take a water dampened rag, wipe shoes off and wipe dry.
Next, I polish over the shoes and the laces with white polish. I wipe off any excess with a dry rag and let the polish dry.When trying to clean white tennis shoes in the washing machine, drop in one plain, regular aspirin tablet along with whatever detergent you wish to use. For some reason, the shoes will come out whiter.
By rj from Sugarland, TX
Things you'll need:
Soak the brush with water, brush it on the detergent and tap the tip on the baking soda then brush it. You can see the difference between brushing with detergent only and baking soda and detergent combined.
To keep your shoes white and clean use Soft Scrub bleach and an old towel to clean the white parts on the shoe. White rubber can get dirty really fast so you could do this as many times as you want, but make sure to clean all the dirt out of the cracks first so you don't get mud everywhere.
You might faint from shock or horror, but I have had great luck cleaning leather runners with a steam cleaner. Just be careful not to let the dirt from the shoes blow onto the white sink like I did while steaming.
Spray your new canvas shoes with spray starch (for ironing) to keep the dirt from settling in the fibers. Easier to clean, too.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I messed up my SpaceJams, the 11s. They can't seem to get back that pretty shine. Surely someone knows hot to create a homemade cleaner to get back that shine on the leather part. Can you help me?
By Shawty
Hmm I do not know how to create a home care leather cleaner. However, when there are stains you may use white erasers and lightly erase the marks away.
If you want the leather to be back to its new condition, it is better to send it service at shoe cleaning stores.
or purchase a leather cleaning kit for leather handbags. I have lot of handbags and I use "apple care" leather creams. What I do is clean the targeted leather item, followed by moisturizer cream. It always makes my bag shine and look brand new again.
Put the cream on a piece of clean cotton cloth and rub onto the leathers gentles in circular motions.
Also please remember to do a small patch test on your shoes before applying the creams though.
Hope this helps. Good luck
Can you put new balance tennis shoes in the washing machine?
Barbara from Portland, Oregon
I have black scuff marks on the side of the hard rubber soles of a pair of Nike Air Force Ones Tennis shoes. How do I get these scuff marks out!
By Ken from Camden, SC
First I would try an ordinary rubber eraser. If that did not do it; I would try a piece from a "Magic Eraser" sold for cleaning. One of those should do it.
I agree with what Jilson said. Try a pencil eraser or a Magic Eraser that is sold for cleaning.
I got matte paint on my canvas trainers. Would any one know how I would get it out?
By Amanda
Removing Paint from Canvas Shoes
Step 1
Scrape off as much as possible
Step 2
Dampen stain to make fabric more pliable
Step 3
Apply detergent solution
Step 4
Rinse off
Step 5
If stain remains, use nail polish remover
I have a pair of Ryka (ryka-rocker) open-back tennis shoes. They are very light grey/taupe? Does anyone have any idea of how to clean them? I really don't want to wear them out anymore. I'm embarrassed. These shoes were so comfortable from the very start. I cannot afford to buy another pair now. These are not old, just a few months.
By dottie46 from southern IN
I have a pair of ryka canvas shoes that I occasionally machine wash on the delicate cycle in cold water. They came out very clean and held their shape well.
Can you wash sneakers in HE washers?
By Gloria B
How do you clean the jordan VI? I even tried suede cleaner but it just fades it out. How can I renew the suede? Can I dye it with suede dye?
Tennis shoes can start to look scuffed and dirty but still have lots of wear in them. This is a page about repairing scuffed tennis shoes.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
After washing tennis shoes in the washing machine, STUFF them tightly with balled up newspaper to aid drying. The insides of the shoes will dry perfectly in a matter of hours without any weird smells.
By Nicole Steinc
