Clean white sneakers

How to get them back to their natural colour?

Confess! You have at least one pair of white sneakers in your wardrobe, right? And why not? They’re always in fashion, year after year, white’s a colour that can be used in summer as well as in winter, and they’re very easy to match. With so many perks, what disadvantages could they possibly have? Well, if you already have white sneakers, then you may assuredly already guess that the biggest inconvenience is that they require a lot of maintenance.

You’re eating pizza with your friends and a stain falls down on your pristine white sneakers, and no matter how much you try to distract yourself with other things, you can only look at that horrendous orange spot… Or you’re trying to organize your completely messy room and you trip on something on the floor and scratch your beautiful sneakers, and even though you say to yourself that it’s only a small scratch, you can’t even turn away… Or you’re just walking down the street, another busy day leaving home to take the kids to school, go to work, walking from one side to the other, having meetings, and then after picking up the kids from school, you return home completely exhausted, sit down on the couch to rest for a little bit and look at your feet. What do you see? Your favourite white sneakers are starting to get even more yellow and dirty. What can you do?

Well, actually this is a question that has tormented many ever since white sneakers exist, but the problem is that there isn’t only one solution. There are several ways that you can surely find online about how to clean and whiten your white sneakers, and it’s hard to say which one is better than the other. The best thing to do is to try one by one and see which one works in the most efficient way on your sneakers.

Thus, today on the EscapeShoes blog, we’ll list some methods to clean and whiten sneakers so that they can stay white longer. Are you ready to get busy?

•          Prevention

First and foremost, the most important thing is prevention. When you have your brand-new sneakers, spray them with a good stain repellent. This will help to prevent stains more capably, both in canvas and in leather.

•          Soap and water

At times, the simplest solution is the best solution! Before trying any other technique, we recommend that you first try washing your white sneakers with cold water and a neutral soap. It’s possible that with one or more washes you have the desired result. Just remember to wash the shoelaces separately.

•          Shoe cleaning lotion

Nowadays, there are many lotions specifically meant to clean shoes, so if traditional methods don’t work, the best is to acquire a specific product to get rid of the most difficult stains.

•          Baking soda and vinegar

Personally, I believe that this is the most efficient formula to whiten sneakers! Make a paste with 3 parts vinegar and 2 parts baking soda and apply it with a brush. You can even use a toothbrush (as long as you don’t use it to brush your teeth) to reach the most difficult places. Then, rinse them and let them dry, you should see the results in a few moments. However, if you believe it’s necessary, you can repeat this process as many times as you see fit.

–

•          Laundry detergent

The process is similar to the previous one, because there are even some laundry detergents that have baking soda as a main ingredient. Or, if you prefer, you can fill a small basin with water and a cup of laundry detergent, and leave the sneakers soaking all night long. After drying them, you shall see how white they look!

•          White nail polish

Warning: this only works on leather sneakers! If you notice that your white leather sneakers are with a very perceptible scratch, use this simple method. It’s just using the nail polish over the scratch and, voilá, they’re as good as new!

 

It’s obvious that there are many more ways to clean and whiten sneakers, but the ones we’ve listed here are those that seemed the most effective and the ones that would cause the least damage to the shoes. Do you perhaps have an ultra-secret method that wasn’t mentioned on this post? Tell us on the comments below! And if you still don’t have your white sneakers, what are you waiting for? Whichever your favourite brand may be, Converse, Vans, Nike, etc… they’re all here at EscapeShoes. Always be fashionable with your whiter than white sneakers!