Washing Sneakers

[Χά�ων]

Anyone thrown their child's nasty mud coated sneakers in the washing machine and dryer?

 

DS went tadpool hunting yesterday and the sneakers are in a bad way.

[J-rap]

I always throw our tennies in the wash, but put them in the sun (or by a heater) to dry.

[mrsrevmeg]

I wash and dry them, but I take the sock liner out first.

 

eta: washing the laces separately is better than leaving them in during the wash cycle

[Aiden]

I've never washed my child's sneakers, but I remember mine being washed and dried. They made an awful racket in the dryer, and the toes curled up a little when they came out, at least until I'd worn them a time or two, but they seemed just fine afterwards. Now when my husband washes his, he leaves them to air dry. His don't get the curled up toes I remember :)

[AK_Mom4]

Definitely here!  Muddy tennis shoes get hosed off outside, then thrown in the washer with a couple of old towels  (same sones I use to wash off the dogs.   Drying in the sun is nice, but if you must use the dryer, put them into an old pillow case and tie it shut, then dry with four or five towels to cut down on the "thumping".

[alisoncooks]

We wash ours in the machine, but I air dry them on a towel or over a vent.  

[Tap]

For shoes I care about:

 

If they are really muddy....Scrub with a brush to loosen dirt and then  vacuum them. It will help  to reduce the amount of dried mud going into the wash.  Remove the laces to wash . If the insoles are removable I pull them out and put them in a garment bag.  I pin the laces  to a towel  or put them in a garmet bag too, so they don't get lost  down the drain.  

 

Wash in washer on warm/warm or cold/warm (no hot water) with towels.  Soak in Oxyclean or similar product to get the stains out if they are cloth/canvas. For leather, the less time in completely soaked in water, the better, so I may spray them with a pretreat about 15 minutes ahead of time, but I don't soak them.  Scrup the rubber sole with cleaner and a tooth brush. 

 

Reshape to dry.  Leave the insoles out if you can.  The sun helps deodorize them as well.  Otherwise laying upside down on a heater vent, even with cold air going through it will dry them pretty fast.  Relace after they are dry.   If they shrank a little bit, you can stuff them with clean paper to give them some body to help stretch them a bit.  I use white butcher paper so they don't get ink on them.  Or in a pinch I have used a plastic bag to line the shoe and then stuffed with newspaper, but be careful to not touch the shoe with inky hands.

 

If the soles are a bit stained, a separate scrubbing with a bit of bleach  or cleaner with bleach in in, on a toothbrush can help.  If you do this when they are still wet, you can rinse them in the sink pretty easy to get the cleaner off. 

 

 

(If you can tell I have quite the protocol for this, is because dd15 loves crisp white canvas shoes and we live it in the PNW so they don't stay white for long without a littlee TLC LOL.  Also PE teachers here, don't seem to care if running a mile in the rain means the kids have to deal with a pair of wet shoes  when they get home :0( ) 

 

 

 

 

 

For shoes I don't care about or I can just replace next week if they don't turn out good:

 

Loosen laces but don't remove.  Toss shoe in load of wash with towels.  Dry if I need to, but knowing they will shrink a bit and the leather finish will chip off a bit.