by David Pitts

Created on: January 09, 2009

There is nothing cleaner looking than a new pair of white trainers or tennis shoes. You set your old grungy ones aside and admire how perfectly white the new ones are. You even hate to wear the new shoes for awhile, because you dread to see those first smudges and ugly dirty spots. But then you realize that the dirty deed must be done, and you venture out on a day when you think there will be no mud or dirty areas on the trail or path. You run along, forgetting about the pristine shoes on your feet, and before you realize it, you have desecrated the new white leather with mud. When you get home, you brush off the mud or wide it off with a wet paper towel. But after a few wearings, you look down and see that the new shoes are looking more and more like the old pair you discarded a few weeks ago.

Everyone has their own technique for cleaning them, but I discovered a method that always makes me chuckle. It the movie, Big Fat Greek Wedding, one of the older characters (the father, as I remember) used a particular liquid to do anything that needed to be done. It was Windex, the famous glass cleaner. He used it on everything. So one day when I had a particularly dirty pair of formerly white trainers, I thought of the movie. I rummaged under the kitchen sink, found a spray bottle of Windex, and sprayed a generous amount all over the shoes. Then I got a sponge and rubbed the Windex off, applying a moderate amount of pressure. "Aha", I said. "The Greek Wedding guy was right". The shoes were remarkably clean and white. I noticed a few spots I had missed, particularly on the tongue under the strings. So I loosened the strings and applied the Windex to the tongues, again using a sponge to wipe them clean. The rubber sides of the soles were not quite to my liking, so I applied more of the magic liquid and brushed the surface with a toothbrush. After wiping the rubber with my sponge, I inspected my work, and stood there almost satisfied.

Now the only really dirty part of the shoes was the strings. So I removed them, sprayed them generously with Windex and washed them with the next laundry load. They weren't perfect, but they complemented the shoes quite well. I was very proud of my discovery and continue to use the technique every time my shoes start looking a bit dingy. By the way, I really like the smell of Windex, so that's an added bonus. Try it.

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