7 Best Ways to Remove Odour From Trainers
See the seven ways
Most smelly trainers are not dirty trainers. They are damp trainers that never got the chance to dry. Here are six habits that stop the smell building up, and the one proper clean that removes what has already set in.
There is a particular moment when you pull a pair of trainers out of a gym bag and the smell arrives before the shoe does. Everyone who runs, trains or lives in one pair of trainers knows it. And most people reach for the same fix: a spray, a sprinkle of something from the kitchen cupboard, or a wash and hope.
Some of that helps for a day. None of it addresses why the smell keeps coming back, which is why most people end up searching how to get rid of shoe smell more than once.
The good news is that trainer odour removal is mostly a question of moisture, and moisture is something you can manage. Six of the seven things below are habits that cost nothing. The seventh is the one that removes what the habits cannot.
Why do trainers start to smell?
Feet are warm and they perspire, and a trainer is a closed, padded space wrapped around them for hours at a time. Sweat soaks into the insole, the lining and the padding around the heel. When the shoe comes off, that moisture is still in there.
If the trainer dries out fully before the next wear, most of the smell goes with the moisture. If it does not, because it went straight back into a bag, a locker or a cupboard, the damp stays put and the smell has somewhere to build.
That is why smelly trainers are so often the pair you wear most. It is not that they are dirtier. They simply never get a proper chance to dry. And over weeks of wear, what dries into the insole and the lining builds up into something airing alone will not shift. That is where a proper wash comes in.
The 7 best ways to remove odour from trainers
If you are wondering how to remove smell from trainers without ruining them, start at the top and work down. The first six cost nothing. The seventh is the reset.
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Let trainers dry properly between wears
Moisture is most of the story, so this is the step that matters most. When you take trainers off after a run, a session or a long day, get them out of the gym bag and out of the boot of the car. Loosen the laces, pull the tongue forward and leave them somewhere air can move around them. A trainer that dries fully between wears rarely gets the chance to become a smelly one.
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Air them out regularly
The instinct is to put shoes away as soon as they are off. Resist it for a few hours. A well-ventilated spot by an open window or in a hallway does far more than a closed cupboard, a shoe box or the bottom of a wardrobe. If you want to know how to get rid of trainer smell without spending anything, this and the step above are the answer for most pairs.
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Look at what you wear inside them
Trainers do not get damp on their own. Socks that breathe, and a fresh pair for every wear, mean less moisture ends up in the shoe to begin with. Trainers worn without socks tend to be the first pair to smell, for exactly that reason.
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Clean or replace removable insoles
The insole takes the brunt of every wear, and it holds moisture long after the rest of the shoe feels dry. If yours lift out, take them out after wear and let them air separately. Clean them according to their own care instructions when they need it. And when an insole has clearly had its day, replacing it is one of the cheapest ways to remove smell from shoes you otherwise still love.
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Rotate between different pairs
Wearing the same trainers every day means they are never fully dry when you put them back on. A second pair, even an old one, gives each set a full day to recover. This is the step people skip because it feels like a luxury. It is really just giving your trainers the drying time they were never getting.
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Keep trainers dry during storage
Putting damp trainers into a wardrobe, a storage bag or a suitcase is how a faint smell becomes a persistent one. Make sure they are fully dry before they go anywhere enclosed, and if they are going to sit for a while, leave the box or bag open a crack so air can still reach them.
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Give them a proper wash, in a bag
The six habits above stop moisture building up. They do not remove the sweat and grime that have already dried into the insole, the lining and the padding, and that is what a wash is for. Most care labels say no to the machine because they assume the shoe goes in loose, so go by the material instead. Mesh, canvas, knit and most synthetic uppers are fine for a cool wash on a gentle programme in a bag. Leather and suede stay hand-wash.
