How to Clean Vans

Everyone has a pair of Vans and keeping them clean can be a challenge to everyone from sneakerheads, to kids, to moms. If you have been caught looking at your canvas shoes thinking, “How do I clean these?” you are not alone. With only a few quick steps your Vans will be sparkling again in no time. 

Remove the laces and set aside to clean later. Then insert a shoe tree into the sneaker. This will provide a better surface to apply more pressure while cleaning your shoes.

Using an all-natural, dye free cleaner, add a small amount to a bowl filled with water. (Many shoe cleaners on the market are known to stain shoes due to dye or chemicals, we recommend using this sneaker cleaner.)

In order to mix the solution, take a delicate brush and lightly stir the solution using the bristles.

Once mixed, apply the solution to the Vans using the soft brush in circular motions over the entire uppers.

After using the delicate brush to lather the entire upper of the shoe. Go back over the uppers using a brush with slightly stiffer bristles (we prefer this medium bristle brush) and hit the entire shoe if needed. Using the stiffer bristles helps loosen some dirt that the soft brush couldn’t get. Also, with the medium brush you can scrub the midsoles in a back and forth motion to removed dirt trapped in the rubber cracks.

Once the entire upper has been cleaned, move onto the soles, cleaning them with a very stiff brush. The soles are likely to have the most dirt and grime, and when that gets trapped in the Van’s deep grooves, use a brush that has tough bristles.

The final step of the pretreat is to take the shoe laces that you set aside and dunk them in the remaining solution mixture and lather by rubbing them in between your hands, then placing them into the laundry bag.

After the shoe has been pretreated, use a microfiber towel and pat the entire shoe down to see if you missed any spots. If not, place the Vans into a laundry bag (we recommend soles together facing opposite directions), and then put in the washing machine with alcohol and dye free detergent and cold water on a normal setting. This step is important for canvas sneakers due to their tight fabric, where dirt can easily get trapped, the washing machine is the only way to fully clean them.

Remove the shoes from the wash and examine to ensure an ideal clean. If the sneakers are up to your standards you can then set them to air dry in a well-ventilated room or outside.

To read about how to clean Converse click here!