My Shoes Stink

cgfw201

I've got a few pairs of road & mtb shoes. All bar one of them are fine.

One however at some point in the last couple of months has developed a bit of a pong. I must have gone for a wet ride in them and then not dried them out properly or something.

Anyway, they emit a constant damp clothes kind of smell, and despite chucking them in the washing machine and using some bowling-alley style odour neutraliser thing, I can't make them stop stinking the house out.

Any tips?

shamrock134

Get some new insoles?

I got one of these recently to dry my shoes out properly...

https://www.ellis-brigham.com/products/ ... mer/715002?

Has a UV light to help kill bacteria too.

cooldad

New shoes and wash your feet next time.

graeme_s-2

Stick them in a bag and freeze them over night? Might kill off any bacteria

lostboysaint

Newspaper and the airing cupboard. That dries them properly. Then an anti-bacterial/fungal spray.

trivial_poursuivant

Graeme_S wrote:

Stick them in a bag and freeze them over night? Might kill off any bacteria

Cold won't kill bacteria. Certainly not at the temps a freezer goes down to. Heat kills bacteria.

IME once something gets that bad bacterial pong nothing gets rid of it. The only way is to almost boil wash items and that will probably cause more damage than enough to the fabric and the glue used in the manufacturing. Best to just keep them outside or bin them depending on how expensive they were.

graeme_s-2

Trivial poursuivant wrote:

Graeme_S wrote:

Stick them in a bag and freeze them over night? Might kill off any bacteria

Cold won't kill bacteria. Certainly not at the temps a freezer goes down to. Heat kills bacteria.

I'm not going to argue with you, but I have found for fabrics that can't be washed freezing overnight and then airing them out has been effective in removing pongs. I guess it's nothing to do with killing bacteria, but it does seem to help remove odours.

navrig2

Cold will slow bacterial "growth" down. That's why we use freezers and fridges to keep food as fresh as possible. Leave food in the fridge long enough and it will go off eventually just much more slowly than if left in the kitchen.

Alex99

Freezing will stop the bugs (and maybe kill some) until you make them warm and damp again. UV light might be your best chance. Leave them as open as possible out on a sunny day or get some of those active shoe driers with UV lighting.

My feet are mega sweaty all the time, but pong can be controlled by making sure that your shoes dry out fairly quickly in between uses. If you're using them every day, get two pairs and alternate to make sure they properly dry out each time. Under a radiator is a good place. Not direct heat, but warm and with a lot of air flow from convention.

bompington

I once had shoes that developed a pong that was really quite exactly like horse pee. Washing in biological powder at 40° cured it straight away.

keef66

We once had a team building thing at work, throwing ourselves about on giant inflatables, foam filled pits, and gallons of mud. My filthy clothes and trainers spent the night in a bin bag, and developed the kind of smell you describe. They went in the machine on a fairly hot wash as soon as I got home the next day. This removed the dirt, but not the smell which defied all subsequent attempts to neutralise it and proved to be a permanent thing. I ended up chucking the lot away.

Bicarbonate of soda is used to remove odours from fridges; you could try sprinkling some of that in your shoes. Failing that, Febreze? I've heard it's good for pongy aircon in the car too...

keef66

bompington wrote:

I once had shoes that developed a pong that was really quite exactly like horse pee. Washing in biological powder at 40° cured it straight away.

Our youngest son had some quite expensive red football boots that did that. I always assumed it was a strange interaction between his clammy feet and the plastic - sorry, technofabric,-

Actually, not horse pee, more like tomcat. Pretty unpleasant either way.

Problem solved by him becoming a student with the consequent loss of his hard won fitness, an almost entirely nocturnal existence as bar staff / punter / DJ, and the occasional inconvenient lecture.

I quietly binned the boots...

Alex99

keef66 wrote:

bompington wrote:

I once had shoes that developed a pong that was really quite exactly like horse pee. Washing in biological powder at 40° cured it straight away.

