How To Look After Your Sneaker Collection
If you consider yourself as a bit of a sneakerhead and you want to take care of your pride and joy, we’re on hand with the ultimate guide to looking after your sneaker collection. After all, when you consider how much footwear can set you back, it’s only right that our beloved sneakers get the care they need. From keeping them clean to holding their shape, this is the only start to finish guide you’ll ever need.
1. Cleaning Your Sneakers To A Box-Fresh Standard
Start by removing your laces and popping them into a bowl of hot water, a splash of detergent and a dash on bleach. Once the waters cooled, swirl the laces around before removing from the water and leaving flat to dry out.
- Use a damp cloth to wipe your trainers clean before taking a toothbrush to get into any nooks and crannies.
- If a deeper clean is required, use the appropriate cleaner (leather/suede) on a soft-bristled shoe brush and gently scrub.
- Once you’ve finished scrubbing either with your brush, toothbrush or cloth, you need to rinse off any remaining liquids before patting dry with a microfibre cloth.
- For the ultimate protection, you need to reach for the shoe protector spray.
It’s worth mentioning here that no matter the circumstance, there’s never a good time to throw your shoes into the washing machine. Although you might see it as a quick fix, it can cause long-term problems that will significantly reduce the lifespan of your creps.
2. Protecting Your Sneakers
Beyond using a shoe protection spray such as crep protect, we have a few other tips and tricks up our sleeve.
If you’ve found that the dye from your jeans rubs off onto your shoes and stains them, you simply need to be duct tape on the insides of the cuffs to avoid it happening again.
3. Keeping The Shape In Your Sneakers
If you’re lucky enough to have a decent sneaker selection, some pairs can go a long time without making it out of the box. To keep the shape of your shoes, it’s worth investing some shoe stretchers or insets. Losing the shape in your sneakers and creases are two of the most significant contributors to a worn-out looking sneaker. So, although there’s a cost involved, it’s worth it. With that said, you can always line your shoes with newspaper to pad them out. Another top tip: put the newspaper into a sock to avoid any ink rubbing off onto the insoles.
4. Storing Your Sneakers
Now that we’ve covered cleaning, protecting and keeping the original shape of your creps. It’s time to get down to storage. We suspect that if you’re a big fan of sneakers, you store them pretty well. However, there’s a method to the madness when it comes to storage.
Before you go ahead and store your trainers away, you should make sure that they’re cleaned properly, else the grime and dirt will just become stubborn.
Temperature and sunlight are both out to destroy the condition of your beloved sneakers. So, to combat this, it’s essential that you store them out of direct sunlight in a cool place. It’s always good to store your sneakers in the original shoebox. However, if you’re short on space, a bag will also do the trick.
If you’d prefer to have your sneakers on display, you can always use a shoe rack, just remember to keep it out of direct sunlight.
Now that pretty much all bases are covered, here are some final hacks so that you can ensure your sneakers are in tip-top condition:
- Rotate your shoes – even if you’ve fallen in love with one pair of shoes, you should try to rotate them a little. By doing so, you’ll be giving the material of your sneakers the chance to enjoy a well-needed break.
- Avoid throwing your sneakers into a wardrobe. While it might be a cool and dry place, if you have a mound of sneakers, they will soon lose their shape and can even start to smell a little.
- NEVER store your sneakers away when they’re wet. It’s so vital that you allow your sneakers to dry out thoroughly before you store them. If you don’t, they won’t only smell, but they can also sprout mould.
While we’re on the subject of mould, you should avoid storing your sneakers in plastic boxes as they can be a breeding ground for those little nasties.
And that’s a wrap: everything and anything you need to know to get the most out of your precious crepes. If you refer back to this guide when you’re cleaning, storing and rocking your favourite sneakers, you’ll not only be looking fresh, but you’ll be saving cash.
