According to The Institute for Preventive Foot Health, Keeping your sandals, shoes, sneakers and boots clean all the time is essential for maintaining your foot hygiene.
This is the reason you should always take care of cleaning and maintaining your footwear.
If you love to wear sandals and don’t know how to clean sandal footbeds properly, then you have come to the right place.
Today, I want to share my favourite methods of cleaning sandal footbeds.
I am sure you will also love these methods and you will be able to keep your old sandals clean and dirt free on a regular basis.
So, without further delay lets delve into these simple sandal cleaning hacks.
7 Easy Methods to Clean Sandal Footbeds
Method No. 1: Make Use of Vinegar
The very first and the most effective cleaning agent which works universally on almost all kinds of leather and suede footwear is vinegar.
Check out our other article where I explain how to use vinegar to clean Timberland boots.
When it comes to cleaning sandals, its pretty easy to use vinegar.
This method works efficiently for suede and leather sandals.
What You Will Need:
1. Pure Vinegar
2. Water
3. Soft Cotton Cloth
Cleaning Procedure:
a. Just take 4-5 tablespoons of pure vinegar and pour it into a little flask.
b. Now mix some water into the flask to dilute the concentration of vinegar.
c. Then use a soft cotton cloth and dip it inside the mixture. Keep it soaked for few minutes.
d. Now use that dabbed cotton cloth to remove the dirt, stains and scuff marks that are visible on the footbed of your sandal.
e. Once you are able to remove almost all the visible marks and stains, then let your sandals dry for few hours.
f. Don’t put them directly under the sunlight. Rather, place them under your stairs or any other place where direct exposure of sunlight can be avoided.
Method No. 2: Try Baking Soda Mixture
This is another most effective method to make your old sandals look new and dirt free.
According to Healthline.com article, baking soda is a great natural shoe deodorizer.
It helps to remove stinky smell from your shoes. But it can also be used to clean sandals efficiently.
Thing You Will Need:
1. 1 Tablespoon of Baking Soda
2. 1 Tablespoon of Water
3. Soft Cotton Cloth
4. Soft Bristled Toothbrush
Cleaning Procedure:
a. First take 1 tablespoon of baking soda and mix it with 1 tablespoon of water in a container.
b. Make a thick paste of this mixture and Let it remain for few seconds.
c. Take damp cotton cloth and clean the already dirty footbed or insole of your sandals. Make the footbed area lightly wet with the help of a damp cloth.
d. Now use a soft bristled toothbrush to apply the baking soda mixture on the footbed.
e. Apply the mixture to every nuke and corner of the sandal.
f. Once you apply the mixture completely, wipe it away completely with the help of soft cotton cloth.
g. You can also dab the sandal’s footbed with the help of dry cotton cloth to entirely remove any remains of the mixture.
h. Once you do it, keep your sandals aside to let them dry for overnight.
Don’t put them in the direct sunlight or close to any heat source. Because it will damage the material of your sandals.
To know how to do this process in detail, kindly watch the following short instructional video.
Method No. 3: Use of Dish Soap
Yes, your household item, a mild dish soap can also be used to clean leather sandal footbeds.
The procedure is really simple to perform.
Things You will Need:
1. Mild Dish Soap
2. Warm Water
3. Soft Cotton Cloth
4. Dry Towel
Cleaning Procedure:
1. First mix a mild dish soap into the warm water carefully.
2. Then dip a soft cotton cloth into this water mixture for few minutes.
3. Now wipe any stains and dirt from your sandals with the help of this wet cotton cloth.
4. Once you wipe away all the visible dirt and stains from your sandals, its time to use dry towel to make your sandals dry.
5. Now keep your sandals away from heat or sunlight and let them dry for overnight.
Method No. 4: Use a Professional Shoe Cleaner Kit
There are some really good quality shoe cleaner kits available in the market that you can use to clean your sandals too.
