Soccer Cleats 101 Soccer Cleats News and Reviews
Yes, we have all experienced it, the horrible stench of smelly soccer cleats that have been stuck in a bag for a week too long.
Even though I should know better, there are times when I forget my boots and leave them in a bag for an extended time without taking them out to dry. Or, when I am testing a few pairs of cleats at one time, I tend to leave them sitting in the back of my car, and when my car sits in the sun for a few hours, believe me when I say…..you don’t want to be a passenger in my car! I do try to air dry my cleats after I wear them (right now I have 2 pairs outside on my balcony), but there are times when we just fall behind. So, what is the solution to stopping your cleats from getting smelly?
First off, I never encourage anyone to leave their cleats in a boot bag. After a game, the best thing you can do is stuff them with some newspaper and leave them outside to air dry. Not in direct sunlight, as this process would just overdry the material. Just leave them outside in a shady area. Doing this will make a huge difference! To get the most out of your cleats, they need to be treated properly. The best thing to do is view them as an important investment. If you can keep them dry, smell should not be an issue unless you are not washing your socks. My best advice is to get into a routine of leaving them outside after practice or games.
But in the event that you are already far gone from that stage, here are some key tips to help you out:
- Be consistent! Clean your cleats, and air dry them after every practice and every game.
- Stuff your cleats with newspaper, it helps soak up any excess water that lies in your cleats.
- Keep a Bounce sheet in your bag! This is something I advise 100% of the time. After a session, I place a Bounce Sheet
inside my cleats or bag. Even though it doesn’t fully remove the smell, it still helps!
- Use some Lysol. A recommended option is Lysol Neutra Air Fabric Mist
, which helps neutralize odor by killing bacteria. I can tell you from experience that it doesn’t solve the problem, but it can be a temporary solution.
- When buying cleats, choose K-leather rather than synthetic materials. Leather breathes more easily, so the odor does not stay trapped.
- Try out Skunkies. This a new product created by a couple of soccer moms, after they got tired of their kids’ smelly cleats! They eliminate odor and absorb moisture, which prevents bacteria, leaving cleats smelling a little better.
- Glove Stix Odor Reducer is a product that has been popping up on goalkeeper websites, definitely worth a shot when it comes to soccer cleats too.
- And finally, a new product called GloveGlu Stop’em Smelling has been receiving very good reviews, specifically designed for your boots.
So, is there an actual solution? There could be some alternatives that we haven’t found yet – but the above list is the way to go. The key is to work on prevention and maintain cleats from the first time you wear them. If they are stinking up your space, chances are that it is the right time to invest in a brand spanking new pair. This will solve the smell issue, and also give you a fresh start. And next time around, make sure you get it right.
If you have any tips for solving the problem of smelly soccer cleats please share with us!
i've had skunkies, and while they smelled great and did the minimal performance on their job, they didnt last very long
another thing to do is to place your boots in a freezer for a few hours, overnight working well. the cold temperatures kill the bacteria, thus killing the smell.
Won't putting them in the freezer crack the material?
Yeah you are right putting them in freezer will crack the material. It once has happened to me and the loss was of 150$.
If the insoles are removable I take them out and spray them with fabreeze. it gets rid of pretty much all the bad smell and replaces it with a very good smell
I was hoping for some miracle. I had hiking boots, ski boots, sneakers, running shoes for 10's of years and never had the olfactory experience I have when I wiff my kids' cleats. We have two pair and they are supposed to, and generally do, swap them to give them a chance to air. I know part of it is leaving them in a game bag. Right now, I am running them through the washer with detergent and baking soda for the 2nd time including warm water, soak cycles, extra rinse, etc etc. I have little hope that when I finish this comment they will be cured. However I did have a thought.. Most of the smell doesn't come from the shoe. It is sweat, and dirt type stuff that permeates the material and stick like skunk super glue. I am going to try a baking soda, lemon, vinegar, whatever I can think of soak to see if I can crack the safe. I do agree that clean socks every game and practice, and even changing them at half time make a differerence (I change ski and hiking socks mid day and it feels great too) But….. but….. I suspect the biggest source of the problem may be foot care. I am going to have my kids actually scrub their feet when they shower. A good old scrub brush like a dish brush from the sink, and with lots of soap, hot water, and even Betadyne sudsing scrub (meds and vets use it extensively for scrubbing for surgery, prepping skin, etc). You can get the good stuff at a farm store like Agway. A little goes a long way. Dead skin cells stink if they are damp and I would wager if you can reduce the source, you can kill the beast, or at least minimize the stench. I do think the synthetic materials are adding to the problem. They don't clean easily and do seem to hold stench much more than leather. But I totally agree the preventive step is to try to keep feet and socks dry to begin with. Anyone got any cleaning tips? I have finally resorted to tossing them in the washer. What else???
The way I clean my leather football boots is I take a small hand-brush with soft to medium bristles and use a small amount of laundry soap and start scrubbing the inside and outside for about 10-15 minutes, after that I put newspaper in them and wrap the boots with more newspaper and leave them to dry for 3 hours in a shady place outside. After this whole process, the boots smell great and look as if they came right out of the box.
Awesome article. Another great trick that we've recently discovered is sprinkling baking soda in the soccer cleats and letting them sit overnight in a dry area. Then, once the baking soda soaks into the shoe, hand wash the soul of the shoe gently – this should work on almost all soccer cleats.
Here’s what I did for my daughters cat pee cleats. First take the laces out so you can open up the shoe. Then wash and soak them in a solution of 1 or 2 T of laundry detergent and 1/4 cup of bleach. I soaked them for 1 hr. Then rinse them out thoroughly until the soap bubbles are gone. Then put them out in the sun until they are completely dry.
That should kill the bacteria, but they still might have a pee odor.
Take/buy a pair of mens dress socks, preferably nylon not cotton because you want a tight fabric. Buy a container of baking soda and partially fill the socks. Tie a knot in the top of the socks. Inset into the shoes. If you use the right fabric of sock all most nothing will leak out. Don’t use too much baking soda and they will slip into the shoe easily. They will absorb the moisture and in a few days get rid of the smell. Like other posts the important thing is to keep the shoe dry. Buy your child slip on sandals and they will be more prone to take the cleats off right after a game. We haven’t had to repeat the washing process after the first time and it seems to work.
Thank you
Awesome post.
Shoe odor is a common problem among youngsters nowadays. The common soluton is washing a shoe, which is not possible on daily bases.