How to clean your white sneakers after Homecoming

Northern Kicks tested out the internet’s white sneaker cleaning tips so that you don’t have to.

We are now more than halfway through the first semester of university in Canada,

and most of us have had our homecomings. Homecoming is a serial murderer of white sneakers, so there's a high chance you’ve been keeping them tied up in a plastic bag since. Every time you see it you contemplate if you can save them, or if you should throw them out.

Today, I am testing out the internet’s tips for cleaning white leather sneakers, so that you don’t have to. Here is a step-by-step of what I did, and what worked best.

#1 Soak the laces

First, remove your laces. I tried to clean them in two different ways.

Stain remover

First I tried the Resolve grass and grease stain remover, but it did not do much for the shoelaces. They were still black after letting it soak for 5 minutes as per instructions.

Detergent soak - NK APPROVED

Next, I soaked them in a solution of 1 part laundry detergent and 5 parts water and it worked wonders! Put it all into a jar and shake for 2 minutes, and let them soak for another 5-10 minutes. Then, scrub the parts of the laces that are still dark while it is covered in the solution. Rinse and hang to dry.

#2 Prep for cleaning

Coming back to the shoes, it's time to get the excess dirt and mud off the shoes to prep them for cleaning. This was a hard step, especially since the mud had been left to dry onto the shoes. However, it is important to do this before you do the wet cleaning on the shoes so that you don’t further stain them.

Old dry toothbrush

I used an old toothbrush, which is crucial as the bristles are soft enough to use on the shoes without worrying about damaging the leather. Gently dry brush the grime off the shoes. It's best to do this outside as it creates a lot of dust in the air. Or, you can just bang the shoes on the ground until the dirt falls off as I did here.

#3 Get off the dirt

It's time to tackle the white leather. Start by simply getting off the dirt before worrying about the details.

Toothpaste - NK APPROVED

I used the old toothbrush once again but this time with white toothpaste and little bits of water to scrub the dirt off the leather. Make sure to use white toothpaste only, anything coloured might stain the shoes. Work your way around the shoes doing small gentle circles. I used water to just rinse it off but if you want to be extra careful use a wet cloth.

Here is what it looked like after the toothpaste scrub.

#4 Clean the details

Now we are getting into the dirty details, literally.

Detergent - NK APPROVED

Air Force 1s have seams on the soles that are notoriously hard to clean, and these had been stained for some while. I scrubbed them with laundry detergent, again avoiding the leather, and let it sit for a couple of minutes before it rinsed off.

It brightened the colour of the thread slightly, but unfortunately, it remained a light grey colour.

Stain Remover - NK APPROVED

Next, I brightened the tongue and padding of the shoe with the fabric stain remover. Spray Resolve stain remover and leave it on for 5 minutes. It's a very strong product so try not to let it touch the leather. Then with your toothbrush, scrub it before gently rinsing it out under the tap. Again, try to isolate the water rinsing to the fabric of the shoe.

#5 Layout dry

Lay them out to dry, de-laced, with the tongues pulled out of the shoe to allow for maximum airflow.

That concludes our testing of the internet’s shoe cleaning tips. Some were more effective than others, but overall I am pretty satisfied with the results! If you have any tips we missed, let us know in the comments below.