In this case, cowboy boots. I know she's been wearing them without socks recently but yikes, they reek!!! Any suggestions beyond baking soda? I'd be willing to immerse or flood them with something, baking soda and spray deodorants are not doing the trick. Other question is how to get her to wear socks in her next pair..... I gave up in my teens and through my 30's and just wore cheap inexpensive cotton tennis with rubber sole and replaced as needed because I too preferred not to wear socks and my shoes would get stinky. I guess that could be a good incentive to tell her that's all she'll get and not willing to put socks on if she really wants her cowboy boots?
I've nothing to offer I'm afraid. But I'd have a hard time wearing boots without socks. I'm kinda stuck in my ways.
No doubt on being stuck in your ways, I was barefoot every possible moment most my life. She does not know about that, I've been in shoes, at minimum socks her whole life. I just found this and might try it: (except I'm going to pour the solution in as this is for tennis shoes, swish it around since I cannot spray the foot part of little cowboy boots, then dump) To kill the smell, use this method for all types of footwear. Ingredients: 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup distilled white vinegar 5 drops of tea tree oil Procedure: In a spray bottle, mix well water, distilled white V, and drops of tea tree oil (comes from the leaves of the tea tree, can kill bacteria and fungi). Shake thoroughly. Directly spray or apply to a cloth and wipe the shoe interior, Better to cover the outer side, particularly the front upper part of the shoe, with plastic paper. This spray is only to use the interior side of the shoe. After spraying them, let your shoes dry in a sunny spot.
Insert crinkled up newspaper toward the toe area and in the heel (a full, two page sheet can probably do both boots). If the boots are worn every day and are slightly damp let them dry as much as possible before installing the paper for overnight and change the paper daily, If the boots are dry but worn regularly, change the newspaper out on a regular basis (might be a week, might be more). If the boots are only worn occasionally, and they are dry, then the papers can stay in there until the next wearing, and may be able to be reused. There is a reason they place crumpled up paper in new shoes - and it ain't just to help keep the shape. Good tip for luggage that is stored most of the time too. I am barefoot all the time, even during the winter (okay, I'll wear socks if my feet are cold). Even when I worked in an office, I wore slip on shoes so I could slip them off while at my desk and for short trips to the printer or someone else's desk. However, I can't stand to wear boots or tennis shoes without socks. BTW - more solution is not necessarily better as the boots will not dry all the way. That is part of the key in this whole thing, getting those insides dry.
One of my daughters friends Had stinky feet at soccer tournaments. It was moms and girls only weekends. Guess they would throw the cleats out of the hotel room. Nothing seemed to help the stench of Jilly.
So you are smelling the bacteria. That will grow in warm, moist environments and will come back if she doesn't start wearing socks. If you really want to save the boots, you want to kill the bacteria. Baking soda is on the alkaline/caustic spectrum. The next household item up from that is lye. Bleach would also be on the caustic side. Acidic mixes would also work. Vinegar, or, you can also get concentrated vinegar. All of these solutions have good and bad parts. I personally like the idea of lye but, I don't know what would happen to the leather. You could also just let them dry out for a month+, no chemicals required. I like the idea of paper in the toes, that will probably help. An aquarium UV light will also kill the bacteria but it probably won't totally solve the issue because of the deep bacteria inside the leather.
https://www.menards.com/main/heatin...c-boot-dryer/68-0201-w/p-4364363665073270.htm Stink gone, overnight.
I used anti fungal foot powder for a few days when the loggers.got soaked at werk. That doesn't happen much these days, but I also rotate between 2 prs boots, and closed toe sandals, bare feet when I can. Sca
Thanks Bill, but I'm done with them, they are going bye bye, thankfully her feet are in great shape and clean up well with a shower. Hopefully she won't get a pair from a loving relative this summer for school next year. If she does, they are off limits unless she puts socks on. That and a new school next year that cowboy boots are not likely to be in fashion at, her current school has a lot of kids that live on livestock ranches. Honeymoon has been over for some time now. Too bad I cannot donate them, they polished up quite nice.
