When you buy a new coat or a jacket, or any piece of clothing really, it has a label that tells you how to take care of it: hand wash or washing machine/ dry cleaners only, max water temperature, tumble dryer or no no, etc.
However, when you get yourself a pair of nice sneakers or shoes, you get nothing of that. Unfair, right? We know! Therefore, we are here to help 😉 We are going to send you some cool shoe care tips every now and then, so that your favorite pair serves you a long and pleasant service!
Today we want to break the myth that a mighty washing machine can take care of these dusty dirty pair of sneakers you were dancing in on a music festival in the forest. Nope, in fact, if shoes could speak – 95% of them would scream its way out of that tumble barrels!
And here are some of the reasons why:
- Washing machine can and most probably will damage the glue in trainers, which can cause them falling apart and the yellow glue coming out on the edges (not pretty)
- Sneakers will lose its form and shape, especially if you use high temperature, the fabric can shrink
- The detergent will leave yellow staining that is hard to remove (we had a fair share of those cases to fix)
- In case the inside lining/ insoles are colored – it will cause paint leakage and staining the whole shoe. After this the shoes go straight into the trash bin, unless you don’t mind a bit of a discolored hippy look, of course)
In case you do not trust us and still want to risk it, here are some tips that could (possibly) save that pair of trainers:
- Remove laces, insoles and any dirt before putting shoes into the washing machine
- Put the trainers in a special washing bag and add some towels to go along
- Use cold water and NO tumble dryer!
- Put to air-dry, preferably shady spot with some shoe trees or just paper inside to preserve the form
Want to wash your shoes safely? Hand wash only! We shall be giving more tips on how to do that with different type of materials in our next posts!
Yours, Cleanstep Team!
