If you play soccer most days of the week, you could have been abusing your soccer cleats too much. You most likely haven’t discovered it yet but the sweat and grime build-up in your soccer cleats make a nasty smell that’ll fill an entire room.
You do not want your teammates or family to smell those soccer cleats. It is off-putting and will impact your confidence in soccer. To assist you, we have narrowed down the aspects that lead to the odor and also included some preventive steps to help you know how to get rid of smell in soccer cleats.
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Reason For The Foul Smell
The most common cause of smelly cleats is sweat and moisture. Playing a dynamic sport like soccer results in a lot of perspiration, and there is substantial sweat build-up around your toes. It seeps into the padding, and with no appropriate steps, leaving your boot like this creates the ideal conditions for bacteria to develop.
The warmth and moisture generated in the body make the interior of the boots moist and need enough sunlight for drying. Don’t make the mistake of becoming lazy and stowing them away; differently, you are going to be left owning an unhygienic and foul-smelling set of soccer cleats.
How to get rid of smell in soccer cleats
Smelly soccer cleats can affect your confidence and performance. Your habits also affect the odor of your soccer cleats. While sweating is unavoidable in playing soccer, smelly soccer cleats are preventable. Having clean soccer cleats also is excellent for hygiene, prolongs their overall lifespan, and keeps your soccer cleats in good condition.
There are many procedures for a quick and fast procedure of cleaning soccer cleats that are doable in your dwelling. These are:
- Sprinkle baking soda or Epsom salt within a coffee filter. Place the coffee filter within your soccer cleats.
- Soak paper towels together with bleach and place them inside your soccer cleats.
- Use shoe deodorizers like Sprayzee Shoe Deodorizers to remove the smelly odor.
- Put one or more sterile tea bags inside your soccer cleats. This will soak up moisture and remove the bacteria and odor.
- Use a cotton ball soaked with rubbing alcohol and wipe out the interior of your soccer cleats.
- If you’ve got enough opportunity to wash your soccer cleats thoroughly, this technique will surely eliminate the odor from the soccer cleats.
- Scrub your soccer cleats with hot water and mild detergent for 10 minutes. If your cleats are made of leather, just mildly wash it in water with a soaked material.
- After soaking for 10 minutes, then scrub the dirt off in your soccer cleats.
- Wipe off with warm water.
- Dry off your soccer cleats with a cloth or towel.
- Put your soccer cleats in a cool and dry place to completely dry off. Eliminate the insoles in the soccer shoes and let them hang out to dry. You are able to put the insoles in direct sunlight to dry faster.
How to Avoid Smelly Soccer Shoes
Most people can probably associate whenever they hear smelly soccer cleats, the different smells that just a pair of used soccer cleats can get. It’s also not that easy to get rid of, as the majority of the time that the odor has truly gotten stuck in the shoes. However, there are things you can do to help prevent this, and we’re gonna provide you some tips & tricks. Proper care and a couple of bags of SmellWell will be the key to never need to bring out the smelly soccer cleats to the new year, just to realize they smell from last year!
1. Exterior Cleaning
Cleaning your soccer shoes both externally and internally is highly recommended, as the smell can come from anywhere. It also keeps them more functional and they’ll last longer.
It can be a good idea to get some tools to clean your shoes, like brushes. An old toothbrush can do just fine as well, but it requires a little more work. It can also be good to find some shoe cleaner.
Preferably you need to wash your smelly soccer shoes by hand, as it is easier on the materials and helps them last longer. You may however if they’re made from synthetic or knit, set them in the washing machine on a very low temperature, for example, 30°C. Whatever you do, don’t put soccer shoes made from leather at the washing machine, it will ruin them.
2. Drying
After brushing and cleaning, then wipe them off with a towel and then let them dry naturally. Do not put them on the radiator or some other heat source, and whatever you do, don’t fall them.
To make it quicker you can set something inside the shoes to help absorb the moisture. A good solution is to set a pair of SmellWell in your soccer shoes since these will absorb the moisture effectively and leave a fresh odor then.
3. Interior Cleaning
To get your soccer cleats fresh on the inside there are a number of nice home remedies you can use or some very effective products. Place the soccer shoes in the freezer. This might seem weird, but if you put your shoes in a plastic bag and leave them in the freezer overnight it will kill the bacteria and take out the bad odor.
Got tea bags at home? Use them on your shoes. Leaving a pair of dry tea bags at the sneakers overnight can help absorb the awful odor.
The simplest and best solution. Simply set a bag of SmellWell freshener inserts in your smelly soccer shoes once you’re done using them. This will effectively absorb all the moisture and make certain that the terrible odor stays on the sidelines. See the movie below to see how simple it’s to use.
Conclusion
We hope you have a better understanding of what makes your soccer cleats smelly and the way to fix the issue. It’s not exactly rocket science, and preventing the odor emitting bacteria is no big task. Do not let laziness get the better of you because you need your cleats in prime condition to supply the best on the pitch.
