You can wash shoes
Sneakers, gym shoes, tennis shoes, trainers — whatever you call them, those athletically-inclined shoes on your feet can probably be washed in the washing machine. Really. But almost no one I know does it.
Rather, most of my peers wear shoes until they get unacceptably dingy, then buy new shoes, on the mistaken belief that dirty shoes are “worn out.” But they’re probably not. They’re just dirty. So wash them.
First, take out the laces. You’ll wash the laces in the same load. They’ll get twisted and tangled no matter what you do. But they’ll get clean.
Take out the foam inserts. They won’t get clean, and might fall apart. Consider replacing them with new insoles.
Use half the normal amount of detergent. You won’t need more, because you’ll also…
Add one scoop of an oxygen bleach, like Oxy-Clean. This is the secret ingredient that makes them look new-ish.
Wash them on a normal cycle, warm water, with a towel to dampen some of the banging.
Let them air-dry, unless you have a special rack for your dryer.
I’ve had success with every pair of shoes I’ve washed, but can’t guarantee you’ll have the same luck. Leather, suede and such variants might dry out or crack. The worst-case scenario is that washing the shoes will cause them to fall apart or become unwearable. But considering they were more-or-less unwearable when you put them in the machine, that’s not such a loss.
Real running shoes — the kind you take out on the road — do have an expiration date, a point at which the the foam and shock-absorbing features break down. So keep in mind that washing these shoes could hasten their demise, or at least mask the signs. But once retired from “real” running, these shoes are probably fine for normal wear.
When your shoes finally pass into a zone where you just don’t want to wear them anymore, make sure to donate them to charity. Shoes that most Americans would consider worn-out are always needed in poorer parts of the world.
Articles
March 10th, 2009 at 10:00 am
It’s entertaining to see this other side of you. :) I wash my suede slippers fairly often – I just let them air dry instead of putting them in the dryer.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:18 am
John, Would you recommend that a front-load washing machine is better for this than a top-loading one?
I have friends that swear up-and-down that front loaders are just “better.” -Jonathan
March 10th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Good advice. I’ve found that stuffing wet running shoes with newspapers dries them out fairly quickly. I wear my “expired” running shoes for regular walking or hanging around the coffee shop. Generally it’s recommended to replace running shoes after 300-500 miles, depending on how you use them.
One thing that I disagree with, however: if your shoes are very worn or dirty or otherwise grungy, please reconsider the notion of donating them to charity. “Shoes that most Americans would consider worn-out are always needed in poorer parts of the world,” sounds condescending. As someone who grew up in a developing country and has worked with nonprofits providing humanitarian assistance to recipients overseas, many charities are moving away from donating America’s cast-offs to the less fortunate and are asking for new, or at least gently-used clothing and shoes. The tsunami disaster several years ago generated a lot of media reports about aid agencies having to throw away moldy clothing and shoes from the bottom of America’s closets and of aid recipients insulted by the idea that they deserve only our trash.
Cheers, Marjorie
March 10th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Your laces won’t get tangled if you wash them in a lingerie bag.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:04 am
This is great advice – I was just about to throw away a beloved pair of Bob Taylors because I wore them in the rain and then they didn’t dry fast and now they kind of… smell. A trip through the washing machine will take care of that and I’ll get some more months out of them.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
@Jonathan:
I’ve only tried this in front-loading washing machines. I suspect top-loading washers would work. Maybe set the dial for less water.
@Marjorie:
A good point: Don’t donate stuff that is unusable. Donate things that have life left in them, even if it’s not a life you choose to share.
I’ve read stories about how donated clothes make it impossible for local garment industries to compete, and I’m sympathetic. But from my visit to Malawi, it’s clear that athletic shoes are kind of a unique case. A crucial difference between FOMO’s A team and B team is that the A team had shoes.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Great advice!
