Treatment for Shoe Stench

Hey everyone!

Most of you have been there if you've owned shoes for awhile....your climbing shoes begin to reek. I was wondering if you could give me (and my partners when finishing a pumpy sport climb) a break and tell me any treatment I could do to my shoes to cure the smell but not damage their soles.

Wash 'em, freeze 'em, Lysol 'em. But really once they stink, they're stinky for life.

NEXT PAIR OF SHOES, learn never to put them in the pack after they've been worn. Shoes need to dry ASAP, and the dark, closed interior of the pack is a great environment for crud to develop.

stink out

sold in Boulder Running co

feet

fire

Put some coffee beans in a sock and leave that in your shoes when you aren't wearing them. I haven't really seen this anywhere else but it worked for me.

Techtron deoderizer from REI. Made to be used on shoes and nylons. Allcohol based.

Their odor Eliminator looks like an option as well.

Just plain ole crumpled up newspaper stuffed into them when not in use works great. It will dry em out which helps greatly and it will also pull some of the skunk smell out too. This is a cheap easy option.

For me it was no more Evolv shoes, no more shoe stench.

I always keep my shoes hanging off the back of my pack. Don't stuff them and forget them.

I got these activated-charcoal shoe inserts at the Mega-mart that work pretty well..I found them in the laundry aisle. I just stick em in my shoes when I'm not climbing and my shoes don't smell too bad anymore..

put them in the freezer when they get grody. it'll kill a lot of the stank-causing microbes.

A sock filled with cat litter usually does the trick for me.

Some pretty interesting remedies that don't target the underlying issue - bacteria.

It's pretty simple: the excriment of bacteria causes odor, so kill the bacteria - With a stout scrub brush, scrub your feet daily with antibacterial soap (like dial) when you shower. Get between the toes! Also, Spray lysol disinfectant spray in your shoes after use. hang dry.

Other tips:
- if you wear flip flops, wet wipe your *dirt*y feet before sticking them in your climbing shoes. Dirt provides a heaven for bacteria, so keep it out of your climbing shoes.
- leather breeds fewer bacteria than synthetic, so wear leather climbing shoes.

THe key is to not let 'the cheese' start growing in your shoe in the first place.

Zeasorb powder before and after climbing sessions. Can buy it at the drugstore. Use it from day 1.

foodgeek wrote:For me it was no more Evolv shoes, no more shoe stench.

+1. My first pair of shoes were the Evolv Defys and once they started smelling after only a couple months it went downhill VERY fast with no solution...I tried everything.

Since then I've only bought leather shoes. My first pair of Miuras are 4 years old and on their 3rd resole and there's no virtually no smell (beyond what you'd expect in any pair of shoes).

This is a trick I used to use with my downhill mountain bike pads.. I have since used it with great results on my climbing shoes... including Evolvs (both Defy's and Shamans)s...

take two dryer sheets and put them in each shoe. The scent from the dryer sheet is absorbed by the shoe. If you are not wearing them... keep dryer sheets in em.

It works best to start doing this when the shoes are new, but it helps cut down the smell factor on older or well used shoes too.

Also, don't leave em in your bag, and don't leave em laced tight when not in use. Open em up and let em air out.

Go old school...wear socks.

I guess I can share my guaranteed trick with you (and everyone else):

Buy new shoes!

germsauce wrote:put them in the freezer when they get grody. it'll kill a lot of the stank-causing microbes.

I have tried just about every trick I have read about to try to remove odor from Evolv's notoriously stinky synthetic shoes, and nothing seems to work. I have tried freezing them, even in cryo-alhocol which is -110F or so, and it doesent work. It works great well they are frozen, but as soon as they warm back up, they smell pretty much just as bad as before. I have also tried using Lysol, shoe powder, and I have tried boiling the shoes - none of that works.