BirthdayShoes.com Vibram Five Fingers Forum

I have seen this discussed elsewhere, but I cannot remember where, so I thought I would start a thread here.  After some prolonged wear, VFFs can get mighty funky in the smell department.   Regular washing (of both the shoes and your feet) helps, but I find that the smell does not go away completely.  I am going to try white vinegar in the rinse cycle of the wash and see if that helps, or maybe just a post-wash soak in a diluted vinegar solution followed by a thorough rinse in water.

What are others' tips for dealing with the VFFunk?

You aren't the only one to report smelliness -- I've not experienced it with mine, but I generally don't have smelly shoes or feet.

I noticed with my 2nd paire of VFFs - the KSOs - that they came with some kinda tag that had something about anti-microbial treatment being applied to the shoe.  I can't remember the name of it though.  I wonder if that is new?  My KSOs are probably about three months old now.

Both of my pairs (Classics & KSOs) have the built-in anti-microbial stuff, but my Classics get ripe. (No problem with the KSOs, but that is just due to the fact that they have been worn much much less.) I'm curious to hear what others have to say about it.

The antimicrobial stuff, IRRC, is called Aegis.http://www.microbeshield.com/ (http://www.microbeshield.com/).  It seems to work for a bit but with any sweaty exercise it stops working quickly...

Recently I've been adding some baking soda to the detergent when washing my VFFs that I run in - that helps a bit, but it doesn't last for long.

no funk here.

Had since Feb, 160 miles, washed when dirty, normal wash cycle.

Jason only positive funk

I have a backyard patio so everyday I hose out the FF's I am wearing and use a product called green works by clorox. I have it diluted in a spray bottle so I just spray the insole and outer material and scrub everything with my fingers, rinse and hang them on the clothesline. If they are still wet when i want to wear them I throw them in the dryer for a few minutes on low. They stay much fresher than machine washing.

I know that VFF says not to dry them but I haven't experienced any problems to date, and my black KSO'S have been through a lot. I tried to rip my pinky toe off on a concrete curb and that did more damage than anything else. The sole has a small split and the material between the toes has a small hole. The rip-stop technology works magically.

We have Green Works as well, I'll have to give it a try.  But I don't know how good I am going to be about cleaning them everyday.  Thanks for the tip!

Hm - I'll have to try that, it sounds like it is working well for you! Thanks for the tip.

If I wear my KSOs without socks for too long they'll smell. I sprayed mine with Oxi Clean (with hydrogen peroxide), let them sit for about half an hour, then put them in the wash. The smell comes right out. I think the hydrogen peroxide in the Oxi Clean kills the bacteria that causes the smell.

I stopped using the washer for a couple of reasons.

First, I wear mine almost exclusively on city streets so when I wash them a black oil scum is left on the washer sides. If I forget to wipe it down guess what? The next load is sure to be whites.

Second and equally important, the straps on the kso's get all twisted up and it takes me a good hour (at least it seems like an hour) to get them straight. I wear them to work daily so I need to wash them daily if I choose not to wear socks. To make even a small load I would have to add an old towel or something that leaves lint and stuff attatched to the velcro. A once over and on to the line is as easy as it gets for me.

I like the idea of Oxyclean. Anything to reduce the funk is okay with me. Kevin

You know I think this is a fairly common problem (I'm knocking on wood that I've yet to have stinky VFFs), and hopefully you guys can work on finding the "definitive solution" so we can share it with everyone.

So hydrogen peroxide bath might be one solution.  Daily cleansing another.  I wonder what the heat point is for the rubber to melt -- could you heat them enough to kill the bacteria but not melt the VFFs?

Hmm ...

I've also read about putting stinky VFFs in the freezer in a sealed plastic bag with baking soda. I think the theory was that the baking soda absorbed the smell that was there and the freezing killed the bacteria. Don't know if it works, I've never tried it.

I think the problem is that a lot of gunk builds up inside the toe pockets. Even if you kill the bacteria (brevibacteria, propionibacteria), the sulfurous and odoriferous compounds they produce are still going to be there (methanethiol - think blue cheese - and propionic acid - think Swiss cheese). So, even if you kill the bacteria, you leave the smell. Also, every time you put your foot into VFFs, you essentially re-inoculate your VFFs with these bacteria, starting the process again. With bare feet you have a lower surface temp - the bacteria reproduce a bit more slowly - and also, the skin cells that slough off of your feet will carry away the large majority of these chemicals (because the bacteria live off of these dead skin cells).

This is all based off of only one semester of microbiology so take it with a grain of salt. Still, I think that killing the bacteria eliminates the cause but not the symptom.   

Last thing out the door this morning was to grab my kso's from the dryer and hit the road. They were still soaked when I took them off the line earlier so I threw them in the dryer. Last night I tried baking soda with the spray and really rubbed it in and then rinsed them. Apparently I didn't rinse them enough. I opened the dryer and found a pair of white ff's. The baking soda bonded to the entire surface of the shoe. I ran back outside, washed them again, blotted them as dry as I could and went to work with wet feet. There is still some residue on them but I think it will all come off today. Beware the baking soda!

Hmm. I've never had this problem...maybe I use less....

I'm sure I over did it and thought I rinsed them enough. I should have taken a picture, it was something. All is well now. Kevin

Good, I'm glad to hear it!  ;D

I've started to use a light coating of Gold Bond powder and it seems to be tackling the problem very well.

I don't know if this has ever happened to anyone else... The other day, my spouse put his very dirty/smelly KSOs in the wash, we took them out, checked them for smell (no smell), and put them on the drying rack. The next day, when he grabbed them to put them on, they smelled SO BAD. We think it was because they dried too slowly but we're not sure.

We got the smell out by spraying them with OxiClean (which we had not done the first time they were washed) and letting them sit for half an hour before putting them back in the wash. When we took them out, there was thankfully no smell and we put them outside to dry faster in the sun and wind. When they were dry, they didn't smell again.

So my lessons learned were 1) OxiClean does a super job at removing the smell and 2) KSOs need to dry faster than leaving them on the drying rack overnight in the basement (at least for my spouse's shoes).

I've been using the OxyClean powder, it seems to be working alright - but I haven't tried an extended soak in Oxyclean - that may work out better than just tossing some of the powder in the washer.

Kevin -
As far as the Gold Bond powder, does it irritate you at all? I've never used that before but it sounds like it would chafe or rub if you did something particularly active when it was applied.

Kevin -
As far as the Gold Bond powder, does it irritate you at all? I've never used that before but it sounds like it would chafe or rub if you did something particularly active when it was applied.
[/quote]

I haven't noticed anything adverse. I do use it sparingly and rub it into the material. I was more concerned with powder seeping out of my black ff's

I've had some issues with stinky KSO's. I've since washed them, using pre-wash, with arm and hammer detergent. I just throw my workout clothes in with the KSO's. For drying, I put a table fan on high blowing on them. Gets them dry quick and the pre-wash and wash with the arm and hammer detergent keeps the smell away.

I've since bought a 2nd pair and use one pair for running and one for normal activities.

Saltwater seems to cut down on the smell if that's how they get wet (as opposed to rainwater or something) - or at least they take a bit longer to get smelly.

"BUMP"

I wanted to bump this topic up after listening to Tina's podcast with Michael Martin of Vibram. One of the questions talked about undesirable odors coming from VFF's. I have found what I think is a good solution and use it all the time. I also wrote about it in this thread but wanted to share it with our newer guests.

I wear FF's exclusively in my job as a street level sales rep (as well as everywhere else shoes are required). Stinky feet are out of the question. After every two wearings I take my shoes out to the patio, soak them with hose water, spray liberally with Clorox Green Works, scrub inside and out with my fingertips, rinse thoroughly and hang them on the line. It takes a total of about one minute. If they are still wet when I want to wear them I toss them in the dryer on low and haven't had any problems.

I'm sure the bathtub or local stream would work just as well.

If it's going to be very hot I will rub some powder on my feet before wearing. Knowing that people can get close to my shoes without me worrying about them fainting is great piece of mind. For me it's just part of my daily routine. Kevin

Hey Kevin - thanks for recommending the Gold Bond powder. It works well! I used it today and noticed a slight sweatiness but otherwise I'm fine and my feet dried out quickly. There is no odor coming from my KSOs - not even the Gold Bond powder scent. This is pretty amazing as because I have NEVER washed my KSOs in any manner - and I've worn them alot (I regularly wash my sprints because I get them messy and muddy and sweaty etc). Although I will probably wash them soon. But it's nice to save this pair for "casual" wear only - not sweating in them a lot + gold bond powder + occasionally wearing injinji socks helps control odor to the point wear washing is unnecessary.

I have been using regular corn starch baby powder in both pairs of my VFFs for the past week and I really like the difference it makes.  The powder really helps to minimize the sweaty feeling in the toe area of the shoes and has also cut down on some of the funk.  Makes the shoes much more comfy!

I haven't yet had any odour issues with my KSOs, even with wearing them up to 8 hours in a day. They still smell the way they did when they came out of the box, that odd rubbery smell which is neither good nor bad, just rubbery.

That said, I have never had odour issues with my feet. So maybe it's me...

Alan

Was it a naphthalene (mothball) sort of smell? That's what mine smelled like (somewhat, anyway).

I wouldn't say my VFFs smell like mothballs. I've been wearing them 3 weeks without socks for the most part and still can smell a faint rubbery/cheap public bathroom hand soap smell (the kind they use at MCDonalds). Better that then funky feet.

It's been a long, long time since I smelled mothballs (weren;t they banned some time ago?), so I couldn't say if that's the smell. As I said, just a not-unpleasant rubbery kind of smell, not unlike the smell of the soles of new pair of running shoes.

Alan

When I wear my KSO's they tend to smell a bit, but I have noticed that when I go boating with them on, and ride on the rube for a bit, they get washed out better than when I wash in a machine, i guess the water rushing through them cleans the toe pockets out well.

Just washed my fuschia/grey KSOs for the first time. A little funk, but nothing horrible. I wish the washer would get the bottoms clean, but alas looks like I'll be using Oxyclean and a toothbrush to get that orginal grey bottoms. ;-)

Hi VFFers,

I have just tried Mirazyme on my KSO's, Followed the instructions - NO Change - Still Smell Skanky !
So I redid it again increased the mixture consistancy and rubbed my fingers over the spongey insole - Guess what ! Looks like still NO CHange.

So if anyone is thinking of trying Mirazyme I would not bother until I can prove they give a positive result.

Regards
Robert.

