Washed My Sneakers

Yep, I washed my sneakers in the wash machine. Honestly, I didn’t even know it was a possibility until earlier this week when Goalielocks washed his NMDs. As you may recall, Goalielocks and his brand new Adidas’ has a run in with a retention pond in Chicago. He washed his shoes Monday and they look and smell great. Well at least they smelled good Monday night.

I realized this morning that I might be about thirty eight years late to the party based on the look of incredulity my co-worker Gabe me. However, I have an excuse or two. Honestly, I haven’t worn sneakers as my everyday shoe since elementary. I’m a high heels kind of girl and will be again once my tendon has healed. Also when your heels get dirty, you can’t stick them in the wash. You either replace them or clean them with a cloth. One can see how I’d be late to the party here.

Secondly, I have three boys. We’ve gone through a lot of sneakers in our days. So many that it’s amazing I’ve never washed them before. However, boys grow fast, so you’re replacing them often. More importantly, my boys are hard on their shoes. Much like my boys’ socks, their sneakers, especially when they were younger, were borderline disposable. By the time their condition would necessitate a wash, the boys had already ripped or otherwise destroyed them.

So how do you wash your shoe without destroying it? Simple.

1) Add shoes to wash machine after taking your laces out

2) Add laces in a laundry bag (I left my laces in the shoes and had no issues, but laces in the shoe can cause issues during the wash cycle.)

3) Add additional laundry to act as a buffer for the shoes.

4) Add detergent. (I also added Borax to aid the cleaning process. If you shoes are white, you can try bleach.)

5) Set the water temp to cold

6) Launder the shoes using the delicate cycle

7) Set out to dry (I didn’t put mine in the dryer, nor should you.)

8) Realize you probably should have done this sooner after drying your shoes.

I ran my sneakers through the delicate cycle twice. The rainy season and scooter life were tough on the shoes. They’re actually quite muddy from everyday where. I’m quite pleased with the results, but I would have gotten even better results if I hadn’t waited months to wash them.

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