Stinky Climbing Shoes What to do?

What do you do to defunkify your climibng shoes?

Wash your feet
Lysol
Frebreze

What eles?

You must have a pair of Evolvs they pick up stank like no other

I recommend Dr. Scholl's powder and leaving them exposed to fresh air as much as possible, but I warn you this might not be enough with a funky pair of evolvs

sunder wrote:What do you do to defunkify your climibng shoes? Wash your feet Lysol Frebreze What eles?

Uhh, wash your shoes?

I've just tossed mine in a standard clothes washing machine. Seemed to work ok.

Could always hand wash them.

Definately air dry them.

Then, as a preventative, if you have sweaty feet, use some arid xtra dry or some anti perspirant on them. That'll help.

"What do you do to defunkify your climbing shoes?"

I picked up this idea from a user here several months ago on a similar thread. In between washing them in a washing machine w/o soap I put 2 drier sheets in each shoe. Keeps the funky smell at bay for a good month.

There's no perfect solution, I've found.

Aside from all the other methods, I would suggest getting a mesh gym bag to store them in or hang them up so that they air as much as possible. Also, try opening them up as wide as possible and baking them in the sun for a bit.

Bag them and keep your shoes in the freezer overnight.

i've heard a lot of solutions to this problem, but one method i used that made my Katanas look brand-spanking new (on the inside) was to use Birkenstock Footbed cleaner on them - it's only like 5 bucks, and you can find it wherever birks are sold.

it's a gentle detergent that you squirt into the shoe when it's wet, and then use a small brush (toothbrush for the toe area) to get your scrub on. it worked crazy-good for me; got rid of the stank and the layers of grime built up in the shoe that caused my foot to swim when it got the least bit sweaty.

like evan mentioned, i always let my shoes air out after use, even clipping them to the outside of my pack hiking out from a climb, but i wouldn't let them bake in the sun too long, UV rays aren't the best thing for climbing gear for extended periods of time.

I have a pair of 5.10's that I love. Unfortunately, they smell like death. Recently I picked up a pair of these:
shoeandfootcare.com/p/205-041/
I just throw these babies in my shoes when I am not wearing them. They actually work quite well.

EDIT: BTW, I found these at Sports Authority.

+1 for sticking half a dryer sheet in each shoe after use. However, I feel like it only masks the smell (albeit pretty damn well), so I'll be trying some of the other suggestions on here. Just washing them has never really seemed to do the trick for me though.

Can you wash leather shoes the same as synthetic ones, or does that mess up the leather/fit?

They are 5.10 Anasazi im on my 3rd pair and they all get the death smell of funkness. I have all ways clipped the shoes to the outside of my pack to let them air dry. I have never resoled any of my anasazi because they smelled so bad, so i just bought new shoes.

There is a lot of rubber dust/gunk build up from the gym in the shoes so i am going to try the washing machine with light deterigent and i will see what happens.

mountainproject.com/v/climb…

mountainproject.com/v/gener…

Dr. Scolls shoe shoot. It even works on Evolv. I use it once a month and my shoes smell like flowers.

Wash your damn feet! Dirtbags.

The ladies dig it.

chalkfingers wrote:Bag them and keep your shoes in the freezer overnight.

+1...short term fix, but the cold kills the bacteria that causes odor.

what ever you do, do not use a powder like odor eaters. powders stay in your shoe and will cause a gunky build up. i had a bad experience with this.

Just washed my Evolvs in the machine... Not positive about the lack of stench, but they are YELLOW again!!! Holy shit.

Don't get them funky in the first place? I never stash my shoes away inside any bag after climbing. I just clip them to my pack and let them air dry. Seems to work for me.
The only time I got real funky shoes was when I missed a crashpad in a swampy bouldering area, and then forgot my shoes in a plastic bag in the trunk of my car for a week. My friends would moan every time I brought those shoes out.

I tried a lot of things for my shoes and finally a friend gave me a miracle spray called ODOBAN. I think it is eucalyptus based and it reminds me of a vet smell but it is much better than foot odor and it works like a charm. Try it! Once you get some a little goes a long way.

Air them out after wearing; don't store them in your pack. "Sun sanitation" helps.

And thin little socks work wonders to prevent the reek.

It would seem that synthetic shoes in general stink more than leather ones. That is also certainly the case with my old fleece and synthetic shirts.

sawyer wylie wrote:i wrote the evolve guy when i had evolves (the defys) and he said to do this: Hey Sawyer, Yes, that model especially can get pretty bad. They are easy to clean though. Just use some warm water and a light detergent and scrub them about once a month. Another option is to get a product called Sink the Stink or other similar product for cleaning neoprene. You add this stuff to some warm water, dip the shoes, let them dry, problem solved. The lining on that model does hold on to the stink a bit more than others we make. The Pontas, for example, is much less offensive Donny EVOLVE and Yosemitebum Customer Experience Manager i tried tide and washing them and it worked great just the smell came back, so if you try sink the stink let me know how it goes!!

I use something called MiraZyme. It works well for about 10 - 20 uses and you can start smelling them again. I'm not sure if there is a way to permanently protect your shoes from stinking. So I wash them once every two months.