How to Deodorize Shoes

Over time, shoes tend to take on an unpleasant odor especially when we wear them regularly. Discover these quick and easy techniques to use to eliminate unwanted stinky feet and how to keep your shoes smelling fresh in the future.

What Causes The Unpleasant Smell?

In general, though, these odors are caused by a mix of oils secreted from our skin along with bacteria feasting on them all in a mix of perspiration, gross, right? To get rid of them though, you won’t want to use the same technique that we laid out in our previous odor removal video. This is because leather won’t respond as well to liquid as fabric would. Similarly, using a spray made from an essential oil might be effective at neutralizing odor but generally speaking, you’ll want to keep your leather goods away from liquids as much as possible.

Odor Masking Shoe Deodorizer

This is just simply covering up an unpleasant odor with a different scent instead of actually neutralizing that bad odor in the first place. Therefore, using perfumed deodorizer balls and other similar implements might cover up some of that nasty odor but they won’t actually get to the root of the problem and in fact, many of these deodorizer balls don’t smell that great, to begin with, and even if you were to opt for a more natural solution here, like using a sachet of lavender, for example, you’d only be masking the underlying odor, not eliminating it.

What You Need To Eliminate Shoe Odors

So what would be a better next step then? Simply put, it would be using a solid material that acts similarly to how vodka does with fabric which is to say a material that encapsulates and draws in offending odors.

Baking Soda & Activated Charcoal

Baking soda, otherwise known as sodium bicarbonate, is often used as a household cleaning agent and deodorizer in addition to a baking ingredient. You may, for example, be aware of the trick of keeping an open box of baking soda in your refrigerator to eliminate any food odors that might be happening there. Meanwhile, charcoal which is produced by heating wood or other natural substances in the absence of oxygen can further be activated through various scientific processes which are too complex to touch on here. All that you really need to know is that this activation results in a charcoal that has many small pores which will readily absorb odors.

These materials can be used individually as is the case with bags of charcoal that may be inserted into your shoes or they can be used in combination, as is the case with many available odor fighting insoles. One note here with both of these materials, just don’t be tempted to use any loose powder forms of either as they’ll probably just end up gumming up your shoes over time.

Cedar Shoe Trees – The Natural Shoe Deodorizer

Shoe trees are wooden or plastic forms roughly shaped like feet that are inserted into your shoes to help them maintain their natural shape and size. We recommend that you use shoe trees made from cedar as they’ll wick away any moisture remaining in your shoes after wearing and they’ll also eliminate odors given that cedar is naturally antimicrobial.

So with the odor fighting trio of cedar, activated charcoal, and baking soda, you’ll be well on your way to fighting any odors that might crop up in your shoes and you’ll be able to keep them smelling fresh in the future.

Stop Moisture From Building Up In Your Shoes

The best way to do this is to not wear the same pair of shoes multiple days in a row. You should be able to rotate which pair of shoes you wear each day which is just one of many reasons to build up a reputable shoe collection.

Which of the techniques were you most surprised by? Do you happen to use any of these odor-fighting materials in your shoes already? Share with us in the comments section below.