HEALTH | How To Safely Disinfect Your Designer Shoes At Home: Experts Share Their Tips

Coronavirus be gone! Here’s how to effectively clean and sterilize your shoes to avoid bringing any germs inside your home.

Cleanliness is an important factor when it comes to combatting the spread of the novel coronavirus.

While we’ve all become obsessed with washing our hands and sanitizing our phones, many of us are starting to think about other ways of keeping our essential items clean and germ-free – and this includes our shoes.

According to the Cleveland Clinic one small study has found evidence that the virus can be carries around on our shoes. While this appears to be a very unlikely way to contract COVID-19, we’re still giving our shoes an extra wipe down when we arrive home after running errands.

You might be able to get away with using a quick spritz of Dettol on an old pair of trainers, but this simply isn’t an option when attempting to sanitize your designer shoes. Yes, many essential items can be washed in hot soapy water, tossed in the laundry or wiped down with a disinfectant towelette, but cleaning luxury footwear is a whole other ballgame – and with so many of us being in lockdown right now, popping out to the cobbler to have it done simply isn’t an option.

There are plenty of factors to consider when sanitizing your designer shoes, such as what material your shoes are made of, what type of cleaning products you need to use, and the right methods of applications. We spoke to the experts to find out the best way to disinfect designer shoes at home without damaging the delicate fabric.

How To Disinfect Your Designer Shoes At Home

Our friends at Level Shoes, together with The Cobbler, shared insight on how to both sanitize and breath in new life into an old pair of luxury kicks by giving them a quick clean. Although, the entire process might sound simple, it is essential to do it with care in order to avoid destroying the material and structure of the shoe. Level Shoes shares their tips below.

• Always wear clean gloves and a mask throughout the entire process. Wash your hands with hot, soapy water when you’re finished sanitizing your  shoes.
• Use an aerosol disinfectant meant for fabrics. This will have a lower content of disinfectant chemicals such bleach and cetone, which could potentially stain some fabrics. It is also important to ensure that you’re using an aerosol and not a manual pump spray, as the application won’t be uniform.
• Start with spraying the inside lining from a safe distance of approximately 30 cm. keep moving the aerosol around the shoes until a light coat has been applied evenly everywhere.
• Let the shoes dry in a clean room temperature environment with no sunlight and at room temperature.
• Once dry, spray the outside of the shoes (upper) from a safe distance of approximately 30 cm. keep moving the aerosol around the shoes until a light coat has been applied evenly everywhere. Let the shoes dry in a clean place (no sunlight) and at room temperature.

For shoes made from materials such as nubuck and raw leather, you’ll want to take them to a professional and avoid attempting to clean them from home.

Champion Cleaners recommends to always consult with a professional before attempting to clean your designer shoes a different fabrics and materials react differently to various cleaning chemicals. Never rub a product into the material, as it may damage the shoe.

When in doubt, avoid wearing your designer shoes our and store any footwear you think might have been contaminated in a dry secure spot, until you can have it professionally cleaned and sanitized.

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