Sorry that the mirazyme didn't work out RobbieD. I'll let you know how it works out when I try it. I have two bottles of the stuff.

When folks recommend OxyClean, what exactly do you mean by that?

Here in Canada, we live in the same consumer culture as the U.S., so we, too, have OxyClean products. The only ones I'm familiar with, though, are a floor cleaner (liquid) and a bathroom cleaner (liquid spray).

It'll soon be time to clean my KSOs, I think, so it would help if I knew what form of OxyClean people are using.

Thanks!

Alan

Hi Alan,

I mean the OxiClean Laundry Stain Remover spray. I've used it on all black KSOs and the colour was not affected at all. I let them sit, almost soaking in it from so much spray, for half an hour then throw them in the washing machine with everything else.

Hope that helps.

Oxiclean also comes in a powder form that is sold in tubs for laundry and other stain remover uses.

Thank you, Tina and Hawkeye. I'll be on the lookout for those!

Alan

I hit upon what seems to be a useful way to help control the odor of my KSOs. If I am going to put them on after a long day of wearing boots or normal shoes, I first swipe my feet with one of those pre-moistened antibacterial towelettes.  I make sure to get in between the toes and around the nails and then let my feet dry for a couple of seconds. The process takes about a minute and seems to work well so far.

I use the powder oxyclean about every 2-3 times I wear my flows. They are more insulated than the others so I know my feet sweat more than they would in a KSO or classic..

1. I make a oxyclean, Hot water solution I can soak them in.
2. I take some oxyclean and put in my Vff's, Scrub with my fingers.
3. Scrub on the out side with my fingers...(make sure you get in between the toes)
4. I let them soak in the oxysolution for a few min....
5. Rinse

I throw mine on the fan to dry...... I CAN'T go with out my VFF's, so they have to dry FAST

~*Poof*~ Smelly Vff's *GONE*

Now your fresh and clean and ready to be (almost) bare.......

Is oxyclean availiable in the UK? I haven't noticed it in shops.

Dr. Scholl's Odor Destroyers Foot & Sneaker Spray Powder is no match for spending a day running around and breaking a sweat in my VFFs. What's odd to me though is that my Classics always seem funkier than my KSOs, but I am much more active in my KSOs.

I too have never had any foot odor problems prior to VFF. I bought Injinji socks today, but I feel like a sell-out. It's kind of spoiling the whole "barefoot" feel for me.
I'll just wash both VFF and feet as often as possible, but I think what none of us are discussing here, is the possibility that in the middle of the night, while we sleep, reps from Nike and Adidas, and all the major shoe companies, are spraying our VFF with an odorous solution. And, of course, it makes sense that they have not been able to penetrate the lair of Justin Owings, after all, he is the birthdayshoe compound Lord.

~*Funny Funny Man*~ LOL XD

Registered just for this thread.

I've done the diluted vinegar trick and it was a short term solution. The users who mentioned material staying in the shoe was dead accurate. That needs to be scrubbed out. A finger will work, an old tooth brush will work. Get that out. Get in the toes, too.

My favorite solution as of right now is simplegreen pro3 with fungicide. I got it at home depot. It's heavy duty stuff so be sure to dilute per the directions. Shoes smell good, odor stays gone MUCH longer. I soak for only about an hour or so and then sun dry/air dry.

I'm glad you took the time to sign up, that sounds like a great suggestion. Next time I'm due to clean mine I'll do it that way. Apparently the force is strong with my feet.

 ~*Ill Be Getting Some tomorrow*~

Thanks.
Yeah, I'd be interested to see how others fared with it. I've always liked Simple Green products and I hope there's no side effects to using this heavier duty stuff. Give us an update Ableobject ASAP! :D

~*Will Do*~

A couple of days ago, I washed my KSOs (for the first time since buying them about a month ago), using Oxy-Pro (an Oxy Clean knockoff) and SportsWash. Worked just fine - but then, odour hasn't been an issue at all so far, even with running in them every morning and wearing them to work most days.

Alan

So i decided not to go with the Simple green... it seemed to be to "Industrial" for my VFF's so I deciede to go with a similar product that offers Fungicide, deodorizer, and other things... Odoban I have used this product before and it works amazingly.... Im surprised that it has slipped my mind. It also works well with pet odors  and supposedly Kills HIV... Very good product, Not to harsh, and Smells Awesome

Half a cup of vinegar to the gallon of hot water is what I soak my KSOs in once per week.  An hour in that and then a normal hand wash is all that they need to stay unfunky.

I did use  bleach for a bit in the beginning.  A capful per gallon.  But I noticed that the fabric was getting stiffer, so I stopped soon after starting that regiment.

Has anyone used What Odor?  I just purchased some online and will let people know how it works.  In the meantime, I think I'll try the vinegar trick.

I'm slowly noticing the development of stank. I'm delaying doing anything to them until there is a distinct scent that I believe others will notice in public. Hopefully we can find a simple solution like a spray or just something to do with them overnight to rid ourselves of the smell. I love these things but I'd really prefer not to have to do anything to them that I don't have to do to normal shoes.

I noticed this "stank" as you call it, after my first use.  I guess some of us are blessed with non smelly feet, while others like me are not.  Anyways, I picked up "Odor Eaters" at a local drug store.  It's a foot powder that supposedly absorbs odor on contact.  You just put it on your feet and inside the shoe before use.  I'll post back when I've tried it with the VFFs. 

Maybe it's just because the late great Billy Mays so masterfully pitched it, but What Odor seems like just what we're looking for. A simple spray bottle that we can apply as needed seems absolutely optimal, and the Pitchmen episode sure seem to back up th commercials well.

Any word yet Scott?

Yeah my KSOs are getting alittle funky. The insides are a greyish yellow (YUCK!) Going to go at them with a toothbrush oxyclean and mirazyme. Will try next clorox greenworks.

I really think it was the body glide I've been putting on my feet to prevent blisters than help cause the stank. My feet didn't stink before the body glide and I wore them for a few weeks, but a couple of weeks of body glide and hello funk. My husband doesn't use body glide and his KSOs don't stink like mine.

Body glide=no blisters and stank!

After about a week of normal wear my KSO's started to get really funky. So I threw them in the laundry with my jeans. Worked great... for one day. Now they're back to funky. I picked up a bottle of Mirazyme from a local dive shop. I'll test it out and post my results in a few days. I don't expect miracles but a week or two would be nice.

Until now i managed to stay at least human for quiet a while by hand washing them with mild soap..

I'll try some of your suggestions next time i have to clean them..

Has anybody an idea how the Trek's work or will work out, regard smelliness?

My intention is to use the Trek as everyday footwear i wouldn't be to pleased to realize that i have to wash it anytime i wore them...

Regards

I'm about a month into wearing my Black KSO's. I've been wearing them upwards of 12 hours a day, never taking a break. I've worn them to class, in the rain, and when I've gone running. They slowly began to stink. I couldn't come up with a low maintenance solution so I waited for one to come up on here.

While waiting to come up with something, my feet began to reek due to constant exposure. So every day I spent a good 3 minutes scrubbing my feet. Sitting at my computer last night, I realized that my shoes were on my desk and my feet were on the floor. But the strange thing was, I didn't really smell them. I sniffed them, and yeah, the scent was there, but it was much weaker. It had gone from having a 4 foot scent radius to have less than a 1 foot stink radius.

So maybe, the solution isn't washing our shoes, it's washing our feet. It's worked for me thus far (knock on wood), but I'll keep you posted.

My KSOs were getting mighty ripe. I don't use socks and using body glide on my feet made them extra stinky. My husband doesn't use body glide and his KSOs don't smell very bad at all. So either I use body glide and ave stinky feet or have not stinky feet with blisters. ???

First, I washed my KSOs last night by hand. I find that the washer doesn't scrub the yellow footbed enough and that's where the smell comes from. I used oxyclean, vinegar, and lemon 409 cleaner. Soaked KSos in hot water w/ oxyclean and vinegar. Scrubbed inside footbeds with toothbrush. They were turning gray. Yuck! Now they're almost (still kind of dark) yellow. I used 409 and a toothbrush on the rubber bottoms to get them grey again and not black. It worked pretty well and might add it to the soak. I then rinsed and used half a bottle of mirazyme and soaked again. I'm air drying, but since it's so humid here because of the rain, I think I'm going to use a hair dryer set on low heat to finish drying them.

Actually, I think the slow dry time contributes to stinkiness. From now on, I'm going to use the hair dryer on low heat because it works fine and gets them dry in 15 minutes.

I agree that a lot of stink comes from our dirty feet. I have to double wash my feet to get the stink off of them after wearing my stinky KSOs.

So dry my ksos smell like chemical lemons and a slitght whiff of stinky feet. I will have to test them out a few times to see if the smell has gone. I will update you, but it seems like mirazyme may be a bust. Good thing I kept the receipt because the other new bottle is going back to REI.

I think I'm going to try Clorox green works next. The 409 did a good job on my rubber bottoms and I will be using themin the future. As to veingar and oxyclean, I might tinker with other celaning stuff. I do know that the most important thing is to erally scrub and clean that yellow foot bed. It is slightly spongey so it absorbs all the sweat and nasty, smelly bacteria love to hide in there.

I still wash mine by hand with Green Works after every couple of wearings. I haven't worn socks all summer the KSO's stay fresh. I was putting them on the line soaking wet but they seemed to take too long to dry. Mostly because I wash them after work and I only have an hour or so before the sun goes down. Yesterday I followed my routine but after letting them drip for an hour I put them in the washer and let them go through only the final spin. Then I hung them in my basement and they were bone dry this morning. It works for me and is about the quickest and easiest solution I have been able to come up with.

Hi, I'm new to this board, but my favorite shoe/foot odor combat tool is tea tree oil. My partner has some WAY funky-smelling feet, so I purchased a bottle of the stuff and had her wipe it on her feet before putting shoes on every day. No more funk. I use it now too, especially with my VFF's and any other shoes I wear without socks (chucks & my fancy Terra Planas). Right now I'm side-tracked because of a surgery, but usually I run a few miles a day in them, and no stink!

When they get gunky inside, I just take them into the shower and wash them out with Dr. Bronner's (again, tea tree oil in the soap.) It's works really well. Give it a try. (The only down-side is that tea tree oil has a strong, medicinal smell. Lush makes a foot lotion for odor purposes that contains it, and though I've not tried it, I'm guessing the smell isn't as strong.)

