How to clean white trainers?

Before cleaning your trainers, it is imperative that you meticulously remove all the dust. Gently brush the whole of the upper and sole with soft, non abrasive brush. If you don’t have the right equipment, you can use a soft toothbrush, as it won’t scratch the surface of the leather. Remember to be gentle. If the shoes are very dirty, you can use cotton buds or a microfibre cloth to work a little harder on the areas that need it.

Brighten up the white laces

To make the laces look good as new, you obviously have to take them out of the shoes. What’s our no-fail recipe? Soak them for 24 hours in a mixture of hot water, sodium percarbonate and a little white vinegar. They’re sure to be dazzling!




Wash the uppers

Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty: cleaning your white trainers’ leather uppers. If the trainers aren’t too dirty, you don’t need to bring out the big guns: a little cold, soapy water, or some moistened sodium bicarbonate on a soft toothbrush, will be enough to make them impeccably white again.




Remove difficult stains

To get rid of more difficult stains on leather, you have a number of options: gently rub them with cotton wool moistened with either solvent, white vinegar or make-up remover. Remember to always work gently, testing the product on a less visible part of the trainer first. For grass stains, use 90% alcohol, applied carefully with a cotton bud.




Clean the canvas parts of your leather trainers

To make the canvas parts of your leather trainers as clean as they were when you bought them, use a toothbrush to gently rub them with soapy water. To rinse them, nothing beats a damp magic sponge, then let them dry naturally, away from any sources of excess heat.




Clean the bottom of the outsoles

It's true that your trainers’ rubber soles are bound to gradually wear out with time, but that’s no reason to deprive them of a minimum of maintenance. Particularly as, being made of rubber, this part is easy to clean and dries quickly.

Once you’ve wiped them down with a damp cloth, gently brush them with a toothbrush and some toothpaste – it’ll make the rubber gleaming white again. Leave it on for about ten minutes before rinsing, then leave them to dry. Take care not to wet the soles too much, as the water might find its way inside your trainers.

Another good trick that’s both fast and effective is to use baby wipes! Use them to rub the soles vigorously, then wipe with a cloth and leave until completely dry.

If you have followed all the previous recommendations, you should now be looking at a pair of dazzlingly clean, white leather trainers. So here are our final tips, to help them stay dazzling for longer:

• Apply a layer of clear shoe polish
• Use a white shoe cream to hide any little defects
• Waterproof your trainers every time you’ve cleaned them
• Leave them to rest on shoe trees