Life Hack: How to Cleaning White Soles and White Running Shoes

The Trick to Perfectly White Shoes and White Soles

It’s true that people look at your shoes when you go on dates or even when you meet someone for the first time. Is that judge-y as hell and shouldn’t be the case, yes and yes, but society is a fickle beast, so one thing that helps to get by a little easier, is new looking shoes. Sparkling white sneakers says a lot about you and the way you keep your life. One may assume that because your sneakers are dirty, that so is your house, your car, your bathroom. I don’t make the rules but clean shoes goes a long way on the first impression assumption scale. So since buying brand new shoes every week is a little ridiculous, I’m going to teach you how to clean your shoes and leave them gleaming white.

The Secret Weapon That Makes Cleaning Your White Shoes Super Easy

An exfoliating glove is the secret! Running shoes are made to last but they aren’t indestructible, trust me I’ve been through too many to count and have tossed too many too early due to being too aggressive with cleaning them. To avoid this and make your runners live a longer life, use a tool that is safe on your skin. An exfoliating glove is perfect for rough skin, it removes dead skin cells and leaves you feeling smooth and soft. It does the same for your filthy whit shoes and the white soles that are so popular right now.

Will it Clean White Soles that are Foam?

Even if the soles of the shoes are made of porous foam or soft and malleable, they can be cleaned using this method and not be damaged. Use your discretion with how hard you apply pressure but I have yet to damage a pair of shoes and the ones in the video below have been cleaned three times using this method and are perfect.

A Warning About Cleaning Certain Luxury White Running Shoes

I did have one bad experience when I was cleaning my Brooks Classics when I rubbed the paint on the soles right off! I didn’t realize they were painted by hand! I was so upset but lesson learned. Those were a higher price point and I should have been more careful or look closer to see how they were coloured. So use caution!

What Soap Should You Use?

With the exfoliating glove you could simply just use water, but sometimes there are deep scuffs in hard plastic that are really tough to get out. For those, I recommend spray on Resolve. You can use a similar strong soap that doesn’t have bleach but I find it gets deep into the fine cracks and works really well at getting scuffs out of fabric as well. Often times the toe cap on a runner is made of a soft fabric and I find using a soft tooth brush with soap works well. be gentle on that fabric though or it will end up looking really fluffy and may even pill.

Here’s How You Do It

Step 1. Remove insoles in shoes.

Step 2. Rinse loose dirt and mud from tops and soles of shoes.

Step 3. Rinse entire shoe getting them completely wet.

Step 4. Spray non-bleach soap on shoes all over.

Step 5. Use a soft toothbrush to gently work soap into any fabric that is dirty and let sit for 5 minutes.

Repeat 4 and 5 if stains on shoes persist. You can even leave your shoes soaking in the soap and water overnight.

Step 6. Take your exfoliating glove and rub the soles of the shoes and any part that is not fabric.

Step 7. Rinse shoes well.

Step 8. Let shoes dry completely. This usually takes 2 full days.

Step 9. Place insoles back in and you’re ready!

I hope this has helped, of course I made a video for your convenience so take a look and be sure to like and subscribe for more great hacks.

Video and images by Mark St. James and Rhonda Watson.