What Actually Worked When I Was Cleaning Old Dirty Sneakers

For over a year, I’ve been on a mission to declutter and elevate my wardrobe by replacing all of my cheap accessories with nicer versions—my own spin on the “one in, one out” cleaning method. Since I’m not made of money and largely stick to buying pre-owned luxury goods, it’s extra sustainable, which makes me feel good about the whole thing.

The problem with buying pre-owned stuff, though, is that it’s usually pre-worn—like, really worn. I don’t blame my items’ previous caretakers when I get shoes, a bag, sunglasses, or a scarf that looks like it’s seen some horrors in its prime; if I spent top dollar on something, I’d run it into the ground to get every cent's worth, too. Part of the reason I get such a good deal on these things is that I have to do some maintenance when I get them, so it’s a fine trade-off. Last year, though, I got a pair of white sneakers that were so dirty I wasn’t sure if I would be able to fix them up. I did, of course. I’m a woman of perseverance and life hacks. Here’s what worked to make my busted old shoes clean again (and what didn’t). 

Vinegar

Seemingly every day, I investigate a household hack that involves using vinegar in place of more intense or expensive cleaners and products. You can clean a steamer, clean your humidifier, unclog a sink, descale your coffee maker, and—according to some how-tos I watched—clean old sneakers. I decided to give it a shot. Here’s what I was working with when I set out on the mission:

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

We got scuffs. We got yellow stains. We got brown stains. Baby, we got it all. Would vinegar fix any of it? As it turns out, no! I started by using an old toothbrush to work vinegar into the stains. As I suspected, not much happened, but I was surprised when adding baking soda to the mix also produced zero results. While vinegar and baking soda don't do anything to clean together, I do typically find that the bubbles they create when mixed can agitate dirt out of surfaces. Here, it did nothing.

Verdict: I'm not saying this wouldn't work if you had small stains, maybe comprised of different messes than whatever was on my shoes. I'm only saying this did not help me whiten mine. What vinegar is good for, though, is deodorizing shoes, so this wasn't a total waste for me. I use a mixture of half vinegar and half water and spray the inside of my cycling shoes to de-stink them, for instance. Feel free to try this vinegar hack on your stains and, if it doesn't work, take comfort that you at least beat back some odors, like I did.

Nail polish remover

After fruitlessly scrubbing at the scuffs with my toothbrush and vinegar, I recalled that I tested out a hack for removing scuffs from patent leather using nail polish remover a few months ago. I decided to give that a shot, focusing on the scuffs around the soles rather than the stains on the fabric.

It took some major elbow grease, but the scuffs all came off after a bunch of scrubbing with the remover and a paper towel. Just to see what would happen, I even dabbed some onto the stains on the body of the shoes and saw a slight improvement, but I wanted to hit those with a different approach, so I switched gears. 

Verdict: Use nail polish remover to get scuffs off rubber or other harder parts of the shoe. Its acidic properties can even help lighten smaller stains on the body.

Melamine sponges

Somewhere between vinegar and nail polish remover, I went back to the drawing board and started Googling additional ways to clean up old shoes. I saw Mr. Clean Magic erasers being heralded as a solid option (even on this fine website), so I went out and got some. 

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

They worked ridiculously well. I’ve never used melamine sponges to clean fabrics before and wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really didn't like the idea of fully submerging my shoes in water, so this spot-treating technique was my last hope before filling the sink. The yellow stains came away almost instantly with a little rubbing and the Magic Eraser even snatched up some remaining scuff marks that my nail polish left behind. 

Be careful of one thing, though: The first time I did this, I thought it worked great, but I noticed that by pressing the wet sponge into the material, I was actually just broadening the stain. Where I had a dark, circular stain before, I now had a much larger, lighter stain, as the water just kind of dragged the mess around. Be sure to dab carefully and fully with a dry rag to remove all the water.

Verdict: This works really well, provided you fully dry the sneakers after application of the melamine sponge.

Toothpaste

I wore those white shoes pretty frequently after whipping them into shape, but when I went to add them as an option on the app I use to rent out my clothing and accessories last week, I noticed they were looking a little beat-up again. Specifically, one of them had a brown stain that was really ugly. Sure, I could have used my Mr. Clean, but I wanted to test another hack I've heard about, so today, I scrubbed them with toothpaste.

A little toothpaste spot-test on the left vs. the final result on the right Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

I spot-tested first, putting a dab of white toothpaste on a small section of the shoe and leaving it for 20 minutes before scrubbing it off. It worked amazingly. There was a clear line of demarcation where the paste had been. Eagerly, I rubbed toothpaste into all the remaining parts of the shoe's upper. I spread it in a thin layer and—I won't lie—I just used my hands for this. You can, of course, use a spoon or something else to spread it on. I didn't agitate it at first (or else I would have spread it on with an old toothbrush) and just let it sit there. I've becomes less precious about not soaking the shoes in water, so when the 20 minutes was up, I ran them under the faucet and used the brush to scrub all the toothpaste out. Now, they're drying by the radiator and absolutely glistening white.

You will need to really scrub to get the toothpaste out, so make sure your brush is sturdy. I even used my fingernails a few times to really scratch it out. You'll need water, too, so they will end up wet. Make sure you do this at least 24 hours before you need to wear the shoes. Ideally, dry them outside for a day or at least put them by a radiator or fan.

Verdict: Do this right away. Perfectly clean, bright shoes.

Overall thoughts on cleaning white sneakers

The Magic Eraser and nail polish remover helped me in my quest to avoid dunking the shoes in soapy water, so I recommend them wholeheartedly, but once I got over my fear of fully soaking the shoes, toothpaste was the clear winner.

What I like best about all of these approaches is they cost less than $10 each. I didn't use a name-brand toothpaste, but rather some random stuff my mom sent me because her dentist recommended it to her. I avoided using my blue toothpaste because I didn't feel like tempting fate and possibly re-staining the shoe, but white toothpaste worked just right.

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