Trainers
Not a surface but a glued assembly, which is why the manufacturer's answer to the washing machine is no at every temperature.
What not to do
Machine washing is unsafe on Trainers
Unsafe
Do not do this. The risk is established, and it is described below.
The maker refuses it at every temperature, and the damage is to the adhesive and the foam rather than to the surface — which is why the shoe looks fine afterwards and stops behaving as it did.
Why we say this
Strongly supported
A manufacturer refusing a treatment for its own product, with a named mechanism, is the strongest form this register accepts on an object it does not otherwise model.
Sources
Can I Put Shoes in the Washing Machine?
Altra Running (VF Corporation) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That the maker advises against the washing machine, that the cycle breaks down the glue, foam and mesh forming the internal structure, that a hot wash reaches around 130°F or hotter, and that the consequence is loss of structural integrity. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The verdict, the mechanism paragraph and the hand-cleaning sequence. Supports the claim as stated. Closes the washing-machine question with a manufacturer's own refusal and a named mechanism, and supplies the hand method the trainer-cleaning question needed. The adhesive is the finding: it makes a trainer an ASSEMBLY rather than a surface, which is why the register now models it with parts.
Last reviewed by a person on .
Tumble drying is unsafe on Trainers
Unsafe
Do not do this. The risk is established, and it is described below.
Direct heat is named separately from the wash. Air drying, out of direct sunlight, stuffed to hold the shape.
Why we say this
Supported
Stated as a prohibition on direct heat rather than on a named appliance; a tumble dryer is the domestic case of applying it.
Sources
Can I Put Shoes in the Washing Machine?
Altra Running (VF Corporation) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That shoes must not be exposed to direct heat while drying, and that the maker's instruction is to air dry away from direct sunlight. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The verdict, the mechanism paragraph and the hand-cleaning sequence. Supports the claim as stated. Closes the washing-machine question with a manufacturer's own refusal and a named mechanism, and supplies the hand method the trainer-cleaning question needed. The adhesive is the finding: it makes a trainer an ASSEMBLY rather than a surface, which is why the register now models it with parts.
Last reviewed by a person on .
Unsafe
Do not do this. The risk is established, and it is described below.
The instruction is to hand-clean without soaking. Water reaching the adhesive bond is the failure, and submersion is how it gets there.
Why we say this
Supported
Stated by the maker as its own prohibition, separate from the machine.
Sources
Can I Put Shoes in the Washing Machine?
Altra Running (VF Corporation) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That the whole shoe must not be soaked in water. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The verdict, the mechanism paragraph and the hand-cleaning sequence. Supports the claim as stated. Closes the washing-machine question with a manufacturer's own refusal and a named mechanism, and supplies the hand method the trainer-cleaning question needed. The adhesive is the finding: it makes a trainer an ASSEMBLY rather than a surface, which is why the register now models it with parts.
Last reviewed by a person on .
Start here
What this is, what goes wrong with it, and where CleaningHQ can help.
Which part are you cleaning?
These parts take different answers. Cleaning one the way you clean another is a common way to damage this.
- Trainer upper
The only part of a trainer whose material changes the answer, and the part people cannot usually name.
Suede, Nubuck, Polyester
3 things not to use here
- Trainer midsole
The part that fails in a washing machine, and the part nobody was trying to clean.
1 thing not to use here
What tends to go wrong
The one stain where the first move is mechanical and the chemistry barely matters — and where the folk advice to let it dry first is not what the trade body says.
The science behind this: Why made-up objects fail where they are glued
In detail
The question people ask about trainers is whether they can go in the washing machine, and a manufacturer answers it directly: they should not, at any temperature. The reason is worth more than the verdict. A trainer is held together by adhesive, and the machine breaks down the glue, the foam and the mesh that form its internal structure — a hot cycle soaks it at around 130°F or hotter, so heat does as much damage as the water. That makes a trainer an assembly rather than a surface, which is why nothing here is answered for the shoe as a whole: the upper decides the method, and a mesh upper and a suede one want opposite treatment. The hand method the same maker gives is a sequence rather than a product — laces and insoles out and done separately, loose dirt brushed off dry, hand washing in warm water with mild soap, the soap rinsed out properly, then air drying away from direct sunlight and any direct heat, stuffed with newspaper to hold the shape. Whether bleach whitens a white trainer or yellows it permanently is a question this register cannot answer either way.
Why
- Trainers is explained by Why made-up objects fail where they are glued
Related
- Trainers has the component Trainer upper
- Trainers has the component Trainer midsole
- Trainers is commonly affected by Mud
Sources for this page
Sources
Can I Put Shoes in the Washing Machine?
Altra Running (VF Corporation) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That the maker advises against the washing machine at any temperature, that the mechanism is breakdown of the glue, foam and mesh forming the internal structure, that a hot wash is around 130°F or hotter, that the shoe must not be soaked or dried with direct heat, and the hand sequence it gives instead. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The verdict, the mechanism paragraph and the hand-cleaning sequence. Supports the claim as stated. Closes the washing-machine question with a manufacturer's own refusal and a named mechanism, and supplies the hand method the trainer-cleaning question needed. The adhesive is the finding: it makes a trainer an ASSEMBLY rather than a surface, which is why the register now models it with parts.
Shoe Care Tips: Nubuck and Suede
KEEN Footwear · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That a suede or nubuck upper is brushed rather than washed, because water damages the nap. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The cleaning, stain, nap, waterproofing and storage paragraphs. Supports the claim as stated. Gives suede a method for the first time. The Leather Institute guide has called suede the most difficult of the group since Sprint 7 and supplied no procedure for it; this is a footwear manufacturer supplying one. It also opens an evidence conflict worth carrying rather than resolving: this maker permits rubbing alcohol on suede, and the Leather Institute prohibits alcohol-containing cleaners on leather.
What CleaningHQ cannot answer yet
These are recorded questions about this subject that we have not yet researched to a standard we would publish.
- Clean a synthetic mesh footwear upper
- Discolouration of a footwear sole
- Yellowing or browning of white footwear
- Compatibility of hypochlorite with athletic footwear
Last reviewed by a person on .