Trainer upper
The only part of a trainer whose material changes the answer, and the part people cannot usually name.
Start here
What this is, what tends to go wrong with it, and what to do about it.
What tends to go wrong
- Oil and grease on textilevia its material
The stain where the trade guidance switches from water to solvent — and the switch brings a warning the water route does not have.
Why it is difficult: Why oil resists water, Penetration into fibres, Why old stains are harder
- Perspirationvia its material
Sweat itself has almost no smell. What you can smell is bacteria eating it — and which bacteria depends on what the garment is made of.
Why it is difficult: Classifying a stain by its origin
Two stains in one bottle: an oily film, and a UV filter that forms a coloured complex with the iron in your water. The second one is why the mark comes out orange.
Why it is difficult: Chelation, Water hardness
The science behind this: Dye migration and colour bleeding, Capillary absorption, How care labels work, Adsorption of odour molecules
Part of Trainers.
In detail
Everything above the sole, and the reason a single instruction for cleaning trainers does not exist. A synthetic mesh or knit upper is the case the hand method was written for: warm water, mild soap, a soft brush, and the soap rinsed out rather than left in. A suede or nubuck upper is a different material with an opposite instruction, because its surface is a nap of raised fibres and water damages it — so it is brushed dry first, marks are lifted with a suede or pencil eraser, and a damp cloth is the most water the maker will permit, with a warning that it darkens the colour until it dries. Brushing follows the grain. Where the reader cannot tell which they have, the conservative branch is the suede one: a dry brush harms a mesh upper far less than water harms a nap. No source addresses a leather trainer upper, which is a third case again.
What works
Soap is safe on, in specific conditions, Trainer upper
Safe only in specific conditions
This is only appropriate within specific limits, and nothing is established outside them.
Only within these limits:
- Mild soap in warm water, by hand, with a dedicated sponge or soft brush
- Do not soak or submerge the shoe
- Rinse the soap out thoroughly rather than leaving it in the fabric
- Not on a suede or nubuck upper, where water damages the nap
The clearance is for a synthetic mesh or knit upper. The same treatment on a napped upper is what another manufacturer warns against.
Evidence
Supported
Sources
Can I Put Shoes in the Washing Machine?
Altra Running (VF Corporation) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That the maker's hand method is warm water and mild soap with a dedicated sponge, with the soap rinsed out thoroughly and the shoe not soaked. (states this directly)
Shoe Care Tips: Nubuck and Suede
KEEN Footwear · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That water damages the nap of suede and nubuck. (states this directly)
Related
- Trainer upper is made from Suede
- Trainer upper is made from Nubuck
- Trainer upper is made from Polyester
Sources for this page
Sources
Shoe Care Tips: Nubuck and Suede
KEEN Footwear · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That water damages the nap, that the routine is a dry suede brush first, that an eraser lifts marks, that a damp cloth darkens the colour until it dries, and that brushing follows the grain. (states this directly)
Can I Put Shoes in the Washing Machine?
Altra Running (VF Corporation) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That a mesh upper is cleaned by hand with warm water and mild soap, and that the soap is rinsed out thoroughly. (states this directly)