A good hard brushing with a stiff horse brush and some soap (woolite) works wonders, too, especially on shoes that are too fragile to put through the wash.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I don’t want to rain on the parade of donated shoes to poor countries…but some Africans say Americans donating clothing and shoes to poor countries actually contributes to keeping them poor. American charities deluge some African countries with free clothing, robbing their economy of a vital sector. Instead of a thriving manufacturing industry making clothes and shoes, which once perfected could build into a global exporting business, nothing happens. No entrepreneurs, no factories, no jobs, no income, no exports. Not to mention the human nature factor–even if they “need” the clothes, is the message sent “you can’t do this yourself” leading to resentment and, worse, less self-sufficiency?
Why not send experts and micro-financing along with the shoes to start businesses? Maybe because some of the same people who contribute the free clothes, will start complaining about loss of American jobs overseas.
Life is like chunky peanut butter.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Hey John, I am enjoying your Random Advice topics. I truly appreciate the time and effort that you put into your blog. I find it fascinating that a person as accomplished as you would take the time to write a blog for the man on the street. I hope you find as much satisfaction in writing your blog as I do in reading it. Your words of wisdom and encouragement resound with me.
I just turned 40 (March 5) and I will be moving to LA very soon to chase my dreams. It has been a long time coming. I had six lines in a movie when I was eighteen years old and enjoyed my seven weeks on set. It was a transformational experience for me. I was ready to run off to LA after that, but some of my fellow actors gave me excellent advice. These were guys who had been working and struggling in LA for years to get their first speaking part and I had fallen into it out of sheer dumb luck. Several of them said to finish college first and then make the leap. It was excellent advice. Well, I graduated from college eighteen years ago and have finally reached the point where I have to take the plunge.
As for shoe cleaning my tip is: Use the dishwasher (sometimes you have to think outside the washing machine). Take out the foam insert, leave the shoe laced, but pull them up and loosen a bit and put them upside down in the upper rack. My wife swears by this and she should know. She is a hardcore Ironman racer and I think this is a fairly common practice in her circle. I would ask her for more details, but she is out training (of course).
March 10th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I love this. A simple post about cleaning shoes grows into a complex and compelling discussion about the effects of “doing the right thing” on global and local economies. Sometimes the internet really IS a good thing!
March 10th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Now I’ll write a screenplay about washing shoes! Geat logline!
March 10th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Hi John, I’m from Barcelona, Spain. I’ve been accepted into the Peter Stark Program. I know that you were in that program and you became a screenwriter after that. My question is: Do you think is a strong program on screenwriting (and executive producing). I wish that the marketing/business part could be balanced with the creative part of looking for your own voice as storyteller. (sorry for my potential mistakes)
:) greetings from Spain and thanks for this blog.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
John,
I once had a pair of Converse shrink on me, so air drying might be preferable even if you do have a rack for your dryer.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
I had a great pair of chuck Taylor’s I used to wear as a line cook at the local Chart House. They got so dirty I actaully washed them after every shift. They lasted for years.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
There’s always that lamo numnut who’s gonna chastise you for putting shoe workers out of their jobs.
Consider it done!
Peace…
March 10th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I’ve been washing my athletic shoes in the washer since I was 15…I did, however, start at 14 by trying them in the dish washer…my mum was a tad mad
March 10th, 2009 at 9:52 pm
You have no idea how many times my good old Converse Allstars had to go through the washing machine… they looked like a brand new pair of shoes each time! As long as it’s cloth, I guess there’s no problem.
March 10th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Another thing you can wash: socks. (Damn. I guess that was really obvious – they’re so much like shoes.)
March 11th, 2009 at 1:54 am
YOU CAN’T WASH YOUR SHOES, BUY ANOTHER<—-the shoes industry want you to believe that
March 11th, 2009 at 4:10 am
What’s funny, this post actually feels like it’s allegorical instructions for, I don’t know, how to take a script and make it better. I mean, it sounds like, yes, we’re being told how to wash gym shoes, but were also being told something far more important. I just can’t pinpoint what that is. How to prepare for making a confession? How to prepare for a visit from my beloved?
March 11th, 2009 at 5:19 am
I have done this with many, many basketball shoes. Twice a season to be excact. If the shoes are made out of leather I recomend rubbing them with leather lube when they have semi-dryed. This prevents cracking.
