With excellent resistance to dirt, sand, and water, tactical boots don’t take much time or effort to clean. But that’s just the outside of the boots. Cleaning the inside of the tactical boot is a different story.
As one of the most versatile boots, the tactical boots can be used for a variety of jobs, mostly outdoors or activities that require a lot of strength. So, it is unavoidable that your feet will sweat a lot, this is no good for your tactical boots for sure.
The wearer’s sweat can deteriorate the tactical boots from the inside and shorten their lifespan, which will cause discomfort for the wearer in the long run.
As you may know, cleaning the inside of tactical boots is not the same as cleaning the outside. Today, we’re here to show you how to clean the inside of your tactical boots the right way.
Shall we?
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Why do you need to clean the inside of the tactical boots?
There are many reasons that you need to clean the inside of tactical boots as often as cleaning the outside. You can benefit a lot from cleaning your tactical boots:
- Eliminate the smell inside tactical boots
- Ensure the tactical boots are not damaged from the inside, maintain their quality and prolong their lifespan
- Clean and prevent the bacteria inside the tactical boots that can harm foot health
- Make the tactical boots soft and clean, providing long-term comfort for your feet
How to clean the inside of your tactical boots?
We’ll show you how to clean the inside of tactical boots.
What you need to do first is identify the tactical boot materials and prepare the right tools to clean the inside of tactical boots.
Each material has different cleaning methods and tools. The inside of most tactical boots are made of three main materials: nylon fabric, suede, and leather.
For now, let’s start to clean your tactical boots!
Step 1: Prepare the cleaning set
You will need the following tools: a small soft bristle brush, cleaning foam for fabric (or shampoo), a bucket of water (it is better if you use warm water), and a soft dry towel. And…
- For tactical boots made of suede: special suede brush, suede cleaner.
- For tactical boots made of nylon fabric: only the above items are enough.
- For tactical boots made of leather: horsehair brush, leather cleaner.
Step 2: Clean the insole of the tactical boots
Cleaning the insole is one of the most important steps to clean the inside of your tactical boots.
Tactical boot insoles are usually removable, so take them out and clean them first.
Slide out the tactical boot insole and wash them.
For some insoles, you can use the washing machine to clean them, so you can toss them into the washing machine and wait.
However, if your boot insoles are not allowed to be cleaned by washing machines, just wash them by hand.
Dampen the insole and soft bristle brush with water, then apply cleaning foam to the brush and scrub the insole thoroughly. Once you see that the stain (created by the sweat) on the insole disappears, then it’s done.
Besides, if the insole is made of leather, use a leather cleaner and a horsehair brush to clean it.
Just dampen the insole, spray the leather cleaner on the leather insole surface, and use a horsehair brush to scrub it until it is clean.
Finally, take a soft dry cloth to wipe off all the water and excess leather cleaner (or cleaning foam) from the insole.
Note: If your tactical boot insoles are non-removable, follow the instructions below to clean them.
Step 3: Clean the inside of your tactical boots
You should remove all the laces from the tactical boots first. If your tactical boots have zippers, unzip them too. This will make the boot opening wider, making it easy to clean the inside of your tactical boots.
For your convenience, you should use a small soft bristle brush to reach the inside of tactical boots.
For the tactical boots made from nylon fabric
Table could not be displayed.For tactical boots with fabric liners, you can use a brush and cleaning foam to clean them.
If the tactical boots have dry mud, remove it with a soft bristle brush.
Moisten the inside of your tactical boots and a soft bristle brush with water. Then apply cleaning foam onto a soft bristle brush and scrub the inside of the tactical boots thoroughly.
Remember to clean the nooks and crannies of tactical boots and the inside of the tongue thoroughly. Rub until the smell in the tactical boot disappears.
Finally, use a soft, dry cloth to remove any excess of the cleaning foam and any remaining water in the tactical boots.
For the tactical boots made from suede
Table could not be displayed.As for suede tactical boots, you should avoid using water. Instead, a wise choice is to use a suede cleaner and a dedicated suede brush to clean.
Spray the suede cleaner directly into the tactical boots, then scrub the inside with a dedicated brush.
Repeat the process several times, spray a certain amount of suede cleaner and scrub with a brush until the inside is clean.
You should limit water use as suede is very sensitive to water.
Don’t forget to use a soft, dry cloth to wipe off the excess of suede cleaner.
