The things about crisp white shoelaces is that they can easily pick up dirt. In situations where your shoelaces get marked or covered in mud, you might think that you need to buy new ones. However, you don’t have to worry about that. There’s no reason to buy new shoelaces when you can clean them at home instead.
Cleaning shoelaces is a painless task, regardless of what type you have. Regardless of the type of shoelace you’re washing, all you need to do is remove your laces and get to work.
With this article, we’ll teach you how to wash your shoelaces successfully. Whether you’re washing them by hand, via the washing machine, or even if they’re leather laces, we’ll tell you all you need to know.
We find that one of the easiest ways to clean our shoelaces is by putting them in the washing machine. With this step-by-step guide, you’ll find cleaning your shoelaces so much easier.
First, we need to remove our shoelaces from our shoes. If we keep them laced into the shoes, we won’t be able to completely clean them. This way, we can ensure that we can remove stains that we wouldn’t have noticed before.
Before putting them in the washing machine, we’ll need to remove any dirt or grime on them. To do this, we just need to hold them under a tap and grab a toothbrush to remove any debris. The tap water will remove any loose dirt into the sink, so they won’t stain when we put them in the wash.
If we see any significantly bad stains, we’ll need to get to work on removing them now. To remove them, we just use the stain remover powder we have on hand. Apply the powder to the worst stains, and then, when satisfied, we’ll move onto the next step.
To ensure that our shoelaces don’t get lost in the washing machine, we need to put them in a separate bag inside the washing machine.
We find that a knotted pillowcase works well, but if you have a mesh bag then those work too. Make sure that the bag or pillow is closed, and then we just need to put them in the wash.
We find that it’s easier to include them in our regular wash, so place the bag in with your whites or colours. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t be kept with the rest of your washing, so long as they’re in a pillowcase or a bag.
Once the cycle is finished, we can remove the laces from the rest of our washing. Even if you’re tempted to put them in the dryer, don’t. Putting shoelaces in the dryer can ruin the elasticity of the laces and cause them to shrink, or melt the tips.
Instead, put them on an airer and let them dry naturally. It may take a few hours, but given time, they’ll be good as new.
When washing by hand, the first steps are the same as if you were washing them via the washing machine.
Before you start, make sure you remove the laces from your shoes, remove any grime and dirt by rinsing them under the tap, use stain remover to get rid of the worst stains, and put them in a pillowcase or a thin bag.
We find that washing laces by hand can be easier if we don’t have a cycle of washing to do.
We’ll refer to this as the first step. Add some warm water and some washing powder to a bucket. If you have white laces, you can use bleach instead of washing powder.
Grab the bag or pillowcase with the shoelaces in and submerge it into the solution. We should leave them there for 20 minutes, and let them soak for a little while.
Once 20 minutes have passed, remove the bag from the solution. We’ll remove the shoelaces from the bag, and while we’re at it, empty the bucket of solution.
Fill the bucket with warm, clean water, and rinse the shoelaces under a stream of water. Once the bucket has enough water in, dip the shoelaces into there and ensure that there’s no solution left on them.
Hang the shoelaces to dry and leave them on the airer. If they’re not completely clean, repeat the process again until they are.
If you don’t have synthetic shoelaces, but instead have leather laces, don’t worry, because we can help you clean these too.
Grab a toothbrush and remove any debris or dirt. As leather isn’t as absorbent as our usual fabrics, we don’t need to rinse them under the sink as we do this.
We need some saddle soap for this step. Mix the saddle soap and warm water to a bowl and grab a cloth. Soak the leather laces into the soapy water very briefly so they don’t absorb too much of the water. To do this, wipe off the water with a rag or a clean cloth so that the leather isn’t ruined.
Let the laces dry on a towel or an old newspaper. Make sure they aren’t exposed to the sun, so that way they can retain their colour.
Once the laces are completely dry, dampen a cloth with olive or coconut oil. Apply the oil with a clean cloth so that the leather’s sheen is restored. By letting the oil soak in, we find that the leather will soften, and their appearance will improve.
Finally, let them dry on an airer for a few hours. After the first hour, make sure there’s no excess oil. Once they’re completely dry, re-lace the shoes.
Cleaning shoelaces is a quick and painless process that anyone can do regardless of the type of lace. It may take some time to dry, but the end results are worth it.