March 11th, 2009 at 9:53 am
bobR,
That’s awesome. I’ll take a stab at interpretation:
First, take out the laces – Hmmm. Maybe, take out all the extraneous stuff from your story. Find the spine. Yeah, that’s it.
Take out the foam inserts – Similar to the above, but this second pass should concentrate on ‘killing your babies’. Are there scenes still in there that you love, but just aren’t moving the story forward? Well, take out those metaphorical foam inserts.
Use half the normal amount of detergent – Keep your story gritty. Don’t take out messy bits that make it unique.
Add one scoop of oxygen bleach – This is a bit more cryptic, but how about…add a splash of the unexpected. Keep your reader guessing. Oxygenate your story with, you know, the ‘bleach’ of creativity (or something).
Wash them on a normal cycle, warm water, with a towel to dampen some of the banging – This one’s pretty obvious. Wash your script on normal cycle = have your friends read it. Warm water = Accept their notes with grace, don’t alienate your friends. Dampen the banging = Don’t immediately make all their suggested changes. Take a few days, mull them over, wrap a towel around those suggestions before you…
Let them air-dry, unless you have a special rack for your dryer – Send out the script to everyone (into the ‘air’ natch). Unless, of course, you have an existing relationship with a studio. In that case, use your ’special rack’ if you know what I mean.
John August may be an enigma, but make no mistake, he’s ALWAYS talking about screenwriting. Even when he’s not.
March 11th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Great post with one exception. I’m a manager at a specialty running shoe store in the Southwest where we specialize is Gait Analysis, we deal specifically in high end running shoes. It is very true you can wash your shoes, I myself tend to wash them 3 or 4 times during their usage. As long as you’re under the 300-500 mile range you’re fine, but I’d advise against using a dryer at all. The glue they use to connect the midsole to upper and outsole isn’t anything special, even leaving them in a car during a hot day will cause them to separate. Although most dryers have low heat settings, letting them air dry takes a day maximum and keeps them in one piece. You can wash them 5 or 6 times in a row and see almost no difference, use a dryer once and they’re ruined.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I learned that you can wash sneakers twenty years ago when I was a student living in Spain. At least back then, Europeans liked wearing clean sneakers, unlike us slovenly Americans. My host mother told me in Spanish that she was going to wash my “playeras.” I had no idea what “playeras” were but thanked her anyway. An hour later, I couldn’t find my sneakers. “Where are my shoes for tennis” I asked in Spanish. “Tus playeras estan en la machina,” my host mother replied.
March 11th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I’m a dishwasher fan, myself. On the rare occasion that I would wash my sneakers, it would be in the dishwasher with the laces in and inserts removed. Never had a bad result.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Oops – I called Chuck Taylors “Bob Taylors” – I’m very sleep deprived the past few weeks due a grueling high tech schedule. Anyway, threw them in the wash today with OxyClean. I crumped up a piece of newspaper and lightly stuffed each shoe, and now they’re air drying by a window. They look very clean! Can’t wait until they’re dry and I can wear them.
Oh, and BTW, I washed them with a pillow. Bad move – the pillow looked like it was beaten up. Hopefully the dryer is refluffing it. Otherwise, I ruined a pillow.
March 12th, 2009 at 4:11 am
-Ben-
If you’re in the -southwest- it takes a day to dry your shoes. If you don’t live where the relative humidity is zero it may take longer. Drying them in the sunshine helps, but if you leave them outside and it rains you must start over.
March 12th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I like the new Alien-Replacement Martha Stewart John… I vote he replaces Regular John full time!
I can vouch! This works for UGGs on COLD if you got the gonads to toss ‘em in!
March 12th, 2009 at 9:34 am
-Fred-
March 12th, 2009 at 10:38 am
I wash mine and never have thought to remove the laces beforehand, and it’s just fine. I use a very old and noisy top-loader, too.
March 14th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
I love getting random advice from my favorite screenwriter advice columnist!