For the tactical boots made from leather
Table could not be displayed.For tactical boots with leather lining, you will use a leather cleaner with a horse hairbrush to clean them.
Spray leather cleaner into the tactical boots, then use a horsehair brush to scrub and clean the inside of your boots.
Repeat the process until the inside of the tactical boots has no smells or stains.
Finally, use a soft, dry cloth to wipe all residue and excess of the leather cleaner.
Done!
Step 4: Dry tactical boots
The final step is drying up the tactical boots. If your boots are wet or moist, it is quite harmful to the quality of the tactical boots in the long run. Therefore, it is very important to keep the inside of the tactical boots dry.
You can use natural wind or sunlight to dry the tactical boots (don’t forget to dry the insole).
Besides, to keep your tactical boots always dry, use boot trees or newspaper to tuck into the tactical boot to absorb moisture.
Also, sprinkling some household powder into the tactical boots to absorb moisture is also not a bad choice.
Finally, you can use an additional shoe odor spray to ensure that your tactical boots are free of any obnoxious odor but a pleasant fragrance instead.
Read more: How To Polish Tactical Boots?
Some notes
- Some tactical boots are mixed from a variety of materials (suede and fabric or leather and fabric) so you combine the above methods for each material.
- For leather tactical boots, you can use a conditioner to make the inside of the boots softer and comfortable.
- For fabric or suede tactical boots, don’t use a hairdryer to dry them, the high heat can cause them to deform.
- We recommend using boot trees every time you clean the inside of the tactical boots to keep them dry, maintain their shape and bring a pleasant scent.
- Don’t get confused when using different cleaning solutions. For example, it is dangerous to use cleaning foam for fabric to clean leather boots as you can damage them.
- Please store them in a dry and well-ventilated place.
Read more: How To Condition Leather Tactical Boots?
FAQ
How do you clean smelly leather boots?
The basic way to get the smell out of your leather tactical boots is to use a horsehair brush and leather cleaner to clean them from the inside.
Also, don’t forget to clean the insole, which is the spot that easily stinks due to the accumulation of perspiration and bacteria.
After that, you can sprinkle some baking soda into the boots and leave overnight.
In addition, there are many shoe odor spray products on the market nowadays. Get one for your boots and spray a little, it can chase the odors away.
In addition, the main cause of unpleasant odors is that your tactical boots get moist. The best solution is to use the boot trees to dry the inside of them. Also, some boot trees give the tactical boots a pleasant aroma.
Table could not be displayed.Why do my boots smell so bad?
The unpleasant smell will start from the inside of the boots. This is usually caused by foot sweat, bacteria, dirt, and mold accumulated over time.
Especially with boots like tactical boots, the wearer often uses them for work that requires a lot of strength so they are often exposed to sweat. If it is not cleaned well, it will lead to the accumulation of mold and bacteria and result in unpleasant odors.
How do I stop my boots from smelling?
To stop your boots from smelling, the most necessary thing is to clean the inside of your boots.
It depends on the material of your boots to apply the suitable cleaning methods.
For example, you should clean leather tactical boots with the leather cleaner and the horsehair brush. A specialized suede brush and the suede cleaner are for cleaning the suede tactical boots. To clean the fabric boots, use the cleaning foam for the fabric combined with a soft bristle brush.
After cleaning, make sure to dry your tactical boots completely under the sun, or natural wind or use a hair dryer at a moderate temperature to dry them…
The principle to have your tactical boots with no smell is to always keep them clean and dry.
But if they still stink, you can use baking soda to sprinkle inside the boots to help them absorb moisture and remove odors quickly.
Or use boot trees to make sure the tactical boots are dry and have a cedar scent.
There are many shoe odor sprays on the market today to help your boots get rid of bad odors quickly.
Another homemade method is to use black tea bags. Soak them in boiling water, cool them, and put them in tactical boots to release the smell.
Conclusion
Tactical boots made of different materials will be cleaned in different ways, you should pay attention to this.
To clean the inside of fabric tactical boots, use a soft bristle brush and cleaning foam for fabric to clean
To clean the inside of suede or roughout leather tactical boots, the suede cleaner and the dedicated suede brush are good to go.
To clean the inside of leather tactical boots, pick a horsehair brush and leather cleaner.
Also, don’t forget to clean the tactical boot insoles by taking them out and cleaning them separately.
Finally, it’s also important to dry the tactical boots after cleaning to ensure tactical boots are dry and stay in shape.
Good luck.