Hmm....tea tree oil, we've got some of that at home, so I will definitely have to give it a try.  Thanks for the suggestion!  And BTW rutibegga, there is a great soap company (www.copasoaps.com) in Philly that makes a tea tree oil soap.  I just got some in my latest order, but haven't tried it yet.  I highly recommend C.O.P.A., great products and service!

I'm wondering how much I'll be affected by The Funk. My feet haven't had any stink for many years now, but especially over the last few years I've been almost exclusively wearing SmartWool socks. No stink harbored in the merino wool, very nice.

Also, I use the Crystal Deodorant Stone for the armpits, does well to nix the growth of stinky bacteria (without the wacky chemicals and aluminum salts). I've heard some folks use it on their feet, that might be another option to try.

This stuff is pretty much the awesome.  I use it everyday before I put them on and every night after I take them off.  It's basically an upside down aerosol can that you insert into the shoe and press down on and it will spray excellence far into your VFF's nether reaches.  They sell it at Target and Walgreens.

(http://www.globalpackagegallery.com/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=46711&g2_serialNumber=2)

(i don't work for kiwi)

Does that spray just mask the odor? What about nasty build up that turns the insides grey. I find it's the build up that stinks the worst since it soaks into the footbed.

I don't want to start a religious war, but...

How many of you folks who are having odour issues are meat-eaters? I've long believed that vegetarians smell much better than people who eat dead flesh. Don't have any scientific studies to back this up, just personal and anecdotal experience.

I mean it about not wanting to start a war. I'm simply wondering aloud.

Alan (a vegetarian who has no foot odour issues, either with VFFs or without)

It doesn't seem to mask the odor, it actually seems to suppress odor.  I don't use the spray exclusively, I also machine wash them every 5-7 days, and sometimes wear Injinji socks too.  (Also I wash my feet ;) ).

I haven't ever gotten any buildup in my VFF's...  the aerosol spray wouldn't work on that, though it might help the odor.  Maybe try scrubbing it with a toothbrush?

I eat meat like it's going out of style and I had only a minor problem that has come to a complete and total stop after upping the amount of attention I spend on washing my feet. Actually, my vegetarian girlfriend has more problems with the scent in her flats than I have with my Vibram's at this point.

I'm a strong proponent of the consumption of natural saturated fats, mostly from animals, and my VFFs don't smell at all.
I've stuck my nose in them quite a bit lately, expecting them to exhibit this "funk" that some are experiencing, so far there's nothing.

I often joke that I'm a carnivore and I've yet to have stinky Vibrams.  I usually only wash mine b/c they are dirty on the outside.

There *could* be some dietary connection to stinky feet, but I'd guess that it's not meat or veggies.

So another theory of mine goes down the tubes. That's OK, because it happens a lot to my theories...  ;)

Alan

Body odor as a consequence of diet is a combination among the menu selection (meat vs veggies vs grains) and the source (organic vs factory farmed vs grass fed meat) and the way it was prepared (raw vs deep fried vs baked).

That, and some people just smell bad.  Like hippies.  :)

I don't think I could ever avoid my feet/shoes eventually getting funky. Even my flip-flops eventually start to get ripe. I've been every kind of "-ivore" at some point in my life and I've never noticed a difference because of that. I'm guessing it's genetic. My dad and I are the same and my mom and brother are the opposite of us.

Unless you're of a certain age (which I'm willing to bet you're not), I doubt very much you've ever seen a hippie, much less got close enough to smell one.

Alan (who probably owns t-shirts older than you)

 :o  ;D

I am one.

(PS.  Might be time for some new t-shirts, Alan ;) )

To the folks with 'da funk' in the VFFs, have you tried alternating shoes?  Let them sit for a day or two before wearing again.

Always heard that was a good thing to do with regular shoes, especially if having problems with smell or athlete's foot or such. Have two or three pair and cycle through, letting them dry and air out completely between wearing.

Also, (and I'll search back through to be sure), but any comments from folks regarding Treks and 'da funk'? I'm thinking that maybe with the leather construction they'll be less likely to get a bit ripe.

The worst smelling shoes I ever had were these leather boat shoes that I loved. They looked great without socks and were comfortable, but I could smell them from a mile away. Sad. I still miss those shoes and could probably sniff them out of the landfill. ;)

I don't have problems with stinky feet, but man did those shoes smell.

 This is It......
  5 gal of water can get it done - i warmed mine with the sun
  Funky ffs
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtH3xrx7s0U for ambiance - & rhythm keeper **
  a likkle soap (my piggies get the good Dr. Bronner's peppermint - others work as well)
  bicarbonate (not required)
  hands (required for this method)
 Pre-rinse to get the gunk out, soap, lather and scrub to work the funk out, hit those hard to get spots and rinse away the funk.
Rinse well. hang dry (outdoors pref.)  This method was used with a solar shower (5 gal.) during the early evening (warmish water)
after working on a very dirty (literally) construction site...day in and out for weeks on end. Any built-up funk that remained
at the end of the trip (and there was some) was quickly and quietly terminated with some Oxyclean soak and extensive rinse.
You might want to put the JB video on repeat, but it shouldn't take mush longer than twice  :)

**I also think this would be a heavy dub to run adverts around for the FF brand. Mashup some stage clips of the Godfather in FFs cgi style....
    sorry for the inner Dimbleby...

Amusing "cartoon" on stinky feet (http://"http://www.survivingtheworld.net/Lesson164.html").   ;)

I'm a recent owner of Vibram KSOs that I've been using to do Barefoot Running.   I noticed they started to have that "exercised in" smell and I tried the Vinegar solution approach with mixed results.    This weekend I tried using "Bac-Out" by Biokleen, a natural enzyme-based deodorizer.    I soaked the KSOs in a small tray containing a mixture of water & Bac-Out for 30 minutes ... I don't recall the exact proportions but my guess would be about 70/30 water to Bac-Out.   Then I rinsed them with fresh water and put them in front of a fan to air-dry.   They ended up smelling much better & cleaner than they did after the vinegar washing.   

That's interesting. Did you find it in a store locally or did you order it? How long does it take for the foot smell to return?

I live in the NorthWest and they carry Bac-out at Whole Foods and PCC out here so I picked it up locally.   It did the washing of the KSOs this weekend and was really impressed with the results.  I'll have to let you know how long it takes for the smell to return.

I'm in Philly and I know we have a Whole Foods (somewhere). So if it is a good solution for you I may make the trek out there.

http://www.survivingtheworld.net/Lesson164.html (http://www.survivingtheworld.net/Lesson164.html)

Fixed the link. You had some spaces in there.

Thanks!   :)  I'm still getting used to the funky markup code this forum uses (I'm more familiar with HTML).

Mine used to smell funky right after a wash, but I started sprinkling foot powder in them before each use (Gold Bond, but I think any would work); just enough to knock around the inside. Now they smell fresh all the time, and I wash them 1/4 as often... added benefit was much less friction and dryer feeling feet.

to clean the toe pockets, i've found that using an electric toothbrush (the rotary kind with the small, interchangeable heads) works brilliant - just turn it on and let it do the work and means i can get more dirt out from the toes (especially if dirt has seeped through from the outside) to keep them feeling & smelling fresh.

I really scrubbed mine the other day until I didn't think any more dirt could be coaxed out, and then I poured a cup of water that I had nuked for 3 minutes. Sludge filled my sink. Definitely a new part of my regimen.

Just make sure you don't use the same brush for your teeth ;) Maybe my sonic care toothbrush would work just as well. Ultrasonic cleaning power! lol

i just embrace the funk!

yeah... but who will embrace you?

I'm very embraceable... if that's a word.

So?  How are they holding up?  Exactly what version of the Bac-out did you use?  I found the "Bac-out" online, but wasn't sure which one you used.  Updates?

I used Kevin's Clorox Greenworks. Sprayed it, rubbed around and tossed them in the washer. Came out smelling fine and then airdried them overnight.

I have two pairs of black KSOs as daily wear (both athletic and casual), and in the past have machine washed them and sun-dried after about two weeks of increasing funk.

Occasionally, I apply some tea-tree oil (originally purchased for insect stings) diluted about 20:1 to my scalp when freshly shampooed, as I've found it reduces scalp itching and perhaps also visible dandruff.   Tea tree essential oil does have known anti-microbial properties, but also is a skin irritant for some when used at full strength.  I liken the scent to eucalyptus, but not everyone does.  At full strength tea tree oil is a solvent, and will cause low-density polyethylene containers to melt.

About a month ago I began an inadvertent experiment with one of my pairs in which the first time I put on my KSOs from a wash and air-dry, my toes were fairly soaking with tea-tree oil in perhaps a 5:1 dilution.  Presumably, the water then evaporated, leaving some of the tea-tree essential oils adhering to the nylon/spandex fibers of the uppers.  Result: the shoes did eventually succumb to a malodiferous condition, but this took longer (around 4 weeks), and even that may have been hastened with some splashing in street puddles.  After the month I didn't see any solvent damage to either fabric or discoloration to the insole.  

So, its possible that I've stumbled across an inexpensive (pharmaceutical tea-tree oil is about $5/oz, which lasts a long time when diluted) and harmless to the shoes means of extending the useful life of a pair of VFFs between washes.  There are other essential oils with anti-microbial properties, so perhaps some experimentation here will yield a holy grail.  

EDIT: I've just noticed that rutabega came to the same solution back on page 5.  So consider this a confirmation.

tea tree (melaleuca altrernifolia) oil has distinct antiseptic properties. I use tea tree chewing sticks (funny, they look like toothpicks to me) instead of breath mints, and it helps keep down the incidence and duration of canker sores. Thanks for the good word on the funk reduction!

I washed my KSO's yesterday....and instead of the washer I washed them in hot water in the sink using "Win" sports wash detergent.  I did a double wash as the sink was rather dirty after I let them soak for about an hour or so while I went out food shopping.  came bback rinsed and then washed again and scrubbed well by hand, then rinsed and dried them. 

there is still a slight odor but its predominantly the sports wash detergent.  this stuff supposedly has stuff in it to kill the bacteria that makes your gym clothes stinky.  this tends to work pretty well for my cycling shoes, which also get very stinky! So i soak them in the tub with the detergent overnight. 

I wear my KSO's for running without socks.  I might need to do a second hand washing soon as I think the funk was pretty bad before I tried washing them like this.  I had tried machine washing, but I don't think they get scrubbed enough inside.

My trick is to hand wash them often. It seems that a little more odor leaves with each frequent washing. My oldest, beat to death kso's still smell fine. In hot weather I will only wear them twice before washing. I follow my nose in cooler weather.

