Every runner and sneakerhead has looked at a muddy pair and thought the same thing: "Can't I just throw them in the washing machine?" The short answer is yes, sometimes, and it can work surprisingly well. The long answer is that the machine is a great tool for a few materials and a fast way to ruin others. Here is how to tell the difference, and how to do it without wrecking the pair.
If you only want a quick refresh, or your pair is leather or suede, start with our guide on how to clean your sneakers by hand. This article is about the machine specifically.
Which sneakers can go in the machine?
The material of the upper decides everything. Check the pair, not the brand.
- Canvas and cotton. The most forgiving. A delicate cycle at 30 °C, inside a laundry bag, with low or no spin, and they come out looking new.
- Engineered mesh and knit. Most modern running shoes: Vomero, Pegasus, Cloudmonster, Bondi, Glycerin. They tolerate a short, cold, gentle cycle well, as long as there is no spin. The foam midsole is the part to protect, not the upper.
- Synthetic and faux leather. Possible, with care: 30 °C maximum, and check the glued seams afterwards. If an overlay is already lifting, do not put it in the machine.
- Smooth leather, suede and nubuck: never. Leather cracks and the glue lets go; suede loses its nap and dries stiff and blotchy. That rules out most leather retros, the New Balance 2002R and 1000, the adidas Samba family and anything with a suede toe box.
- Carbon-plated racers: never. Alphafly, Vaporfly, Adios Pro, Rocket X: the PEBA foams and the plate do not like heat, water soaking or tumbling. Brush them, wipe them, and that is it.
- Foam shoes (Nike Mind 001 and foam slides). No machine needed: they rinse clean under the tap with a little soap in two minutes.
Before the machine: five minutes of prep
- Remove the laces and the insoles. Laces go in the bag with the shoes; insoles are washed by hand with a brush and left to dry flat. Insoles that go through the drum come out warped.
- Knock off the dry dirt. Bang the soles together outside, then brush the upper and the midsole grooves with a soft brush. Mud that is still wet is easier to remove once it has dried.
- Pre-treat the stains. A little dish soap or Marseille soap on a damp cloth for grass and grease, a baking-soda paste for white midsoles. Let it sit ten minutes.
- Put them in a laundry bag or a pillowcase, and add two or three old towels to the drum. The towels cushion the shoes and stop them banging against the glass for forty minutes.
The right programme
- Temperature: cold, or 30 °C at most. Heat softens the glue that holds the sole on. There is no such thing as "a bit warmer to get them cleaner".
- Cycle: delicate, wool or hand-wash. Short is better than long.
- Spin: off, or the lowest setting your machine allows. Spinning is what deforms heel counters and cracks midsoles.
- Detergent: a small dose of liquid detergent for delicates or baby clothes. No bleach, no stain-remover powder, no fabric softener (it clogs the mesh and makes it smell faster, the opposite of what you want).
Drying: where most pairs actually get ruined
The wash is rarely the problem. The dryer is. Tumble drying, a radiator or a hair dryer will shrink the upper, yellow the midsole and unglue the sole in a single session.
- Stuff the shoes with newspaper or dry cloths to keep their shape, and change the paper after a couple of hours.
- Dry them at room temperature, in the shade, in a ventilated spot. Direct sun yellows white midsoles.
- Count on 24 to 48 hours. If you need the pair tomorrow morning, wash them tonight is already too late; wash them the night before.
- Put the insoles and laces back only once everything is completely dry, otherwise you trap moisture (and the smell you were trying to get rid of).
How often?
A machine wash is a deep clean, not a routine. Once every two or three months is plenty for a daily trainer; in between, a brush and a damp cloth after muddy runs keep the upper looking right. Washing too often loosens the glue a little more each time, and that is how a 600 km shoe becomes a 400 km shoe.
The mistakes we see most
- Putting suede, nubuck or leather in the drum "just this once".
- Choosing 40 °C because the pair is really dirty.
- Skipping the laundry bag, then wondering why the shoes and the drum both look worse.
- Leaving the insoles in.
- Finishing in the dryer because it is raining outside.
- Washing a pair of carbon racers at all.
Machine-friendly or hand-wash only? A quick list
Machine OK (cold, delicate, no spin): Nike Vomero 18, Pegasus Premium, On Cloudmonster 3, Hoka Bondi 9, Brooks Glycerin Max 2, and most daily trainers with a mesh or knit upper.
Hand wash only: New Balance 2002R and 1000 (suede panels), Salomon XT-6 (TPU overlays and Quicklace, brush and rinse by hand), every carbon racer, and the Nike Mind 001 slides, which only need a rinse.
The short version
- Mesh, knit, canvas: machine OK. Leather, suede, carbon plates: never.
- Laces and insoles out, shoes in a bag, towels in the drum.
- Cold or 30 °C, delicate cycle, no spin, mild liquid detergent.
- Air dry 24 to 48 hours, stuffed with paper, away from heat and sun.
- Once every two or three months, not every week.
A well-washed pair looks new; a badly washed pair is finished. Take the five minutes of prep, and the machine becomes your friend. And if a pair is really past saving, every pair at Tempo Kicks is brand new in its original box, with free worldwide tracked shipping and 30-day returns: browse our running shoes.