A trick to remember when using shoes or sandals which are more absorbent is to thoroughly dry them before re-using them again. By drying them, most bacteria on the footwear should be killed and are less likely to contribute to foot odor. If the shoes or sandals are not thoroughly dried before use the bacteria still alive in the shoe or sandal will once again feed of the sweat from your feet and create an even greater stink.

The best option for people with a propensity to sweat a lot on their feet is to buy footwear which isn’t absorbent such as hard leather or hard PVC plastic shoes. These will not stop your feet from smelling bad but will not collect sweat and thus bacteria. This is so you can worry more about the smell coming from your feet rather than smells coming from both your feet and your foot wear.

If you have a pair of shoes or sandals that you absolutely love which are made from absorbent material (* side note: Shoes made with absorbent materials are generally more comfortable) then what you can do it to try keep them as dry as possible, that failing, you can always try keep them free from bacteria even though they are moist.

I must admit, I do have a pair of beautiful suede shoes that I absolutely love but if I wear them, they stink. The easiest solution I’ve found is to actually pour alcohol on the most moist (usually the toe area) areas after use. What this does is it kills the bacteria and effectively disinfects the shoes ready for me to use them again if I wish. I don’t need to wait for 2 days before using them again. Remember, just a swig of alcohol (e.g. Vodka) on the shoes and you kill the bacteria.

To conclude, always keep your footwear dry if possible, if you can’t get rid of the moisture then you can always just get rid of the bacteria. The best solution is to choose shoes or sandals which aren’t made from absorbent materials.

 Shoes and Smelly Feet: Part 1