I have a pair of Sierra knee-high down booties that I wear around the house (aside: mandatory when new kitten is in the foot-attack stage of her development). I don’t wear socks with them in the summer, as they are too warm that way. They have developed an obnoxious foot odor. The product site said it was okay to machine wash them, which I did, and machine dry them, which I did. I smelled them when they were partially dry, and they smelled okay. They were still a teeny bit damp, so I hung them outside to finish drying, and when they were fully dry, they smelled like I never washed them at all. It’s not a mildew smell; it’s the same sour foot odor smell that made me wash them in the first place. It’s impossible to turn them inside out or anything. Right now, I’ve made two tissue paper packets of about 1/4 cup baking soda each, which I stuffed inside them and hung them outside again, but that seems kind of wimpy. Any other suggestions?
I used to de-odorize my work boots over the weekend.
Pour in a fair amount of loose baking soda, slosh it around so it gets from toes to heel.
Put in a paper bag and roll it closed (sealed).
Let sit for the weekend.
Monday morning, bang out the baking soda into the tub, wear.
Been considering doing this or next weekend with my current shoes.
Or if you’re washing them, pour a cup of baking soda into the wash water along with them.
How much would you describe as a “fair amount”? A handful? Half a small box?
Because these booties are soft fabric and I wear them sock-less, I’m thinking all of the baking soda won’t come out, thus leaving a gritty feel. Maybe that won’t be a problem.
Wow… let them sit all weekend… who knew it would take that long.
Thanks for that very prompt reply and excellent suggestion.
ETA. If I wind up washing them again, I’ll definitely add baking soda to the wash.
You can store them with a dryer sheet inside to avoid future stinkies.
I hear good things about using UV shoe sterilizers. They supposedly will completely eliminate even *very *noxious and persistent foot odors, because they kill ALL the bacteria. I don’t wear boots, so I can’t personally attest to their effectiveness, but they’re very highly reviewed. Also expensive.
Something like this, maybe?.
I have also heard that you can put footwear in the freezer to kill bacteria. This seems very do-able for down boots, as opposed to, say, leather boots.
However, since the stink is due to the byproducts of bateria, not the bacteria themselves, killing the critters may not remove the smell.
Since you can wash them, try adding Oxy-Clean to the wash cycle. It destinkifies just about anything.
I’ve ruined a couple of good shoes by using them without socks and getting a really unpleasant foot odor in return. Using commercial foot-odor-removing sprays hides the smell only so long as I put the shoes on, now with socks, and use them for a while. So, I never use any good shoes without socks anymore. Those UV sterilizers might work, though.