I am going to try washing them again soon, after a few runs.  I was not washing too often as I didn't have another pair of FF's to wear and I didn't want to wait for them to dry! :)  Now I have classics and can wear them while I am waiting for my KSO's to dry.  Haven't run in the classics yet - the toes are still a bit tight, but they are loosening up....

I use the version called "Bac-Out Stain & Odor Eliminator".   It comes in 32 oz bottles at our local Whole Foods in the cleaning supplies section.  It's been about two weeks since I cleaned my KSOs and I've been using them for my running since then.   They're starting to get that sweaty, "exercised in" smell again (but not overpowerly so) so I'll probably give them another washing this weekend.    All in all, I'm happy with what the Bac-Out accomplishes and this particular version has a light citrus-lime smell to it that I'm finding pleasant for my KSOs.

Interesting topic - here's my occasional regime when my 2 year old KSO's get a bit ripe...

First I soak the footbeds with Amaze detergent booster/stain remover (I bought it at London Drugs) as per directions on the box:

After that I wash them in the machine as per usual, and then hang outside on the line to dry.

After they are dry, I fill up the footbeds with...wait for it...coffee beans!

May sound crazy, but it works for me!  ;D

I've washed my KSO's a few times. By hand and by machine. Does anybody else's footbed not stay perfectly sealed to the sole? It's tamped down nicely all along the edges, but there seems to be a slight pocket underneath the heel for me. It hasn't thus far affected them so I'm good, I'm just wondering.

Either its because mine are still fairly new, a few weeks in the Treks; or because I'm usually wearing socks; or I'm one of the lucky ones without odor problems.

For the last few weeks I've been wearing my brown Treks almost every day, usually with socks (been cooling off, and looks better at work). I can take a deep sniff of them and they still have the 'new leather' smell to them.  *shrug* 

Weekends and evenings I've usually been wearing the black/orange KSOs, with and without socks, no stink there either. 

I've been wearing the Treks with socks for a week or two as well. I think the sock and the leather combo makes them more smell resistant.

MMm VFF coffee...  :P

Do you drink the coffee afterwards? Yum, Yum!

Kind of brings new meaning to special blend eh?

and it's still better than Starbucks!   ;D

It certainly can't be worse than that coffee that's supposed to pass through the digestive tract of a civet first.   ;)

Kopi Luak. Can you imagine having the job of harvesting these beans?

Ah, $hit  ;D

still have a bag of some which i gathered last time i was in the south pacific. had to remove soft leathery casing which encased the beans after retrieving them from the marsupial's droppings so there was a barrier between the excrement and the bean which was washed and later roasted. not much fun for most civilized folk but i had to harvest this for myself in order to find out if all the stories about the brew had any merit... have to admit that i was really impressed!

Speaking of poop, I stepped in some dog crap this morning.  >:( Thank god it was wet and I wasn't wearing my VFFs! I'd still be scrubbing crap out from between my toes. That isn't a squish I want to experience BF or in VFFs.

No.

Luckily there's not too much random poop on the sidewalks around here, but I do remember nearly stepping on a pile (and I was wearing my Sprints at the time).  I'd been worrying about glass, but it never occurred to me to worry about poop.  Honestly, I'd rather step on the glass.

yeah...i think that the poop would be really hard to clean fro the grooves on the bottom of the VFF's.   :P

<note to self....look out for poop when walking in VFF's>

Yeah, the razor siping would be a pain, but scrubbing it out from between your toes would be worse since you wouldn't want to use your washing machine just for one pair of VFFs.

eeewww...that would be gross too! 

I stepped in dog poop once in barefeet. it was the most disgusting feeling.  Our dog pooped in the house over night....I got up in the morning to go to the bathroon and as I was walking down the hall...half asleep still....squish!!! AAAHHHH!!! ok...now I was awake.....I then proceeded to hop to the bathroom on one foot and immediately stuck my foot in the tub and started scrubbing it.  to my parents it was rather hysterical - I however (at the time) didn't think it was funny.....but really gross!  >:(     Its funny now looking back on it...LOL!  :D

Somehow it's a little better when it's your own dog because you're familiar with them and their diet. Stepping in strange dog poop is worse.

(http://smileydatabase.com/s/516.gif)

(Cats are full of surprises too - my dad's still upset by the time bare foot met dead mouse.)

I have my OxiClean Spray bottle ready! So far no funk! Thank you for the great thread.

Well, weeks ago I washed both pairs of my KSOs in the washer with OxyClean and used the machines presoak cycle.  I believe I had at least washed each with OxyClean at least once before the last time.  Since then, I've only been wearing my V5F with injinjis.  And I've not had an odor issue since.  But I guess that was to be expected - you can be sure that if you went sock-less in regular running shoes you'd have an odor problem too.  The injinjis are fine, especially since it's getting colder, but I think next summer I'll be going sock-less.  I guess I just need to plan on washing them often.  I'll probably also try that Bac Out then too.

One of my cats leaves nice wet hairballs around.

(http://smileys.on-my-web.com/repository/Tongue/yerk-014.gif)

(I've been grateful our cat has a smooth, short coat.)

I just wash my ksos about twice a week and that stops them from smelling... I put them in the drying mashine after, so far they are handling it fine :)

Twice a week? 

I can go two weeks without even looking at the washer, and still have stuff to wear. I'm glad that my VFFs aren't smelly (yet?), don't want to think about washing them twice/week.

I guess my feet sweet a lot :)
The shoes collect dust and it all becomes a bit sticky and smelly (i wear no socks). So I need to wash them very often :)

dardo....I understand, I too have sweaty feet....and with not wearing socks it can make for rather noxious smelling footwear!  :'(

I found that i needed to soak mine in hot water and a laundry detergent for about 15-20min  (like 'Sport Wash' or 'WIN', designed to get rid of the bacteria from sweating..I got mine at Dicks Sporting Goods) for technical/wicking sports clothing.  I soaked them then rinsed real well with hot water and then air dried them.  they smell a LOT better now. 

Have only been wearing my KSO's run in (or days its been really cold), so they don't need as frequent washing now.  Other than I wear my black classics all the time.  That's probably helping to alleviate some of the smell....

I've been also trying to find a cure for stinky Vibrams, I own a pair of flows, and I use them 5 times a week, for the gym. At first the smell could easily go away with regular washing, but after a while, it got worse and worse, I did a little bit of scouting around online and I did find a product called NATURE'S MIRACLE. I wanted to first try this, before actually trying the Oxi Clean products. So I went out to PETCO, (but I believe any pet store will have them) and got it. Cameback home and got the stinky flows onto the sink, Sprayed the hell out of the inside, and also the outside material. I let them sit for 30 mins then threw them in the washer. Hung them outside to dry, and as of early this morning the smell is gone. I was really happy since I thought the smell would always hunt my Vibrams. The trick in the product I believe is the Natural Enzymes that eat away the odor causing bacteria. I will also definitely give the Oxi Clean a shot sometime.[/b][/b][/b]

Well there is my experience, I just wanted to throw my two cents in.
If anybody else gets this product let me know how it works out for you.

Hmm should we start using pet stan remover on our VFFs? The enzymes would eat the smell away, but I wonder if it would damage the material, but then again if it doesn't destroy the carpet...

I wash mine weekly with Ecover hand wash, it does the job. I do take the time to give them a good scrub in the inside of the toes. But it takes ages for my KSOs to dry. Normally a day and a half which means I don't have VFFs to wear  :(

I have had them dry in a very warm airing cupboard a few times and it still takes at least overnight. What are other peoples experiences with drying time?

Never more than overnight. And I mean washing them at midnight. I do usually opt to put a fan on them though.

I have a bottle of that Nature's Migreat cleaning agent. racle stuff. It's basically the same thing as OxiClean--Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda.

Also, check this out;

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2194067/save_money_by_making_your_own_oxi_clean.html

This stuff isn't some miracle of modern science that happens to be natural, it's just those two elements, which together form a great cleaning agent. The pet stuff is the same thing along with some type of a scent thrown in as well.

The pet stuff is expensive here in Phoenix (like $10 for a bottle), and the ingredients list off as the two aforementioned, and surfactants and a stabilizing agent. Surfactants just make it easier for two things to stay mixed, which anyone who's ever tried to mix Peroxide and Baking Soda knows, it's hard to keep it as one uniform liquid...they often separate and as a result you need to shake the heck out of the bottle first or your spray bottle will attempt to spray chunks of Baking Soda, which doesn't go well (my first night using this, I spent ten minutes trying to get my shoes clean just because of the bottle clogging up). A stabilizer would probably just be something to further make sure the two components don't separate.

My advice to anyone would be to save your money and go to a grocery store and purchase a box of Baking Soda and the Hydrogen Peroxide that comes in a spray bottle. It's a shame that Oxi Clean and all of these other natural miracles out there cost so much when you can buy the two ingredients necessary to make your own for less than half the price.

Quick tip about Peroxide--you should store it in a bottle that's dark, because the Sun's UV rays can break it down and make it useless. Hence why it always comes in a dark brown plastic bottle.


Richard


P.S. - Do any of you that have sweaty feet notice that your feet slide around a lot inside the shoes, or could this be a fit related problem?

My sweaty feet sometimes slip around in my KSOs, especially the ones that were too big, but even with the ones that fit there is a little movement. I try to tighten the strap down and that seems to help.

I had the same problem when I would run intense intervals, once you get to a certain point of sweat inside, my feet would slightly slip inside which made it very annoying to run, I own the Flows, and all I had to do was tighten the strap on the back of the heel, which I never did, and it worked. No more slip

I got the worst slip one night, walking home from dinner. I stepped my right foot into a puddle and the footbed became so slick that my usually form fitting KSO's felt like I was walking in water-filled rubber boots. Luckily, this has been a one time problem.

Since my toes are a snug fit I don't slide longitudinally, but if my feet are sweaty they can slide sideways. I have black KSOs.

How's your drying time?

Drying time for KSOs was slightly more than overnight like maybe 14 hours? That was without fan. I think with a fan on them it would be more like 8-10 hours.

It depends on how humid your environment is. If it's too humid, it will take forever for anything to dry.

Heh, I think you've described my flat pretty well :)

drying time for my KSO's is longer than my classics.  what takes the longest to dry it seems are the toe pockets on my KSO's. 

ran in my classics in a torrential rain with lots of puddles....I posted on this somewhere on this site, but don't remember exactly where.  maybe on the running thread.   ???  anyhow....they got a lot of water in them and were squishing water out the arch area which was very annoying.  have run in classics on dry roads and they are fine - prefer my KSO's for running though.  Classics are a little different to run in than KSO's - don't know how to describe it, but know it felt different. 

