Why Do Shoes Turn Yellow? It Might Not Be Why You Think

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Most of us have a large cabinet of shoes and have a variety of options to wear as in, different colors, styles. And in today’s world, having white shoes is mandatory for people who are more aware of fashion nowadays.

The ones who own these white sneakers, loafers, etc. must have noticed that their white shoes start turning yellow after a while, and they never get to know the reason behind this.

Whereas, other colored shoes, for example red, black, never start turning yellow. To make it clear, some of the reasons have been discussed below to wrap our minds around that why do shoes turn yellow. 

The chemical reactions due to sun

We all love wearing our white colored shoes but once they get dirty, they do require a wash. When we wash our shoes and afterward put them under the sun to dry them out, they oxidize while being exposed to the air for a long time which eventually causes them to turn yellow due to the happening of chemical reactions.

The shoes are needed to be soaked properly before getting them ready to dry under the sun. To overcome this problem, tissues could be used to stop the color changing of our shoes when putting under the sun. 

Use of detergent

We mostly use the same detergent for washing shoes and clothes, hence the detergent used for clothes might not be the best and finest for the health of our shoes.

Because of this, shoes might still contain the detergent as it is not completely rinsed. And once we put our shoes under the sun to dry, which forces the shoes to change its color to yellow. Therefore, designated detergents for shoes are to be used.

Sweat and Dirt

Sometimes, we wear shoes for the longest hours during the day and do not get a chance to give them a break. And due to this, our shoes become sweaty as well as dirty, and once we wash them, the stains of sweat and dirt are not completely cleansed which ultimately leaves yellow marks on our shoes.

Our shoes need to be washed and cleaned to the maximum to prevent giving such a reason for our shoes to turn yellow. Another way from stopping shoes to turn yellow is using toothpaste which has a whitening function resulting in more clear color. 

Sole of the shoe

The most operational part of the shoe body is the sole, and it gets dirty more quickly than any other part of the shoe.

Therefore, once we wash our shoes, the dirt particles are not cleaned properly and some of them remain inside the shoe causing them to turn yellow while they are being dried out after the wash. This criteria of washing the sole separately also stop other parts of the shoe dirty when they are being cleaned.

Hence, the sole should be taken out and washed separately from the remaining part of the shoe.

How to fix your shoes that have yellowed

Once your shoes have yellowed you can apply a shoe whitener to restore them! Application is easy you just dab the sponge on the parts of your shoes that you would like to be white again.

Make sure your shoes are clean and dry before you apply the whitener and you are good to go. KIWI makes a really good and affordable solution to shoe whitening, a bottle can be found on Amazon.

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