Your Guide To White Shoes
Have you ever seen that beautiful pair of white shoes on display at your local shoe store and thought, they would get too dirty to wear? Well there's nothing to fear because my guide to owning white shoes is here! (lol)
Ladies I see so many fashionistas turn down white shoes on a daily basis and I used to be one of them. I was always intimidated that I would wreck those perfect looking white shoes the first time I wore them.
I was convinced that white shoes were only for models and fancy fashion bloggers. But now I am a blogger and I want to share my knowledge with the casual everyday girls just like me.
Up-keeping White shoes isn't hard or a lot of work, if you know the proper shoe care techniques. At first I was intimidated by this idea but after some reading, meeting people with white shoes and some first hand experience I realize it isn’t as hard as it seems.
In my opinion, shoe care starts as soon as you enter the store. When you purchase brands like Saucony, Puma, Under Armour, Asics and other lower end brands you may get a great deal on a pair of shoes, but it isn't doing you any favors in the long run. If you are looking for a nice pair of fashion shoes that will last you for years I have found that Nike and Converse provide the highest quality of shoes. The problem with lower end brands is that they are usually final sale, or have no warranty on their shoes.
They usually have a tendency to tear within the first 6 months of use or when put in a washing machine. Now I know you have probably had at least one person in your life tell you not to wash your shoes in the washing machine, but in my opinion this fact is false! I will get to that soon…
When looking for a pair of shoes I always recommend spending the extra amount of $20-$40 for a quality shoe; it makes shoe care a lot easier when you are up keeping a quality product. If you are really tight for money, you can always go to the nearest outlet mall near you and find these brands at highly discounted prices!
Something that is not widely known about Nike shoes is that they have a little date on the inside of the tongue which is their “manufacturing warranty”.
What this means is that you have 2 years from that date to bring it into a Nike store and have it replaced if for example the shoe tears. Not many shoe companies offer this which is why I also prefer buying from Nike or Converse. Nike now owns converse so I am hoping there will also be a 2 year warranty on my next pair of converse. Now I think that I'm ready to dive right into some white shoe tips...
Tips for when you’re buying your white shoes:
Tip #1 - Never take the display shoe, often times many people have touched that same shoe and if you look closely you may be able to notice light brown to dark brownish spots around the shoe. This is caused by the oils and dirt on customers hands; always try to look for a pair that still seems to be newly packaged in the box. This way you will minimize the chance of going home with a shoe that already has stains on it. (Oil stains are a pain in the butt to deal with).
Tip #2 - This second tip does not just apply to white shoes but when you are getting ready to go pay for the shoes, you should always check the label on the inside of the shoe to make sure you have two same sized shoes. This has happened to me before where I arrive at the cash register and there is a size 8 & 9 shoe in the same box. Nothing is worse than that drive back to the store once you've realized you have two different sized shoes.
Tips for cleaning and keeping your shoes white:
Tip #1 - The first thing you should do whenever you get a new shoe is spray them with a “shoe protectant spray”. What these do is they protect your shoes from stains caused by anything from your glass of wine to a mud puddle you step in. These sprays can be purchased online on amazon or Ebay, or in person usually at any store that sells footwear. There are certain sprays that work better than others. When in doubt you can watch a Youtube video on the types of sprays to narrow your search they are helpful and funny! I buy “Tana All Protector” at Winners for $7.
Tip #2 - It is OKAY to wash your shoes in your washing machine with a full load of laundry. I know that there are many people who disagree with me and you may be shaking your head at me right now but hear me out. I own over 15 pairs of shoes, most of them are valued over $100 each and they range from flyknit materials to mesh.
From personal experience I have never had any problems washing my shoes in my washing machine. I try to minimize the amount of times I wash them by using my other shoe washing tips to balance out the cleaning methods. When I put my shoes in the wash (especially my white ones) I will always wash them with the same colored clothes. I also place them in a washing bag or pillowcase to protect them and always set the settings on my machine to a “delicate” wash cycle.
Tip #3 - In between putting my white shoes in the wash there is a bleach solution that I mix together which I have also found works well. I put 1 teaspoon of bleach in a white mug, and 5 teaspoons of water.
Whenever you are creating this shoe washing mixture you want to make sure that you add 5x the amount of water than you do of bleach. This dilutes the bleach so that it does not turn your white shoes yellow. Make sure that you use hot water as it cleans shoes best, take an old toothbrush, dip it in the solution and use it to scrub your pretty shoes! This should leave them pearly white after you’re done.
Tips that other bloggers recommend for white shoes:
Tip #1 - Use a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser; I have never personally tried this one myself but I have read that it works well when you rub a magic eraser on the sole of your white shoe. Mr Clean Magic Erasers really do erase everything!
Tip #2 - Other recommended solutions include hot water & vinegar or hot water & gentle soap these are mixtures that you can make at home. They are supposed to work well when used to clean white shoes. Use a old toothbrush or wash brush to gently scrub the shoe with these ideas.
Tip #3 - This one is for *Oil stains*, according to other shoe bloggers like @whowhatwear you can use shampoo and warm water to wash out oil stains from your white shoes. Whether its car oil or you dropped an oily french fry on your shoe today, I hope this tip works for you!
Remember to always store your nice white shoes indoors, the sun is nice but it can damage the shoes you work so hard to take care of. I really hope that you found this post about white shoes at least somewhat helpful! Whether I’ve convinced you to get your first pair or helped you get that tricky stain out, please leave me a comment below maybe a like and a share! I would love to hear your thoughts. I will start by commenting my first pair of white shoes in the comment box. I got them close to a year ago. Email me for information on any of the shoes you see here stylebasix@gmail.com. I love white shoes because I think they make such a fashion statement show me yours in the comments below & happy shoe hunting!
From your girl @stylebasix, Brianna.
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