Has anyone with Treks experienced funk yet? I'm hoping to keep it at bay. I think of my KSO's as my athletic shoes so it's okay if they get a bit rare, but I'm having a hard time adjusting to the idea that these leathery beauts will fall to the like.

After taking them out of the spin cycle I place them face down on a small desk fan (in California) and they are dry in about 2-4 hours. Must be really humid where you are.

Living here in Arizona, they're typically dry in a couple of hours. My big problem is sweat while wearing them.

However, I have noticed something recently...

I wear the wrong size! I should be wearing a 41 and the guys who fit me to my first pair put me in 42's instead. I am not happy about this as I remember asking them if the 42's seemed a bit too big and if I should size down. They said they didn't have any 41's and that the 42's were perfect for me--they just wanted the sale.

The horrible part being that I cut the pull string out of these as it was too tight and I didn't get to actually try on a pair of 41's until I went to Tucson and tried on some 41's at Summit Hut. The shoes are too old to sell and too beat up, but at the same time I can't stand wearing them since they are the wrong size and it helps my feet slide around way too much.

Bummer.

Oh well, ordering new ones this weekend.


Richard

That is a real bummer. Such a store would have a few words from me.

EDIT: I think this is another GitM post.

I really hate washing my VFFs. It gets really old, really fast when you hand wash 5 pairs.  >:(

I tried cleaning my VFFs with only clorox greenworks today and I'm impressed. It gets the grey color out of the yellow footbeds without too much toothbrush scrubbing (less scrubbing than oxyclean). I sprayed greenworks into each VFF and left to soak in a hot tub of water. After spraying all the vffs, I sprayed each shoe again and scrubbed with a toothbrush making sure I got in between the toes. After scrubbing they went back into the hot water tub to soak until rinsing. So do this 10 times over and that's how I spent my evening.  :-\

The VFF funk was less than when I used oxyclean, but the greenwork's lemon scent could have been masking the odor. I'll post back on how the funk is after the VFFs dry out.

I also use a mirazyme rinse afterwards because I had half a bottle left. Honestly I don't think it does anything, but didn't want to waste the leftover stuff.

I would use the washing machine for my VFFs, but I don't think it gets the footbeds clean enough or gets the gunk in between the toes out.

Note: use Clorox Greenworks in a well-ventilate area, so the fumes don't make you sick. I learned the hard way. :(

So my VFFs will now sit in front of some fans to dry overnight and I'll finish up with a hairdryer on cool air if needed.

Classics are much easier to clean that KSOs. I didn't bother to scrub the bottoms because they're going to get dirty anyway, although I did scrub the yellow Virbam logos clean.  ;D

I think the best way I've found is with the homemade oxiclean.

Because I am making it myself, on the spot, I can adjust the amount of each of the two components for whatever I need it for. In this case, I use a good amount of baking soda and just enough hydrogen peroxide to make a sort of wet sand-feeling paste. This is a great scrubbing agent and gets the dirt and grime out of the soles very easily. I typically scrub, then let them soak in the oxi-solution for a bit, then rinse with extremely hot water.

If they're really bad, like my classics get sometimes, I have to scrub more than once, however this is usually good for KSO's.

At some point I want to try adding a bit of white vinegar to the mix--the mild acid and reaction with the baking soda might be enough so that I don't have to scrub at all.

Stay tuned.  ;D


Richard

Got a case of the Shoe Cheese building up in my KSO's... it is awful!  I take my feet out and leave the residue all over the house which is a real pain in the butt to clean up...  I would love to throw the KSO's in the wash but 2 years of use and the right and left toe seams have come undone and I am fearful of throwing them in the wash since I am unable to get a new pair as the store I purchase them at hasn't had a new order come in with my size.  Why does 43 have to be such a common size!  Any other suggestions of getting the cheese out of the KSO's?  Anyone else experience the cheese factor? Gross I know!  :-X

Check the VFFs is funky not in a good way thread for cleaning tips. I use Clorox greenworks, hot water, and a toothbrush and hand scrub the gunk out of my VFFs. Then drip dry or a hairdryer on low heat to dry them.

I'll have to try the clorox greenworks.  I do have a bottle at home and never thought to use it for gunk/cheese build up.  Hopefully this will work as my girlfriend is tired of my smelly feat!

This is what I do.  Wash once a week and if they smell bad enough Febreze them when not in use.  I typically do this before I go to sleep at night.  It isn't 100% effective but it seems to keep the smell to a minimum.

I'm trying greenworks tonight to get mine fresh

let me just add, my classics were awful smelling and my feet came out smelling like them and I sprayed febreeze fabric refresher in them one night and let them dry and it made a world of difference. Didn't completely get rid of the smell, but the bottoms are still dirty and they smell a world better. So for short term solutions, maybe look into that if you're interested.

it seems that the clorox greenworks has done something to my VFF's, I'm going to wait and see if it clears up after they dry. Stay tuned for details

Sink the stink is what everyone seems to use on scuba equipment when it gets rank.  Safe for neoprene so I'd assume safe for all the synthetics on VFFs.  As I don't have any though I'm using BioKleen's Bac Out.  Normally for pet stains but it seems to work well on my VFFs.  Same concept as Sink the Stink, basically an enzymatic cleaner that kills all the odor causing bacteria.  I'll second the oxyclean routine as well for staining on the footbeds, lifts them right out and leaves them feeling fine.  Just make a bit of a paste, rub in and wash out.

Mizayme is along the same concept, but I don't think it works to get the funk out. I might try the pet stain/odor remover stuff. I have this stain cleaner called Incredible or something like that (plain cylindrical white squeeze bottle with red/blue diagonal stripes) and it works well on stains and pet odor, so why not foot odor?

It's time to wash the VFFS and it's not fun washing 5 pairs at once by hand.  :(

I used this method with great results. I made a bath with baking soda and peroxide to soak my KSO and Sprints in for a few hours. After they dried they smelled brand new.

Small cross posting, any Trek owners had to wash theirs yet?  I chose the KSOs over the Treks just because I know I can wash my KSOs when they get funky.  Do the Treks need washing as frequently?  Or if you've washed them, the results?

I haven't washed my Treks, haven't had to. They keep away the funk much better

I've done 3 summers in KSo's and have only used Dr Bronners Tea tree oil soap to soak and hand wash them like once per week with very,very minimal smell,unlike when I treated them with some odor eater spray crap that funked them up for a while and seemed to leave a coating on my foot until I could wash all of it out.

I have a similar problem with the technical fabrics found in a lot of running clothes. I've been using Penguin Apparel Care's Sport Wash detergent. It's supposed to restore the wicking properties of the fabrics (don't know if it does or doesn't really) and it also gets rid of the funky odors. I just wash my VFFs with the rest of my running gear and that takes care of much, if not all of the smell. I let them air dry after a normal trip through the washer. Useage-wise, I wear my Classics as an everyday shoe when there isn't snow on the ground, and I run on grass a couple of times a week in my Sprints. I run trails a lot, so I've got a pair of Treks on order.

ZorbX is awesome.  I spray them down and let them air dry once a week.  Greatest invention ever :)

Has anyone tried soaking them in vinegar? I make and use cloth diapers and menstrual pads which can get kinda funky. So, we soak them in plain ol' white vinegar. Stains and smells are lifted! I wonder, why wouldn't it work with these??

Have we come to any conclusions regarding what the best way to defeat the Funk is?

Or are we still experimenting?

I do. My washing routine is basically as follows:

- Soak them in vinegar for ~ 15 mins.
- rinse
- Soak them in water with several effervescent denture tablets for ~ 15 mins
- rinse
- wash them with normal washing stuff
- rinse
- stuff with paper
- let them dry

It's still not perfect (a few days in warm weather sans socks and they get quite smelly again), but sufficient for now.
Next I'll be experimenting with the selfmade Oxi-stuff.

 Did they dry ok or did something bad happen to your VFF's with the greenworks??

It'd be nice if Vibram gave us some sound guidance.   :-\

Vibram recommended Efferdent tablets on their FaceBook page. Unfortunately, they didn't provide specific instructions, and from some of the comments left, there are differing results. I gave it a try Sunday night and detailed my experience here (http://www.inbetweenmytoes.com/blog/2010/3/7/smelly-vff-efferdent.html). Although it seemed to do the trick, I will likely through in an extra tablet during my next soak.

Washed my kso's and classics today in Tide Totalcare.  (First time using this detergent)

It cleaned fine, but no better than regular Tide in my opinion.  It did do an EXCELLENT job on the smell though.  Even if we choose to stop using it on our clothes, I will continue to get a small bottle of it just to clean my VFF's.  Its just that good.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think.......

Michael

WHEW! its been a while since I've posted. I still have my KSOs, and they are still STANKY as hell lol. The reason why mine originally started to stink is sort of a long story but well.. I was in the Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado) and meditating on a rock when my girlfriend at the time managed to walk away from me and get completely and utterly lost. So I ran through random creeks, muddy terrain, boulders, sand, lakeish, and long grasses, and yes while the VFFS performed AMAZINGLY! They needless to say got soaked, over and over, and the entire event lasted about 4 hours or so.. By the time I took them off it was like 6 or 7 at night, so no sun was out and they were wet and smelled of lake/creek.. Ahem, well they still have that similar smell. I think bacteria from the water in the mountains got in there and found a nice home, they smell pretty bad when i wear them and sweat in them a lil bit. Before this trip I had my KSOs for about 2 weeks, and they didn't smell at all. Oh well. I posted a video on youtube, and will probably post another one soon, it was about washing my VFFs in the sink and well it didn't really work. I mean.. I just washed them in the sink for a second time the other day with a mixture of one wash with laundry detergent, one wash with dr. bronners peppermint, and another wash with laundry detergent.. Now they smell like feet and peppermint, and while the feet smell isn't quite as STANK as before, it's not an aroma I'm proud of, and actually makes me sometimes avoid wearing them because of it. I will be buying either classics or mocs very soon, I cant decide which ones to get and will actually post that question in a new post in a sec. Anyway, thanks for the read of my story and yeah my VFFS are pretty bad (smelling).

