How to Wash Vibram Fivefingers and Furoshiki

Vibram Five Fingers and Furoshiki are popular shoes from the world-known shoe company, Vibram. Their shoe designs have brought a bunch of new concepts and are really revolutionizing the shoe industry.

However, despite the countless benefits, they can really stink.

Below you’ll find the best ways to cleaning Vibram Five Fingers along with some additional information about how to clean your Vibram Five Fingers.

Table of contents (click to navigate):

• How to get the smell out of your Vibrams
• How to clean Vibram Five Fingers Shoes
• How do you wash Vibram Furoshiki shoes?
• How Do I Stop my Vibrams from Smelling?
• Vibram Five Fingers Smell
• Can you wash Vibram shoes?

How to Get the Smell out of Your Vibrams

Vibram fans love the shoes but they sometimes have to deal with a pervasive smell from the shoes. The funkiness of Vibram shoes has been constantly discussed in many forums which have offered various solutions.

Some precautions that people take to avoid this smell is to wear them infrequently or wear them with some socks. Given the comfort that the shoes provide, it is difficult to imagine not wearing the shoes frequently for some people.

The good news is that there is a way to effectively clean the shoes so that you can wear your Vibrams over and over again without worrying about the smell.

How to clean Vibram Five Fingers Shoes

Picture: Vibram KSO TREK (2019)

When you check out the Vibram Five Fingers shoes website, you will see information that talks about cleaning the shoes. The suggested way is to use a washing machine since the Vibram Five Fingers are machine washable.

Use gentle and warm water (30c) cycle with some liquid or powdered detergent and afterwards, hang them to dry.

Important: we don’t recommend that you put your Five Fingers in the dryer.

Unfortunately, those who regularly wear their Vibram shoes will tell that this method only works to get the shoes clean but not to do away with odor that remains even after repeated washing.

Fortunately, there is a simply and more natural way to clean your Vibram five fingers which makes them not only clean but also odorless.

Tools needed:

You are going to need the following tools:

1. A bowl of warm but not hot water (50-60c)
2. A half tablespoon of baking soda
3. A half tablespoon of baking powder
4. A tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
5. 3 drops of lemon oil
6. 5 drops of peppermint oil

Method of cleaning Five fingers 

1. Create a water solution with all the above ingredients
2. Place your Vibram shoes in the solution and leave them soaking for about an hour or two.
3. In case your shoes are heavily soiled for example mud and the like, you can use a designated toothbrush to clean the inside of the toe pockets. Get the toothbrush in there and scrub the pockets. A toothbrush has just the right bristles that are not harsh on the shoes but effective enough to remove the dirt
4. You can either use a washing machine to clean them or hand wash them in warm water
5. Hang them for them to dry

If you are worried that your shoes will lose shape after being constantly washed, then don’t be.

Since this is a natural method, it is quite safe to use on your shoes. And as a bonus, it is quite cheap.

Related articles:

Vibram Lawsuit – Are Vibram Five Fingers Bad for You?

How to Wear FiveFingers: Toe-Socks or No Socks?

Which Vibrams Are Best For The Gym and Running?

Buy Vibram Fivefingers Online

How do you wash Vibram Furoshiki shoes?

Vibram Furoshiki shoes are very easy to maintain (easier than Five Fingers). Washing them only requires a washing machine. Just put the shoes in a washing machine without adding any chemicals.

The Furoshiki shoes come with an inbuilt antibacterial technology that does not require them to be cleaned using chemicals. Chemicals can also be harsh on the shoe material.

Before you place them in a washing machine, it is advisable that you put them in a washing bag and don’t forget to keep velcros closed.

Read: Vibram Furoshiki Review

How Do I Stop my Vibrams from Smelling?

The origin of the Vibram stink lies in the fact that people tend to wear the shoes without wearing ay socks. Since Vibram shoes are made from permeable fabrics, substances from your feet are allowed in such as sweat.

After a few weeks, the shoes develop an odor that is difficult to do away with. So before we even talk about removing the smell, there are certain preventive measures that you can take from the beginning:

• Wear your shoes with freshly cleaned feet
• Use a pre-moistened antibacterial towelette to wipe your feet after wearing boots or normal shoes and you want to wear the Vibrams
• You can use tea tree oil to wipe her feet before wearing the shoes
• Use a spray such as the Elite Sportz spray on your feet. It kills the bacteria that causes the smell

The Benefits of Toe Socks – Why Wear Toe Socks?

Vibram Five Fingers Smell

Some people try all they can to keep their feet clean but still find themselves struggling with the smell. Once the smell sets in, there are various things that you can do to your Vibrams to stop the smell including:

• Washing your shoes. If you have smelly feet then you may have to increase the frequency of washing your shoes
•  If your shoes become smelly immediately after washing, you will need to change your washing pattern and take into account additional measures
• You can use sprays like Elite Sportz to get rid of the smell. just use the sprays on your shoes and let them air dry
• There are also soak solutions that can be used. One of the soak solutions that Vibram owners are swearing by is the Efferdent soak solution. The solution comes in tablet form. There are different ways to use the tablets. Some people put one tablet in each shoe while other soak their shoes in water enriched with the tablets. 

People have tried different ways of removing the stinky smell from Vibram shoes. For example, some people have tried to include vinegar into their washing soaks and it has helped.

Nevertheless, not every method will work for you. It is important that you try different ways and what works for you and then stick to that. In the course of that, you can even come up with a new method of getting rid of the smell.

Make sure you don’t have an infected foot.

FAQ: 21 Vibram FiveFingers Most Frequently Asked Questions

5 Things You Need to Know about Vibram Fivefingers

Can you wash Vibram shoes?

Yes, you can wash Vibram shoes. Vibram shoes are made from machine-washable material which means that you can wash them with your washing machine.

A machine will do the trick of getting them clean but after a while, you will need to come up with new tactics of cleaning them because of the odor.

Sometimes their odor is not just a ‘little’ odor that you can ignore. You can try some pre-washing tricks mentioned in the article just to make your washing a little bit more effective.

If you don’t have a washing machine then don’t worry. You can hand wash the shoes in some warm water and a little detergent.

After washing them with either a washing machine or your hands, air dry them.