The best cleaning hack for white shoes revealed

White trainers are a wardrobe staple. Conservative enough to wear to work, yet hip enough to wear on a night out, they're rocked by everyone from duchesses to students.

They do get grubby fast though, and unlike a well-loved pair of jeans you can't just chuck your white Converse in the washing machine when they're a little on the manky side. (There's nothing stopping you, but don't expect them to last too long if you do).

Often, the solution is to chuck them in the bin - a sustainability and budgeting nightmare.

Plenty of sites online will tell you you can keep your white trainers in top shape with a few household items. But do they really work?

Stuff NZ white shoe — The shoe on the left has been protected with a commercial shoe protection spray. The one on the right hasn��t. They are about the same age. (Kylie Klein Nixon / Stuff)

This combination is a household cleaning staple that I swear by for cleaning just about anything in the home.

Add some lemon, and it's got anti-bacterial properties as well as smelling good. It works on everything from your oven, to the glass of your shower door.

It will do absolute wonders for your loo, too.

But as a shoe cleaner? Not so much.

I mixed about three teaspoons with a splash of white vinegar to make a thick paste and spread it on two different pairs of white canvas shoes.

One pair had significant stains. The other has been treated with water and stain repellent, but now has a small, recent grass stain.

After an hour, I scraped the paste off both shoes, and the results were totally underwhelming.

While it had lifted some surface dirt, the soda paste hadn't touched deeper stains. Even the fresher stain remained unbudging.

Result: 1/5

White toothpaste

I thought the white toothpaste would be much as the vinegar and baking soda, so I didn't hold out much hope for this one.

I scrubbed a pea-sized blob of tooth paste into the grass stain, and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

I wiped it off with a damp cloth, and while it removed most of the green staining, the ground in dirt stain was still there. My shoe did smell minty fresh afterwards, however, so that's a bonus.

Result: 2/5

Bleach

Luxury leather goods restoration and repair artisan, Jenna Milesi, of Restituo, reckons bleach is where most people go wrong trying to salvage their grubby white shoes.

"Bleach can yellow your shoes if not done right. Mixed with other stuff it can off-gas badly - don't mix acetone and bleach ever."

I didn't even bother with this one as I have given myself contact dermatitis from using bleach in the past.

According to one online site, however, the key is to mix one part bleach to six parts water, and to wear gloves to apply the solution. You should also rinse the area bleached well afterwards.

Result: 0/5

Rather than trying to overhaul a badly damaged white shoe, Milesi is "heavy into prevention and maintenance".

"Most people clean their shoes when the stains are ingrained and too late for home methods. They need to be cleaning them on the fly when it comes to white shoes."

Ultimately, prevention is better than a cure - always spray white shoes with a protective water and stain-repellant. Consider using something comprehensive, like Dasco Nano Protector ($38.90) and re-apply it regularly.

If you're looking down at a pair of grubby white trainers right now, sorry for the protective-shaming. There's still hope for your shoes, but it won't be in your kitchen cupboard.

White shoes stock — Water-based protections on shite shoes can have great results. (Getty)

The more often you clean white shoes, the better.

"Do it more regularly than you think you should," says Milesi. "I do mine weekly, just because cleaning white is [awful]."

Milesi uses several purpose-made products to give her shoes a "mini clean" during the regular maintenance.

For leather - not suede or nubuck - she uses Hillmark leather clean wipes ($7.99) or Hillmark Leather Kleen spray ($12), a three-in-one cleaner that also conditions and protects the leather.

"I just get a nice and clean cloth, spray the product on the cloth and 'wipe evenly over the surface, before letting it dry thoroughly before using'."

For a more dirty shoe, Milesi says she uses Mr Minit foaming cleaner ($16), which works on suede, leather, nubuck and canvas.

"The Ethique stain bar isn't bad either."

Ethique's Flash! Multi-purpose Stain Remover Bar ($9) is a sustainable, cruelty-free, climate-positive option for cleaning white shoes that you can take almost anywhere. It even smells pretty good.

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