Elbow grease may also be effective in many funky cases. :)

I've noticed that clean and dry feet (avoiding stepping in wetness) along with Injinjis go a long way to avoiding the funk.  Ultimately, however, no matter how clean and dry your feet are, the design of VFFs between your toes ends up excoriating them, which leads to bacteria.  I have started mixing a paste of baking soda and peroxide that I scrub throughout my KSOs with a used tooth brush.  I then soak them in warm water over night with generic denture cleaner.  Since it's generic, I use two tablets per VFF, and the results are good.  In between washings, I use Fabreeze as needed.  I am not looking forward to cleaning my Treks and would love to hear from some experienced Trekers who have successfully dealt with The Funk.

I too had smelly VFF's after a while.  I don't use socks w/ mine.

I can vouch for efferdent tablets!  I follow the instructions, except I drop one tablet inside each shoe.  After air drying in the sun, there is no more funk!  :D

I throw them in the wash whenever I wash my clothes, & use efferdent cleanings in between washes.

i wear mine in the shower when they get smelly or dirty. and now i have no more stink and they still look new. oh, and ive had em for over two yrs with excessive use.

I tried the efferedent denture tabs to clean my vffs and while the funk is gone and doesn't smell, it turned the rubber sole of my black classics kind of blueish-gray in places. It's not too noticeable, but it's definately a mottled/splotchy ghosting.

 ::) >:( ??? :'( :-\  (5 stages of smiley grief)

So maybe don't try efferedent with the listerine like I did. I only had it soaking for a coupel of hours, which also might have been a factor. I'll probably still use it though. I did notice that the slimey gray stuff was still on/in the yellow footbed, but it didn't smell. I might follow up the efferedent with a quick scrub from a toothbrush to get the slime out.

For the past few months, I've been soaking in vinegar for 30 mins, which did a good job, but left a vinegar smell, which I think actually masked the funk (as opposed to kill it).

Last night, I tried efferdent for the first time. I let them soak in warm water for 1 hour. Thereafter, I put them in the washer on spin for 5 mins to accelerate the drying.

When I removed them from the washer, they smelled great. The best since my first week in them. I'm now a convert to efferdent.

that happened to mine when i soaked them in the greenworks, if you scratch it a little, you'll notice it comes right off or will wear off with regular use.

never had too much smell trouble with my classics and sprints, but YEWWWW for the KSO that I FINALLY got (after returning the original defective pair and waiting 3 months for exchange to arrive.)   

Scrubbing and spraying just don't seem to clean that smell out.   Will have to give Efferdent a try!

I ran through some rancid creek mud a couple weeks back and that kicked of the funk chain. I have tried washing them a couple times once by hand with dish washing detergent and once in the washer. I was curious if the vinegar was effective? I know this is generally a useful trick and my girlfriend and I sometimes add some to our work out clothes loads. I had been using them for weeks with no issue so I think i just need to get the "funk colony" knocked back out. I will try the oxi clean method mentioned above. I really need to figure something out because I love wearing my FF but I don't want to knock anyone out. I also know that I will have many more muddy encounters during my workouts this summer, so I will need to figure something out.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions! I will post back to let you know how it all works out.

I've found something that seems to completely stop the smell in my VFFs: http://www.peditech.co.uk/ (http://www.peditech.co.uk/)

This spray is supposed to kill the bacteria that cause smell, and it's really worked for me. You spray it on your feet, rather than in the shoes, and after an initial week of treating them every day, it only takes one spray a week to keep the effect.

I've been using it for four days. It's getting hot here, and although my feet sweat, there's no smell at all now.

Now this one interests me, sounds just like the product needed!  I'm going to pickup one (annoyingly online rather than Boots who seem to have pulled it off shelf) and I'll post back about it in a few weeks - should be good for UK or even european with it being something designed for the foot.

Wow good find Cleanthes! Would you mind doing an update after about 2 weeks of use? Im interested to see how well this really works. If its as good as it seems, I'll also be getting some.

Sure, I had to get it through the online retailer so they should send it out and I can start it this week but I can act as a second opinion at least (btw, if you're in the UK it seems that at least one online retailers does free UK shipping and another buy 3 for less each one) - Manchester's rainy usually so it'll be good to see if it keeps the bacteria down when my feet are wet every other day!  One thing though is that although Boots took them off shelf, I doubt they could be bad if they had them on shelf to begin with.  Don't know how long 1 spray will last if I'm using it on both initially but we'll see  ;)

Ok thanks! If I get them it will have to be from an online retailer.  Ya I just wanna see how it works and if its as good as they claim. Especially after the first week, only applying it one time a week after that seems too good to be true lol

i ordered one of those peditech sprays as well today since they would also benefit my other shoes as my feet start sweating and smelling in all kinds of shoes. my classics, which i am now wearing without socks (it's hot :O), have started smelling this week. it's only noticeable if you put them up to your nose, but i rather start fighting it too early than too late. i've bathed them in a locally available denture cleaner this evening (corega tabs, seems to be from a british manufacturer). they smell minty right now and hopefully still will tomorrow morning when they're dry. i also ordered some efferdent to see how it compares to the corega tabs.

i even ordered some silk ballerina toe socks to test in the classics. i am hoping they don't show at all and will stop my feet from sweating as much in these temperatures. i am currently taking my classics off and walk around barefoot at my lab place at university to counteract the sweating. it's worst when i am out in the sun walking around though and i see the socks as the only solution there (not gonna wear ankle socks since that looks ridiculous with shorts).

First impressions from me of the spray are positive, I've started a separate topic to talk about how my experience goes with it but with any luck it seems I'll be confirming what Cleanthes has already said based on first usage!

Check the link to see the progress (I'll be modifying so it won't always be on the first page): http://birthdayshoes.com/forum/birthdayshoes-com-general-discussion/peditech-actifresh/ (http://birthdayshoes.com/forum/birthdayshoes-com-general-discussion/peditech-actifresh/)

i've tried to read through this thread but it's huge so i dont know if anyone has tried this or not.  i was on a shift at the clinic the other day and my sprints for the first time in three years were smelling funky so i grabbed the lysol disinfectant spray and hosed them down.  i havent had a smell since and that was over a week ago.  plus i'm in texas and it's already starting to get to sweating weather.  i dont know if this is viable or not but it really seemed to work. 

SO glad I found this thread. After reading through most of it, I've decided on trying OxiClean for my KSOs that I use to run/everyday walk in. I'll report back with results.

Glad to have assisted! :D

what have people done for treks? im nervous to try anything risky since theyre brand new and $125.  ??? help

Bought some OxiClean powder. Washed my black KSOs in my shower tub using the powder and my hands. Did several applications of sprinkling powder on top of the shoes and working the powder on the insides. SO much black water/dirt came outta the shoes when I rinsed each time. After that I used sprayed some Clorox GreenWorks (orange scent) and gave them a final rinse. They're sitting on some paper towels on my window sill to dry now. I'll report back if there's any smell, but I feel really confident that OxiClean got a lot if not all of the bacteria out of these.

Well I have been going back and forth talking with someone at Terra Plana about how to remove the smell out of my Dharma's.  Her advice to cleaning them was to take the insole out and scrub it but I discarded that upon putting them on the first time.  She uses Odor Eater Balls and enjoys having her toes smelling like spearmint!  I think I am going to pick up a few this weekend and place them in the fancy bags that Terra Plana provides you with.  I am hoping that by Monday my shoes are nice and clean!  Now I won't have people asking me if I ate Cheese crackers!  :D

Mmmmm - minty toes... waitaminute...

 ;D

Anyway, I'll second Morgan's motion.  The Treks aren't stinky now, but I know the day is coming, and the kangaroo makes it an entirely different animal (heh heh) than the KSOs.

HAHA!!  :D

i use this as armpit deodorant, with great results...
(http://www.organic-vida.com/media/catalog/product/1/3/13156-F_frontiercoop.jpg)

it says that it works for feet too, so maybe before you use VFFs, apply it

I went to dinner tonight and pretty much spent the entire time browsing this thread on my BlackBerry, which made me break down and finally join the forum :p

I actually stopped wearing my Sprints entirely because of the funk. I probably went a good six months of not wearing them at all, until last week when I pulled them out of the closet to wear for a day. Had to take them off, couldn't even be in the car with them, they smelled so awful. Monday, I broke down and stopped in Runners High 'n Tri in Arlington Heights (just outside of Chicago) and bought another pair of Sprints (I missed wearing my VFF!!) On Wednesday, I got the email from this forum saying Travel Country had Bikilas in stock and literally purchased them within a minute.

SO MY POINT IS, I have 2 BRAND SPANKIN NEW PAIRS OF VFF and I don't want them to end up like my first with the funk. It would be great to figure a daily/weekly regimen to keep them from smelling, something that could be done at night and then have them be wearable in the morning. If I could have Funkless V5F, the world would be a better place.

So, what have I learned works (supposedly) from reading 12+ pages of funk?

• Gold Bond Powder
• Vinegar
• Simple Green
• Odoban
• Amaze detergent booster + coffee beans
• Bac-Out Stain & Odor Eliminator
• Tea Tree Oil
• Nature's Miracle (pet product)
• Oxyclean
• Clorox Greenworks
• Efferdent
• Wear them in the shower
• Tide Totalcare
• Wash your feet
• Scrub with a toothbrush

If this list is completely wrong, let me know. Or if there is something to add, I'd be happy to do that too. It's more or less something a collective list of possible options to try on the VFF that are beyond help. (like my original sprints  :P )

Tonight, I soaked and scrubbed my original Sprints, in the sink by hand in hopes of salvaging them, but I'm afraid when they are fully dry, they will smell just as bad as they did before. I used super hot water, Tide (the boyfriend doesn't stock any kind of cleaning products), and a toothbrush. After soaking and scrubbing, I rinsed, squeezed dry as much as possible, threw them in the dryer for about 15 minutes on low, and now am using old rags to soak out some of water. Cross your fingers, hope they smell less in the morning!

*edit: No socks for me, and my feet sweat quite a bit. Used to dance. Every seen or smelled dancer's feet? If you know what I'm taking about, you're probably cringing right now.

There's also a few products that de-stink your feet, like crystal deodorants, and then there's some UK based product... (I don't remember what it's called).

For what it's worth, I find that using the Band-Aid blister stick gives one's VFFs a pleasant citrusy scent.  :)

im dating a dancer. and her feet.....  :-[

Goofy question: has anyone tried running VFFs (especially Treks, which I'm paranoid about wrecking) thru a Sani Sport machine (http://www.sani-sport.com/)?  (Yeah, I know, not exactly the cheapest way to go, but...)