The part most people get wrong is protection. Washed loose in the drum, a trainer spends the whole cycle knocking against the metal, which is how machine washing got its reputation for ruining shoes. The Skovasken Shoe Wash Bag sits between the shoe and the drum for the full cycle. Its padded walls absorb the knocks, and the soft microfibre lining lifts dirt from the whole surface while the wash rinses through the inside of the shoe, where the smell sits.
One shoe per bag, cool and gentle, then let them dry all the way through, away from direct heat. It is the same wash you were going to run anyway. The bag is what makes it safe to run as often as the trainers need it.
Discover the Skovasken Shoe Wash Bag
Why wash them in a bag rather than loose?
Most advice on how to get smell out of trainers stops at “wash them”. The reason people hesitate is that they have seen what a washing machine does to a pair washed loose. A purpose-built shoe wash bag is what changes that.
- Cushioned protection for the whole cycle, so the shoe is washed rather than thrown around
- Thousands of soft microfibres inside the bag lift dirt from the whole surface of the shoe
- Far less knocking and noise while the machine runs
- One shoe per bag, for better protection and a better clean
- Reusable, wash after wash, so a proper clean becomes a routine rather than a risk
- Suitable for many trainers, running shoes and casual shoes, whatever the label assumed about a loose wash
The insole and the lining are where a smell builds, and they are the parts you cannot reach with a brush. A machine wash reaches them. The bag is what lets you run that wash while the trainers keep their shape.
Cleaning trainers and keeping them fresh are two different jobs
Washing does something no shoe smell remover or shoe freshener will: it removes the accumulated dirt, sweat and grime that have soaked into the fabric. That is the periodic job, whenever the trainers genuinely need it, and it is the job the wash bag makes safe to do.
Managing everyday odour is the job in between. A pair of trainers can be perfectly clean and still smell by Thursday if they never get the chance to dry out. That is not a cleaning problem. It is a moisture problem, and the habits above are the answer to it.
The wash, in three steps
Put together, a simple routine looks like this:
- Wash trainers when appropriate. When the label permits it and the dirt has built up, a cool gentle wash in the bag brings them back.
- Dry them properly. Away from direct heat, until they are dry all the way through.
- Allow them to air. Between wears, out of the bag, laces loosened.
- Freshen them between washes. Anything that draws moisture out of the shoe overnight helps. If you want a dedicated shoe deodoriser for the job, there is one at the end of this page.
The first three are habits and a wash. The fourth is optional, and it is what keeps the habits holding up on the days life gets in the way.
The easier way to keep trainers fresher
The honest problem with washing trainers by hand is that it is slow, it is messy, and it rarely reaches the insole and the lining where the smell lives. So most people put it off, the smell sets in, and a good pair gets retired early for the wrong reason.
A machine wash in a Skovasken bag takes the effort out of it. Laces out, insoles out if they lift, one shoe per bag, cool and gentle, then air-dry. The trainers come out clean through rather than clean on the outside, and because the bag is reusable, the next wash is just as easy as this one.
If you have been searching for how to get rid of trainer smell and finding advice that amounts to “buy a shoe odour remover”, this is the step that deals with the cause rather than the symptom. Deodorise trainers by all means. Wash them first.
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Between washes
Skovasken Smell Patches
For the days between washes, Skovasken also makes shoe odour patches. Peel one off the backing, press it into each shoe after wear, and it absorbs moisture and uses natural active ingredients to neutralise odour at the source overnight, rather than covering it with a scent.
It is a trainer deodoriser that sits inside the shoe, where the smell is, rather than being sprayed at it. For anyone who wants to deodorise shoes without a spray or a loose powder, and has been looking for shoe smell patches rather than a shoe freshener, this is that. Optional, and only if you want the days in between covered too.
See the Smell PatchesFresher trainers usually come down to four things
Reduce the moisture. Let them dry properly. Wash them, in a bag, when the label and the state of the shoe call for it. And do something about the everyday odour between those washes, so a good pair does not get retired early for the wrong reason.
Get those four right and you stop chasing the smell and start staying ahead of it.
Discover a simpler way to keep your trainers feeling and smelling fresher between wears.