Shoes Maintain

Not all dance shoes can be cleaned, depending on the model and the shoe insole. Sure, it’s not fun to fight with the smell of dance shoes, but often there are solutions.

Here are some tips to clean or remove the smell (when possible) of your dance shoes:

1. if your dance shoe insole is a leather one you can wash it with a specific leather foam (available in all big grocery stores) or you can take it remove your insole and put a leather one (any shoemaker can do it for you) .

2. soak your dance shoes in a basin filled with water and soap and leave your shoes in it for 4 hours (not recommended for leather shoes).

3. for non washable dance shoes: you should treat them like any other  leather shoe, and clean them with a special brush or rubbe ; in case you have buffalo leathersoles, do cleaned them with a metal brush only. At the end of the cleanning process, put your dance shoes out the window to get air.

4. if you can not wash your dance shoes, and the problem remains confined to the sweating of your feet: put in your dance shoes, mint flavored talcum powder, right before using them and leave them out in the fresh air all night after using them.

My last tip: rinse your dance shoes with some baking soda (1 tablespoon per 2 liters of water).

As you can see, it is not always possible to wash any dance shoe. Some, especially those for salsa dancing, are very delicate because they are leather shoes. The same is true for dance shoes that are used to tap dance, flamenco and dance on ice. In all these cases, I’d recommend to take them in to the shoemaker once a month and let him clean them for you. He has all appropriate products to do so. As for your ballet ormodern dance shoes, the issue is completely different, because they are usually all washable  in the washing machine or in a basin of water. In any case, always read the instructions if any, before washing them .