I think part of what gets the funk depends on what's causing the funk.

My boyfriend has found that washing his Sprints in vinegar really helps.  Though it hasn't gotten rid of all of the funk, but it's much much better.  He has super sweaty feet, though, which doesn't help.

I've never had much for funk issues with my Sprints.  I would handwash them in Woolite and scrub them with a toothbrush after they had soaked for a while. That usually takes care of it.  And it usually took something like some skanky water/muck/mire to get them smelly in the first place.

First of all, if you read this whole thread while out to dinner, I hope you went alone...otherwise I pity your date!  ;)
I'm glad you went ahead and made that list, though.  After reading through the whole thing myself (won't say where from *coughWORKcough*) I was thinking it was high time someone sum things up!  I should have started with the last page and let you save me the long version.

So how did your original Sprints turn out?  I would hope that in all the above advice, SOMEthing might salvage them.  My thinking is that whatever ends up working for that pair is going to be the winning solution!

Dinner was with my boyfriend and some of his family, a very informal event, so no worries ;)

As for the Sprints, after drying they smelled like Tide! No stink! However... after for wearing them for two days straight, no running, I can smell it again. Not horrible, but noticeable. The next plan of attack is when I get home tonight, soak both original sprints, and black sprints (new as of last week, pair I'm wear right now) in Efferdent tabs. I'm only hesitant to do this because I won't have a dry pair of VFF to wear tomorrow :p Even though my Bikilas came today (don't have them in hand yet), I'm 99% sure those are getting sent back because of the W's version showing up at my house in a couple days. Guess I'll settle for "real" shoes...

I got the funk with my first pair of classics! And I don't even have sweaty/smelly feat normally besides my VFFs.

I used green works - didn't work so far. I washed them w/ tide - didn't work. I used Peroxide tonight - we'll see on this one. I think the solution is preventative so I'm looking into gold bond. I wanted to share with everyone - be warned about gold bond. It contains Talcum which is a known carcinogen (http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/cosmetics/talc.htm). Instead I'm going to try the Talc free version here (http://www.amazon.com/Gold-Bond-Ultimate-Comfort-10-Ounce/dp/B001G7QJAG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1274344453&sr=8-2).

This is an interesting topic, i think that we should appreciate the fact that in most cases we are using the shoe as an exterior sock, which means direct contact. I found to avoid smells foot hygiene is the key, i have a simple routine i use and ever since i have never had smelly trainers.

1 scrub your feet in the morning when you shower with your normal body gel and body scrubber , if your are bare footing into vibrams after a day in shoes then carry wet wipes and clean throughly! nothing perfumed.

2 dry your feet

3 apply body shop foot lemon and grass lotion to your feet, with a good application

4 let dry do not walk around

5 straight into clean (freshly washed socks) or VFFs

6 I have yet to have a pair of smelly shoes :)

Good ole body shop, im such a metrosexual lol

Anyone else experienced smell onset after/induced by wash?
Until the wash, my VFFs were OK smellwise, but I managed to get them so muddy (and wet anyway) that I simply had to wash. I hand-washed them in the sink, with the aid of an old tootbrush, using some (even supposedly antibacterial) hair shampoo which was idly sitting in the bathroom because it made my head itch. An incredible amount of mud/dirt came out, the footbeds were yellow almost like new, so far, so good. Unfortunately, the weather is relatively warm but very humid now, so they took over 12 hours to dry ... and next morning I smelled the first bit of funk. Not the dreaded "homeless guy´s feet" funk, rather something like a "forgotten wet rag in a plastic bag" funk. I sprayed a bit of Schoeller´s shoe deodorant into them and hope it still may go away...

You may have to rewash them - sounds like you got a bit of mildew or something similar going in them, and you want to stop that before it gets worse.

Next time, turn a fan on them while they're drying.  It doesn't have to be hot air; just the movement of air alone will help.  (This is how I dry clothes when it gets humid.)

Thanks, Rana,

I hesitated to wash them again so soon, but got thoroughly soaked by rain during my morning run today (by the way, running on a forest trail in an almost monsoon-like rain is fun), so I tossed all the wet/sweaty/muddy things into the washer, including the VFFs. Now they seem to be rid of the mildewy odor at least for the moment, just faintly smelling of laundry detergent. Since we have the first almost sunny day in weeks, the VFFs are currently sitting on a sunny windowsill, toes up, to prevent residual mositure from collecting there; hopefully drying will be faster than the fungus this time.
As for the fan idea ...maybe good, but not a suffuicient reason to buy a fan (never owned any, and never needed ... until now :-).

ah, i love muddy trail runs in the rain!

Update:

The body powder is helping with the smell quite a bit. Though now I have powder in my shoes all the time. :( I got the version with aloe so my feet aren't dry, but if you use the normal version too much I assume it would dry your feet out.

Again I wanna just remind people to beware of talc - it is in most body powders and is a carcinogen.

Been in my KSO's for 2 months. Tried most of the suggestions for " defunking" with little success. Inspired by discussions with regards to the potential bacterial and fungal component to the funk I began to use Lysol Spray. Kills 99.9 percent of bugs in just 30 seconds. It is easy to spray into the "fingers" and I soak my KSO's both inside and out. Yesterday I did 20k through the cow pasture highlands and not all the soft sticky stuff was mud. I rinsed them thoroughly, sprayed with Lysol and then dry over the furnace vents. Clean,dry and fresh smelling by morning. $3.99 per can.

this may very well be a cure all here guys...

i've been preaching lysol forever and no one would listen. 

Bitter, party of one, your table in the corner is ready!    ;)

I am guessing you were listened to by SOMEone--you seem to have one of the more respected voices in this forum.  If anything, your advice probably got lost in the huge flood of other recommended rituals.  I'm amazed at how many approaches are posted here...and how wildly different they are.  It doesn't speak well of VFF's resistance to odor problems.

Anyway, I have a new can of Lysol here.  Ready for action!  Thanks, tequiladoc for the great idea.  Why didn't someone think of this sooner??   ;D

Anderson...so funny.  I was just pointing out that I had mentioned it a few times here and in a couple of other forums and I actually got laughed at a little bit.  Thank you though for thinking I'm reputable and I'll keep my pity to myself next time :-)  seriously though the lysol is the best thing i've come across.  i've learned some from this thread too though.  i started washing my feet before putting on my shoes and that has gotten rid of the black crud build up that i used to get. 

Lysol was my first try; didn't work out well. ended up a mixture of stinky feet + lysol smell... a chemically organic mess of a smell.

Tried efferdent as suggested here (or the Safeway generic brand, kind of like mupuk to VFF..) 

worked great!  got all the smell out. 

my sprints and classics get gunky but not smelly, but the KSO smell can get out of control!!

Glad the jest was well taken!  I too have taken the washing of feet to heart and am sure it helps.  I've been wearing Classics to work and have been kicking them off pretty often.  Yesterday I went out barefoot to check out a stray cat at the door and that pretty much killed the clean feet.  The Classics now look pretty dirty inside, but I'm hoping that's ok since it's "real dirt" and not a buildup from my own feet.  I Lysol'd em and will get out the old toothbrush this weekend.

gb:  I'm wondering if Lysol might have helped more if it were used to prevent the smell, rather than fight one that was already established?  I guess I will know in time.  Efferdent worked for my sis-in-law, but only for a while.  I referred her to this site to read up on other options.

skin is highly absorbent so I take that into consideration when cleaning mine,generally speaking,there is a disconnect  for many people judging by all of the weird crap people rub into their skin like B&B Works,sunscreen,makeup,lotion,odor eater,cologene,aluminum,spray on tan ect

 ;D

(http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/20080927/450ITALIANFEST_003_BV.JPG)

oh no!  not good to hear!!

As for pre-spraying, no I have pre-spray with Lysol.  My pre-spraying experience was with "Odor-eaters", and it created VERY BAD results with my Sprint, I think causing more smells than otherwise.

shoot, a colleague just walked into my office and well, immediately went to open the window... he was nice enough to say oh it must be the bananas.

but ...  I know better, i.e. the efferdent didn't work!!!

HAHAHA!  Too funny.  It's either the bananas or your monkey feet.
But seriously...do you notice they smell still?  I thought it had worked for you so far.    :-\

it did clean the previous round of smell.  The shoes smelled fine when I put them on in the morning, but it was a wet/rainy day, perhaps that's why by late afternoon, the wet sneaker smell came back..

Has anyone tried chalking their feet before putting them in VFFs? Something like climber's chalk should do the trick. Might help to absorb moisture before it gets to the shoes.

The volcanic ash from the recent eruption is blowing into Reykjavik at the moment and it's getting into my KSOs. Instead of black foot gunk building up, I'm getting black ash! My feet feel bone dry even after a day in them. Of course they also smell of sulfur, but I'm sort of used to the smell here. :P

Though I luckily didn´t have t try it on the VFFs yet, I may finally have a rather drastic but working de-stinking recipe. I tried it last year on my old Solomon Techamphibians which caught the stink during a very rainy camping holiday, after I have waded into some brackish marsh and afterwards had the shoes continuously wet for 3 days due to rain. After washing and drying, they became even worse, so I ended up
1) filling a bit over half a bucket (cca 6 litres) with as hot water as I got out of the tap (50oC maybe - defnitely too hot to keep a hand in)
2) adding an equivalent of a shot glass of household chlorine bleach (i.e. something like 3 % sodium hypochlorite solution)
3) soaking the shoes until the water cooled down ( I wouldn´t mind them fading at this point of desperate efforts to kill the stink)
4) rinsing them under the shower and giving them a regular wash
5) one more rinse in hot water, since now they still stank of chlorine
6) drying in the sun
I wore them for the rest of summer, stink-free, just with very faint chlorine smell. They did not fade noticeably, and they still smell fine, even after I wore them for half of the last weekend in hot and not exactly dry conditions (haymaking is not an activity I would dare to do in VFFs).
 

I have the solution.  I work in the insurance restoration industry and we use a new disinfectant called Benefect.  Its main ingredient is Thyme oil.  Soak em in Benefect 15 minutes, rinse, handwash, and dry.  Voila, no odor!  You can get it on the internet or local janitor supply house. 

