Musty fishy shoes

24 years ago

My son got his Adidas Sport shoes (heavy, padded, some leather trim) wet on a visit to the beach.

After I rinsed them out and dried them and they had a fishy, musty odor.

I soaked them overnight in a pail of water, then ran them through a cycle in my washer (with normal detergent Cheer) and hung them out to dry in the sun.

They still have a fishy, musty odor.

(Time to note here that this is a young boy with NO foot odor problems!)

What is the next step?

I was thinking of soaking them in a Baking Soda mix, but don't know the proportions for a good soak mix, or if that would even work.

Any suggestions?

Thanks :o),

Sassy

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Comments (4)

ranchhand
24 years ago
They got a little mildew growing in the padded lining, and simple washing won't kill mildew. Throw them in the washer with 1/2 cup of bleach. That'll do it.
Sassyfras
Original Author
24 years ago
Hi Ranchhand,

Thanks for the quick reply. I thought of mildew, but they weren't wet for more than an hour before I threw them in the wash...the smell was at first a real "fishy, ocean" smell, so I thought washing would rinse that out.

I'm concened with using bleach because the shoes are blue/gray, so I thought of soaking in Baking Soda as a solution (...for some reason that keeps popping into my head) but I'm not sure if that would work either...

The big problem is that I'm looking for a quick fix because he needs to wear the shoes!! LOL

Thanks :o)
Sassy
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Karen_sl
24 years ago
Do the bleach, 1/2 cup will not discolor the shoes, I used to always wash my boys shoes....Hey we could only afford 1 o 2 prs..
Karen L
mystich
24 years ago
After float trips in the river I always soak sneakers in a bucket of bleach water then wash with regular detergent. Same thing really. The bleach kills the mildew spores that detergent won't.