Our youngest son had some quite expensive red football boots that did that. I always assumed it was a strange interaction between his clammy feet and the plastic - sorry, technofabric,-

Actually, not horse pee, more like tomcat. Pretty unpleasant either way.

Problem solved by him becoming a student with the consequent loss of his hard won fitness, an almost entirely nocturnal existence as bar staff / punter / DJ, and the occasional inconvenient lecture.

I quietly binned the boots...

It's quite probably very similar chemically to decaying pee. A heady brew of ammonia/amines and bacteria waste.

mamil314

Fencers use isopropyl alcohol with few drops of tea tree oil, their protection gear can accumulate a wealth of life forms. Works as bactericide and fungicide.

aberdeenal

I use these inserts to dry my shoes out when wet http://tioram.co.uk then I use these to deodorise them https://www.bootbananas.com

fudgey

Put them on your feet and stop smelling them.

ballysmate

Alex99 wrote:

keef66 wrote:

bompington wrote:

I once had shoes that developed a pong that was really quite exactly like horse pee. Washing in biological powder at 40° cured it straight away.

Our youngest son had some quite expensive red football boots that did that. I always assumed it was a strange interaction between his clammy feet and the plastic - sorry, technofabric,-

Actually, not horse pee, more like tomcat. Pretty unpleasant either way.

Problem solved by him becoming a student with the consequent loss of his hard won fitness, an almost entirely nocturnal existence as bar staff / punter / DJ, and the occasional inconvenient lecture.

I quietly binned the boots...

It's quite probably very similar chemically to decaying pee. A heady brew of ammonia/amines and bacteria waste.

In which case, surgical spirits is your weapon of choice.
Used to have a tom cat that pissed in the house when we moved to a new place. Surgical spirits broke down the chemicals that caused the pong.

Frank Wilson

The moral of the story appears to be don't cycle when Its wet!

fudgey

Or dont have cats. Cats are c*nts.

ballysmate

Fudgey wrote:

Or dont have cats. Cats are c*nts.

Perhaps that's why I feel empathy with cats.

priory

isopropyl alcohol would be a good choice if the materials will stand it, but they might not. Big advantage is no smell of disinfectant.
Hibiscrub soak then rinse thoroughly works with trainers and sweaty feet but it is a soap solution so can leave things like shoes a bit slippery .

You could just put the shoes through a cycle in the washing machine with some disinfectant
http://www.wilko.com/washing-powder-fabric-conditioner/dettol-wash-machine-cleaner-gel-250ml/invt/0414377?nst=0&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqJb6k-bm1wIV57ftCh258gZ1EAYYAyABEgIxUPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.ebay.co.uk/b/Isopropyl-Alcohol/104233/bn_55211210

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2499334.m570.l1313.TR7.TRC2.A0.H0.Xhibiscrub.TRS0&_nkw=hibiscrub&_sacat=104233

rpherts

Ballysmate wrote:

Alex99 wrote:

keef66 wrote:

bompington wrote:

I once had shoes that developed a pong that was really quite exactly like horse pee. Washing in biological powder at 40° cured it straight away.

Our youngest son had some quite expensive red football boots that did that. I always assumed it was a strange interaction between his clammy feet and the plastic - sorry, technofabric,-

Actually, not horse pee, more like tomcat. Pretty unpleasant either way.

Problem solved by him becoming a student with the consequent loss of his hard won fitness, an almost entirely nocturnal existence as bar staff / punter / DJ, and the occasional inconvenient lecture.

I quietly binned the boots...

It's quite probably very similar chemically to decaying pee. A heady brew of ammonia/amines and bacteria waste.

In which case, surgical spirits is your weapon of choice.
Used to have a tom cat that pissed in the house when we moved to a new place. Surgical spirits broke down the chemicals that caused the pong.

The only drawback is your cat is now addicted to surgical spirits.