Ok, my shoes stink to high heaven. They have been doing so for about a month and I have tried leaving them in the outside air, putting them over vents (not in the same room so they don't stink up everywhere) to dry 'em, and spraying them with jock itch stuff. It's just not working.

Should I put 'em in the oven or what?

I mean, I wear 'em for five hours and my socks smell like I've worn them for a fucking week.

[Edited on April 29, 2008 at 8:56 PM. Reason : Oh yeah and tried rubbing alcohol.]

4/29/2008 8:56:27 PM

i was always told once a pair of shoes goes smelly there is no unsmelling them

4/29/2008 8:57:29 PM

yeah i had this problem, appearantly its hard to clean shoes
but you can wash it in the washing machine, also try soaking it for weak in bleach

4/29/2008 8:58:03 PM

wash your feet, get better socks, get some cedar bags for your shoes, get anti smell insoles.

wash your feet.

4/29/2008 8:58:15 PM

if theyre "crosstrainers" or some other athletic shoe, throw em in the washing machine and dry em in teh dryer

4/29/2008 8:58:45 PM

I've got awesome socks thank you, wash them after every use, and shower every day. So I'm down to... bleach, cedar bags and anti-smell insoles? Where do I find the latter two?

[Edited on April 29, 2008 at 9:01 PM. Reason : Yay, they're NB shoes made for walking, and I'll try the washing machine next.]

4/29/2008 9:00:52 PM

^uhh, did you not see wash in the washing machine?

that is necessary

4/29/2008 9:01:54 PM

for starters...


showering would help. you nasty skank

4/29/2008 9:02:45 PM

what about the stuff they use in bowling alleys...is it just lysol?

4/29/2008 9:12:44 PM

put newspaper in them overnight, remove newspaper. should help.

4/29/2008 9:28:45 PM

Vinegar is the only thing I've found that will get the stink out of my booties w/o destroying them.

4/29/2008 9:31:36 PM

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/11/02/shoe-sniffer-snags-5.html

4/29/2008 9:33:39 PM

buy new ones

4/29/2008 9:34:46 PM

Gold Bond foot powder in your shoes.

4/29/2008 9:40:20 PM

baking soda

4/29/2008 9:41:51 PM

They have powders at various prices that really help with this.

4/29/2008 9:43:08 PM

seriously, buy new shoes. i've tried descenting a pair of shoes that got bad like that in the past and finally just gave up.

4/29/2008 9:46:27 PM

These were like $70 or so. I'll try some of the solutions posted above, and if they dont' work, move on to the rest of them. Got plenty here, thanks for the input.

4/29/2008 9:49:16 PM

4:1 water & vinegar ftw

4/29/2008 10:04:30 PM

Get one of the powders, I have had to do this for my boat shoes (I've never had a problem with shoes you wear socks with), but I'm sure they will work for this also.

4/29/2008 10:23:01 PM

boat shoes in the freezer ftw

4/29/2008 10:23:38 PM

Quote :

"$70 "

What type of shoes are these?

4/29/2008 10:26:36 PM

new balance she said.

4/29/2008 10:30:27 PM

also

get higher quality socks. walmart socks wont cut it

4/29/2008 10:31:13 PM

They're NB socks too.

4/30/2008 8:03:38 AM

Try some Thorlos.

4/30/2008 8:51:55 AM

put some dryer sheets in em

4/30/2008 8:55:37 AM

there are few things more nauseating than the putrid stench of cheesy shoes... my boyfriend's were so bad i had to leave the room when he took off his workboots. then all of his socks began to have the same smell, contaminating the washing machine to the point that all of the towels began to smell of rotting parmesan cheese with corpse topping. the solution: purchase new shoes, then hide old ones in an airtight container, duct taped to preserve freshness. they will be released in an undisclosed area if i need to seek revenge in the most severe of ways.

note: boyfriend is not stinky by nature... just got some gross water from a flooded building's basement in his shoes and it fermented.

[Edited on April 30, 2008 at 9:05 AM. Reason : yum]

4/30/2008 8:57:49 AM

Do not put them in the dryer.

I have a pair of sneakers that stank to high heaven. I kept dryer sheets in them when I wasn't wearing them. It's pretty hard to de-stink shoes. I wore those out, so de-stinking is no longer a concern

4/30/2008 9:03:03 AM

$70 new balances??

i just got a pair a month or so ago for half that at kohl's

4/30/2008 9:08:26 AM

Quote :

"just got some gross water from a flooded building's basement in his shoes and it fermented."

The majority of sneakers that I was forced to quit wearing were taken out of commission by floodwater.


Good god, that shit gets rank with a quickness.

4/30/2008 9:10:06 AM