When Is It Time to Clean?
As with any piece of clothing you have, your shoe insoles also need individual cleaning aside from your shoes itself. It is not as simple as washing your shoes with them inside because this does not effectively clean your insoles. Cleaning can be done as often as every week but a quick smell test would help.
Bacteria, especially bad bacteria will emit a noticeable odor. If you begin to notice this smell, then it could be time to quickly clean your insoles.
You can also clean them when you have small stains from dirty puddles you may encounter to prevent the dirt from sticking to the insoles permanently.
Prolonging the Lifespan of Your Insoles
Dirt, grime, sweat, and other unknown chemicals you may encounter from day to day use can make your insoles degrade faster. By keeping them clean and doing so in a proper way, you can prolong the use of your shoe insoles before finding a need to replace them.
Orange Insoles feature a microfiber covering designed to protect the insole and help with moisture and odor control. Furthermore, this covering makes cleaning your insoles a breeze!
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How to Clean Your Insoles
Before you start washing the insoles as you would your shoes, do consider the substances being used as cleaning agents. Try to avoid using strong detergents that degrade the material faster. You can either soak in a light detergent or even machine-wash but select the delicate settings. Follow the steps below to guide you through the washing process.
- Remove the insoles from the shoes and do a quick inspection if there is any stain that needs particular attention before you start washing it. When wet, sometimes stains are no longer as visible. Hold it up under a white light or natural sunlight to see clearly.
- Wash first with warm water and apply light detergent on the stain. Using a brush (or a used toothbrush), scrub the stain consistently until it is gone.
- Hang to dry in a place where ventilation is good so that bacteria will not thrive once more.
- Simply touch to feel if the insoles are dry before using them. A quick smell test can also let you know if there is that “wet smell” prior to use.
Clean Habits for Good Health
Prevention is always better than the cure itself. If you have the tendency to have bacterial growth in the shoes, it helps to use baby powder or even a dry deodorant for your feet. The principle in bacterial growth is that it thrives in warm and moist environments.
Today there are also a variety of cleaning machines like UV disinfection chambers or shoe-disinfection machines which you can use on a daily basis after a day’s worth of walking around with the shoes.
Although what is inside is important, remember as well to keep your shoes clean from the outside as this is beneficial to your shoe hygiene in general. Check out our guide on cleaning your shoes.