All of your nubuck, canvas, suede and leather sandals can easily be cleaned with the help of professional shoe cleaner products such as Pink Miracle Shoe Cleaner.
The things you will need and the procedure for the same is provided as follows.
Things You will Need:
1. Pink Miracle Shoe Cleaner Kit
2. Soft and Dry Cotton Cloth
3. Warm Water
Cleaning Procedure:
a. This Pink Miracle Shoe Cleaner Kit comes with a bottle of concentrated shoe cleaner liquid and a soft cleaning brush. First dip this brush inside the warm water for few minutes to make it softer.
b. Then apply the concentrated shoe cleaner liquid on the brush.
You will need very little quantity every time you clean the footbed of your sandal. Because as I already mentioned, it is a concentrated solution.
c. Before using this brush on your sandal, make sure you dampen the footbed and other parts of your sandal with a wet cotton cloth.
d. Now apply the cleaning brush on your sandal to remove all kinds of stains, dirt and scuff marks.
e. You will need to scrub the affected areas more thoroughly to make sure you remove all the visible dirt from the sandal.
f. Once you complete the cleaning, let your sandals become dry for few hours.
Check out the following video to see how to use Pink Miracle Shoe Cleaner for cleaning all kinds of shoes in few minutes.
Method No. 5: Try Out Sandpaper
I have recently read an article published by Linda, who is the owner of Craftsalamode.com.
On her site, she has shared her tried out method to clean the footbed of her suede (brushed leather) sandal.
She used a simple sandpaper to clean the dirt, mud and stains from her old sandals.
The method is pretty straightforward.
Things You Will Need:
2. Soft Cotton Cloth
Cleaning Procedure:
a. Get a rough 120 grit sandpaper and simply start rubbing on the dirty footbed of your used sandals.
b. Keep rubbing the sandpaper softly till you can no longer see any dirt, stains or mud on the footbed.
c. Once you are able to clean most of the visible dirt from your sandal, then use a soft cotton cloth to remove any residual dirt or mud which is remained on the sandal surface.
Method No. 6: Use Your Washing Machine
This is yet another simple method that you can try at your home comfortably.
Some people recommend to use a washing machine to wash and clean dirty and slimy sandals.
Things You will Need:
1. A Washing Machine
2. A Laundry Detergent
3. Warm Water
4. Dry Cotton Cloth
Cleaning Procedure:
a. This method is more suitable for rubber and canvas sandals. So, use it sensibly. You need to use warm water to wash your old sandals.
b. Mix your laundry detergent powder in the water.
c. Now put your sandals inside the washing machine for washing and cleaning purpose.
d. Do wash, rinse and dry procedures on a delicate level that is available in your washing machine.
e. Once done. Take out your sandals and wipe them dry with the help of soft cotton cloth.
f. Finally, allow them to dry for few hours. You need to avoid direct heat source or sunlight while drying your sandals.
Method No. 7: Clean with Rubbing Alcohol
The footbed of your used sandal often gets dirty and muddy due to constant usage.
Rubbing alcohol is a great anti-bacterial cleaner which works efficiently for your sandals.
The cleaning procedure is provided as follows.
Things You Will Need:
2. Few Soft Cotton Balls
Cleaning Procedure:
a. Get a pure rubbing alcohol solution from the market. Mix some solution with water to lower its concentration level.
b. Dip few cotton balls in the liquid solution for few minutes to allow complete absorption of the liquid.
c. Now rub down all the footbed areas that are dirty and muddy with the help of wet cotton balls.
d. Try to wipe away all the visible dirt, stains and scuff marks from your sandal.
e. Once done, let them dry for next few hours.
Final Thoughts
If you want to clean your dirty and slimy sandal footbeds, you need to implement simple and easy cleaning methods.
I have provided 7 cleaning methods above.
All of them are safe and harmless methods that you can try to remove the dirt and mud from your old and used sandals.
If you want to remove scuff marks from your shoes, check out these 20 tricks to remove scuff marks from your shoes.
