Washing Your Sneakers and Tennis Shoes

It's only natural that your sneakers will become dirty, especially if they're a part of your regular routine. However no I know particularly enjoys having dirty tennis shoes and washing them is actually a possibility. You can't however just throw your sneakers into the washer and expect them to come out as you want them to. You do need to take certain measures to ensure that your trainers still maintain the level of quality you expect and deserve.

The way that's probably the safest is to wash your shoes by hand. This way you can better control how wet the shoe gets and you can better monitor the cleanliness of the shoe. Before you even start you need to make sure that the fabric of your shoes is conducive to washing because if not then you'll likely ruin your shoes.

Take a simple solution of soap and water (dish soap often works well with this method) and methodically scrub your shoes, targeting specific areas that need attention. The risk with this technique, however, is if you're not careful you could smear the dirt around instead of taking it out. Test a small section first and then if you're successful go ahead and clean the rest of the shoe.

Once the shoe is clean, you are ready for drying. Fabric tennis shoes, sneakers or trainers will hold their shape better if you fill them with paper towels and air-dry them after washing.

The best way to keep your trainers clean is to prevent significant dirt build-up in the first place. You can purchase protective sprays at any shoe store and those are definitely effective in protecting your shoe from the dirt of everyday wear and tear. Spray your shoes when they're still new and clean and then they'll be much less likely to accrue dirt and grime; reapplication of the spray wouldn't hurt for a preventative measure.

Another trick I've found with leather shoes is using the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It really does work like magic! You don't want to try this on shoes with a polish or shoes with another kind of finish you don't want coming off, but with regular tennis shoes the Magic Eraser is often the simple way to go. This works well on leather because sometimes smudges on leather tennis shoes are difficult and frustrating to remove. The Magic Eraser is amazing because it really will remove those small smudges on your shoes and you didn't even have to get out the soap!