Yeah VFFs are funky...but sometimes not in the good way

[McLoki]

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

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

[benjam2112]

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

Or are we still experimenting?

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

[inbetweenmytoes]

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. Although it seemed to do the trick, I will likely through in an extra tablet during my next soak.

[McLoki]

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

[kakez]

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).

[iain]

Elbow grease may also be effective in many funky cases.

[Rex_Kwon_Do]

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.

[AlexMontilla]

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! 

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

[morgan_4785]

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.

[Hawkeye]

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.

[innocuous]

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.

[iamcam]

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.

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.

[gb]

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!

[kriburto]

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.

[Cleanthes]

I've found something that seems to completely stop the smell in my VFFs: 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.