5 Game-Changing Shoe Cleaning Tips From a Professional Sneaker Cleaner
Keeping your kicks fresh, whether to put them on display in your Sneaker Throne, or to rock them on your feet, is an important part of being a sneakerhead. Sneaker cleaning has become a massive business with countless products claiming to do better than the other. Rather than wasting money trying a bunch of different products and cleaning tools, I figured I'd just go to one of the people who has turned cleaning and restoring sneakers into a business. I talked with Marrio Restores who does everything from basic cleanings, to full restorations, and even customizations. Here are the 5 Game-Changing Sneaker Cleaning Tips he gave me.
1. Take Your Time
Stop! Re-read that title. If you want the best results, take you time, it’s that simple. The cost of the shoe does not matter, the material of the shoe does not matter, all that matters is that you have patience while cleaning your shoes. Do your research and make sure you are using the correct cleaning solution and cleaning tools for the shoes you’re about to clean, if you’re not careful you can definitely ruin your own shoes, or worse, case a customers pair of shoes. If you ever have a question don’t hesitate to ask me or any other restorer for help.
2. Wasting Sneaker Cleaner Is Wasting Your Money
Wether you are cleaning personal pairs of shoes or maybe you’re like me and have your own sneaker cleaning business, everybody loves to save money. As we all know, sneaker cleaning products are not cheap but, given that fact, I still see people wasting a lot of it on the soles of your shoes. So here’s a cost saving pro tip for you to use. Instead of wasting your expensive cleaner on the soles of your shoes, go to your local Home Depot, Walmart or Dollar Store and pick up a all purpose cleaner in bulk to clean the soles of your shoes.
3. Work Smarter Not Harder
Instead of sweating over scrubbing the soles of your shoes or hours, take my advice and get yourself a Versa cordless scrubbing tool by Dremel. What used to take me 45 mins to an hour, now takes me 15-20 mins with the help of this handy tool. Pro tip: pretreat the soles of your shoes by hand with a little bit warm water and dish soap to loosen up the dirt and grime then get your trusty Versa and get to work. Save time and energy get a Versa.
4. It's Like A Mini Washer For Your Laces
Before you recycle those plastic water bottles, think about keeping one of them for you sneaker cleaning needs. I find this to be the most effect way to clean shoelaces. All you are going to need is: 1. A water bottle with about two inches of cold water in it. 2. Oxi Clean HD blue liquid laundry detergent for those colored and white shoelaces and if you want your white shoelaces back to their factory look, I suggest adding some OUT White Bite whitener powder to the mix. I like to pretreat my shoelaces with a couple of sprays of shoe cleaner and scrub them in between my fingers. After pretreatment place the laces in the bottle, pour about a half cup of Oxi Clean into the bottle and make sure the cap is secured. When all the is done, shake the bottle vigorously for 20-30 seconds every couple of hours. Depending on how dirty the laces are, I suggest repeating this method 2-3 more times. Trust me it works, it’s like a mini washer for your shoelaces.
5. Your Shoes Stink
Whether you’re a athlete, a smoker or you do not like to wear socks with your shoes. You have heard that phrase before. Well, let’s change that with this easy step. All you need is 20 dry teabags and a couple of hours to remove that stench from you shoes. Step 1: Place 10 dry teabags in each shoe. Step 2: Find a well ventilated area in your home to place the shoes and let sit over night. The dry teabags will extract most if not all of the stench. Repeat process for desired results and if you would like a scent go ahead and place a couple of fabric softener sheets in each shoe.
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