Among women who love second-hand clothes, there’s a certain percentage that draw the line at used shoes.
I am not one of those women. While I’ve always loved thrifting for clothes, money realities are such that if I want fun new footwear periodically, I need to thrift for shoes as well (I do draw the line at stinky).
To clean my nouveauld (new + old) shoes inside and out, I use a damp cloth and a generous blob of hand sanitizer. Here are a few more tips I condensed from a great post on Vintage Shopping Guide blog—including what to do with stinkers.
1. Use rubbing alcohol to kill bacteria. Be careful not to use an alcohol-based solution with more than 10% water, because this may damage the shoes.
2. Place the shoes in direct sunlight for two hours. This will dry the alcohol and help to remove any germs in the shoes.
3. A bleach/water solution can be used to disinfect the insides, but be sure not to get on the outside.
4. Replace the insole completely.
6. Spray the outside of the shoes with a disinfectant spray. This will kill some germs, but disinfectant sprays will usually only disinfect non-porous surfaces.
7. Baking soda or kitty litter can be used to deodorize the inside of shoes.
8. Air the shoes out for a night. Remove the laces and pull the tongue out as far as possible if applicable.
If you don’t want to go through the hassle of cleaning your new vintage shoes yourself you can always take them to a nearby shoe repair shop.”
Another fungus-killing tip is to put your nouveauld shoes in a plastic bag and leave in the freezer overnight.
If you like vintage shoes, come on over and see the collection of cute vintage and indie shoes in my shop. Love,
sallymandy