I have stinky feet, no use in denying it.  I'm getting some KSOs slightly larger so i can wear socks with them and since my foot is inbetween a 43/44 or possibly a 44/45 in the KSO i think i'll benefit from a sock, though i think i might get a pair of classics later on and not use socks with them...  Thanks for the info on oxi-clean, i will be sure to try it.

i wore my new KSOs yesterday for an hour or so just kind of meandering through my 'hood and there was a little funk in them.  Mind you these are brand new.  This morning though, they smelled like new shoes again.  I think maybe the Aegis coating/bonding takes time to work... but then again, i'm no chemist

I live in a very hot climate, so funky VFF is an issue. I've found that a combination of Efferdent and a weekly washing with the rest of my clothing works perfect. I also make a point of washing my VFF with my gym gear and using a special detergent called WIN which is designed for stinky gym clothes.

So far, my VFF are still perfectly fine to wear around. :)

I've had my KSO's a month, and they are beginning to hum. (What really started them off was walking through dirty street water in London a few weeks back, and also wearing them in a communal shower in a backpackers hostel, then wearing them wet walking round the city....Yum yum...)

I've read through this entire thread, and while I'm sure Oxi-Clean is really good stuff, and WIN sports wear wash, too, neither of these are readily available in the UK sadly. :( So what can we use, this side of the big pond?

I saw that the Oxi-Clean product was a stain remover which also came in a powder, and checked out what was available at my local Tesco. I came away with "Vanish Oxi-action powder with antibacterial action."
This is the kind of stuff - in the hideously pink tubs - costs about £4.50 a tub.

http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Vanish_Oxi_Action_1Kg.jpg (http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Vanish_Oxi_Action_1Kg.jpg)

Seeing as others seem to suggest it may be the bacteria in the shoe contributing to the stink, I picked the powder with "antibacterial action - kills 99.9% of germs."  I'm not normally a freak for hygiene, but I'm going for smell elimination here, so thought I'd give it a try.

I have just put 4 litres of hot water in a washing up bowl, added 1 scoop of Vanish powder, inserted shoes, and wearing gloves I scrubbed the buggers with a toothbrush, all inside and round the toe pockets, and in between the toes, as advised by others, and also round the inside of the footbed. I only left them to soak for about 15 - 20 mins, as am being cautious. The water went a minging brown....  :P  I then rinsed them out thoroughly in the shower.

They are now hanging in front of a fan drying. Will give you an update on the smell factor tomorrow... or whenever they are properly dry!!! ;)

Additionally I am also going to take the advice of getting some tea tree essential oil, and wiping my feet over with it whenever I wear my KSO's, with any luck that should discourage bacteria buildup, if not the muck!

ETA: I've just had a thought - would antibacterial hand gel (bought for the Swine Flu scare last year...) work on eliminating stinky foot KSO's? I've half a little bottle left, might be worth a try before I buy tea tree stuff...

What has worked best for me has been to wash my feet thoroughly before wearing them. It is not always possible, but if you keep your feet clean, you will reduce the chance of getting funky VFFs.

Yes, I bear that in mind, too. I think feet often get neglected and not washed properly, esp. when people shower.  I have a foot scrub brush with bristles soft enough to go between the toes, and use it whenever I have a bath, give my toes a proper soak and scrub. ;)

I'd be careful with that - I've tried doing that with clothing that got "the funk" (looooong expedition, minimal soap, mold setting in, ugh) and it ended up permanently staining the fabric and fixing a fair amount of the funk in place.  Applying the gel to your feet, on the other hand, would help make your feet less stinky and less bacterial.

Thank you all who suggested Efferdent!

For the past year, my KSO cleaning regimen included soaking in vinegar every week or so. That worked; but some odor returned after a few days of use - not bad odor, just noticeable. But I tried Efferdent a couple of weeks ago and my KSOs are still smelling great! Now I'm kicking myself for not trying it when I first read about using Efferdent long ago.

Excellent information in this thread!  Thanks everyone!

I've found that wearing Injinji socks in my KSOs helps a lot.  Not only does it bring skin cell residue back out of the shoe, but it also helps to soak up and remove a lot of the sweat.  No socks means inevitable odor, wearing socks means a lot less of it.

Another thing that helped was to take mine on vacation to Hawaii.  I wore them in the ocean to protect my feet from sharp bits of coral.  Between the repeated salty power washing and the volcanic sand that got inside, the funk was blasted away.

I'll try some of the other odor reduction methods that I've read about here.  My main problem is getting actual dirt out though.  If it's fine enough it slips through the mesh and embeds in the yellow foot bed.  Rinsing them out in the shower seems to help but takes a few tries if they got too muddy.

Wearing them in the pool cured mine(for now).
I also use a toothbrush & a detergent/water mix to prewash the insides before tossing them in the wash, paying special attention to the toe pockets.
Be sure to fasten all velcro securely.

Yes, for removing the dirt I also have used a toothbrush from time to time.  I followed the steps posted by others earlier in this thread, spraying OxyClean into the shoe, letting it sit a few, then scrubbing around with a soft toothbrush.  This has turned the dingy grays back to like-new yellow.  Then it's into the wash.  Once dry and between uses, a little spritz of Lysol. I'm not doing all of this too often...just when I perceive the growing need. 

It seems like there are many valid approaches, so I think the key is to make a little effort one way or another.  A little prevention beats a lot of compensation, etc.   The whole "keep your feet clean" step is helpful for obvious reasons.  After several months, I've caught the occassional warning sign, but have always managed to hit the "reset" back to clean smells.  *knock on wood*

Something that I do for a little bit of preventative maintenance:

After wearing them, I spray an isopropyl alcohol/water mixture into the shoe and let them dry. I wash them when they start to get funky, but in between washings I always hit them with the rubbing alcohol mixture.  I've done this with my ice hockey equipment for years, and it keeps it perfectly neutral (and trust me, hockey gear can get deadly if not kept on top of).

I put my stinky VFFs in the freezer in a sealed plastic bag with baking soda and it orks! Thanks for the tip! ;D

I have a pair of KSO's, Speed's, and Bakila's. I wash them every week, sometimes two weeks, if I haven't really worn a particular pair much. In addition to whatever HE detergent I'm using at the moment, I toss in some oxyclean and my VFF's are always fresh and clean. If I notice a little funk in between washes I use a product called Grandma's Secret Wrinkle Remover, which is for wrinkles and odors.  It's made of water, inorganic salt, citric acid and a little fragrance. It leaves my VFF's fresh but not smelling like that laundry smell that you know is just covering the nasty smell underneath for the moment, and the I haven't had any issues with the solution irritating my skin, which is alway a concern for my very sensitive skin.

I don't have conclusive results yet since it's early, but I'm trying a new experiment.  Usually I can wear my KSO's to the gym (plyo/cardio/weights) for about a week or two before they start to smell bad.  A normal wash and dry takes care of it.  But I recently bought the Crystal deodorant in a roll on form, it's natural mineral salts that prevent the bacterial growth.  So far it seems to be making a big difference.  I think most people have used the actual Crystal rock/stone deodorant, but this is the wet roll-on version, so I can just wet the bottom of my feet with it real good, rub 'em together and then stick them right in my KSOs.  Should be a good natural deodorant.

good idea.  i use crystal stick as my underarm deodorant.  let us know your results.

Tried the efferdent. Enzyme stuff, crystal deodorant...to no avail. However, I tried the efferdent WITH Epsom salts...2 tabs and about a cup of salts in about 2 gallons of water, and I think I have a winner for my funky funk feet!

Has anyone tried rubbing alcohol or will that damage the shoe?

I wrote about using rubbing alcohol on the previous page:

No damage to either the shoes or the hockey equipment.

I live in a hot climate and believe it or not, I just hose off my KSO's inside and out with the garden hose after each run and throw it in the washer about every four runs....

I'll have to give this a try. My wife is close to disallowing my  VFFs because they get funky so fast (i.e. one day of wear).

I'm going to give this a try.  What is the ratio of your mixture?  Is it just 50/50?

I'm going to have to do something to get rid of this smell and then if this works just spraying them after wear, that would be great!

Not sure if it was mentioned here, and I put it in a nother thread, but Penguin sportwash works pretty well.  I throw the KSO's in with cycling/running clothes.

since I'm still transitioning I'm running about 1 1/2 miles barefoot two days in a row then with Bilikas every 3rd day to give my soles a break and still work on the calf muscles.

So my shoes have not gotten funky yet. In any case I always rub my feet (soles especially) with isopropyl alcohol right after I come back from my BFR run...

and since funk is probably related to germs etc...  I have not stared  doing a quick rub down of my feet with the alcohol before wearing the Bilikas. Someone mentioned wipes but why bother alcohol is cheaper and more pure. A quick rub down will hopefully clean\disinfect the feet before wearing vffs...

Once\If I start running with VFFS on a daily basis (once I increase my milage) I plan to rotate between the green pair and red (being shipped) that I have.

ivan

I use 91% isopropyl alcohol, so the ratio is probably more like 1:4 with water instead of 1:1. The 70% alcohol might require more, but it's up to you to play around with it and see what works for you.  I usually spray mine down after each use and wash them when they get funky, and that routine keeps them fairly neutral.

Luckily, I am yet to experience the dreaded smelly feet sort of funk in the VFFs. However, I am becoming rather unhappy - as the weather gets colder and wetter, they take forever to dry (not just after washing, even after a walk in grass), and start to stink of mildew if continuously wet for more than two days. (Repeated inoculation with soil bacteria obviously contributes, too.) I do not feel like starting the heating just because of those shoes yet. Any tips how to rid them of the mildewy sort of funk?

Hey guys! I just signed up today, and wanted to show something i do to clean mine. I have a pair of black KSOs that i got a few months back, and i run in the woods and stuff, so they get FUNKY! I scrub mine with some sort of brush, warm water, and a combination germicide/fungicide soap which gets all the stuff out and helps the stench alot. Then i rinse them off and rub some baking soda on the inside and pour vinegar on them. I would think the bubbles, baking soda and vinegar would help the stench and the rest of the dirt. I just tried the vinegar and baking soda today, so ill reply later on how well it works out. By far, the scrubbing works way better than throwing them in the washer. Tell me what you think....

After a month of using the crystal deodorant immediately before putting on my KSOs and KSO Remixes for hour long cross training workouts with a personal trainer, I'm happy to report that I don't have any odor in my VFFs and haven't needed to wash them. 

Obviously from 17 pages of this thread, not every solution works for every person.  But the crystal deodorant solved my problem and it's a lot easier than all the scrubbing and washing that some folks are having to do. 

I just ordered some more crystal deodorant, this time in the little spray bottles. 

Note:  I don't even wait for the stuff to dry, I get the bottoms of my feet good and wet, rub them together and put on my VFFs right away.

Hope that helps someone, Brent