Do Rothy's Make Your Feet Stink? How to Clean Rothys the Right Way

Do your Rothys make your feet stink? Well you’re not alone. But luckily, we know just how to clean Rothys to get rid of foot odor for good. Read on for pro tips from two Rothys-loving mamas on the go.

We’ve been telling you for a long time now how much we love our Rothy’s. We wear them to the park. We wear them to work. We even wear them to Disneyland.

And all that wearing? Well, it creates one little problem.

Sometimes, our Rothy’s make our feet stink. Or maybe our feet make our Rothys stink? Either way, we’ve got an odor problem to deal with.

And YES, we do know that Rothy’s are fully machine washable. Trust us, we use that fact to our advantage. But when regular washing turned out to be not enough to keep our Rothy’s smelling fresh as a daisy, we knew there was something more that we needed to do.

So through trial and error (and a few Amazon clicks), we have found the best way to keep our Rothy’s smelling as fresh as the day we bought them. If you, too, need to figure out how to clean your Rothys and control odor, we’ve got the perfect procedure down to a science.

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Still Need to Buy Rothys? Here’s the Best Way to Get Them

Okay, before we dive in to how to clean your Rothys, let’s make sure we cover the basics. As in, do you have Rothys yet?

If not, head over to our Rothys Discount post for all the info on how to score your pair at the lowest price.

Tip 1: Wash Your Rothy’s Regularly

If you wear your Rothy’s as often as we do, you’re going to need to wash them as often as we do, too. Christine has to wash them once a month or so, but with all the running around that Jaymi does at work, she needs to wash them at least once a week.

First, take the insoles out of your Rothy’s. Using the cold water cycle of the washing machine, throw in both the shoes and the insoles. Use your regular laundry detergent and leave them in for the full cycle.

Once your Rothy’s are washed, set them outside or in a warm location of your house to air dry. Do not put your Rothy’s in the dryer! They’re plastic. That’s just asking for trouble.

They do take a rather long time to dry (a full day, in our experience) so don’t expect to wear them again soon after their wash.

Tip 2: Wear No-Show Socks (Like, ACTUAL No Show Socks, Not the Kind That Still Show)

You know how those little black and nude socks will SAY they’re no show, but then you put them on and they actually show a LOT? It’s not a good luck with Rothy’s, we gotta admit, but socks help SO MUCH with reducing odor.

Luckily, we found these socks on Amazon that ACTUALLY don’t show. They are teeny tiny, but still stay put throughout the day, making them the perfect shoes to wear with your Rothy’s.

Using these no-show socks should not only increase your comfort, but also help to keep your Rothys clean and stink-free

Tip 3: Clean Your Rothys with Baking Soda and Vinegar

Okay, let’s face it- sometimes shoes get REALLY stinky. Like, “oh God, am I going to have to throw away this $100 pair of shoes??” level stinky. Please, please PLEASE do not throw out those gorgeous Rothy’s! They can still be saved.

For this trick, you’ll take out the insoles and place them in a small tupperware, dish, or plate. Cover the insoles with baking soda and let it set. After about an hour, fill a small spray bottle (like this one) with vinegar.

Lightly spray the baking soda-covered insoles with the vinegar. Small bubbles should appear. Repeat until bubbles no longer form, which should take a few coats of vinegar. This should remove the majority of lingering odors, even the long-lasting ones.

Once you are done, pick up the insoles and remove as much baking soda as possible. Most of it will just fall off, but you may have to shake or tap the insoles together to get the majority of it off.

Next, run your Rothy’s (both the shoes and the insoles) through a regular laundry cycle. This should take away any leftover vinegar smell, and leave your Rothy’s smelling fresh and clean.

Tip 4: Swap Out Your Insoles

Even with regular washing, my insoles carried a certain, um, used smell. I’m hard on my Rothy’s- they go with me from work to school pickup to the park to Girl Scouts and back home again. They are well loved, and well used, and they smelled that way.

I decided to swap out my insoles for some Odor Eater’s customizable insoles, and OH MY GOSH. The difference was immediate and, most wonderfully, long lasting. You cut these insoles to size yourself. To make it easier on yourself, lay your Rothys insoles on top of the Odor Eaters and Trace them.

Odor Eaters insoles are not washable, but they wear very well and do their job for a LONG time. And, luckily, they’re also pretty darn cheap. So when they stop working the way you’d like, it’s easy to swap them out for new ones.

Tip 5: Cleaning Stained Rothys Insoles

Are your insoles looking a little worse for the wear? If you have light colored insoles, you’re going to notice that your insoles start looking VERY well used VERY quickly.

If you’ve read my post about how to clean up hand me down kids shoes, you know that one of my favorite tools is OxiClean Laundry Spray. It works just as well with your expensive Rothys flats as it does with your kids’ sneakers.

Rinse your insoles with hot water, and then spray with the OxiClean spray. Let them sit for about 10 minutes, and then rinse again with hot water. You may need to scrape gently with a laundry brush or even just your fingernail to work the water and spray into the stains.

When the stains are mostly removed, throw them into the wash for a regular cycle and allow to air dry.

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So there you have it, our no-fail, tried and tested techniques for how to clean your Rothys (and get rid of that stinky-foot smell, too). With a little prevention and some easy treatments, you can make your expensive Rothys last much longer and keep them as fresh as the day you bought them.

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