6 tips to make your cleats last longer
Our cleats are severely tested when playing Ultimate Frisbee. They undergo strong mechanical stress, in hard conditions.Here are some few tips and maintaining routines to make your best game shoes last longer.
Tip #1: Clean them well!
If your cleats are cloggy, they not only loose SWAG, training after training, the mud will enter the pores of the shoes fabric and decrease their performance in terms of breathability, flexibility and – in the end – durability.
To clean your shoes, simply use a wet towel or sponge to remove the mud. Do not put your cleats into the washing machine, it would moisten the inner foams of the cleats and facilitate the growth of bacteria.
Tip #2: Dry them
This icon means : do not wash in washing machine, did you know it? I didn’t…
Drying your cleats is very important to make sure they last, WITHOUT SMELLING. But you can’t dry them too fast, or the material (mainly the leather and synthetic leather) could tear up fast.
The best way is to let them drying naturally in a dry and well-ventilated area, if the shoes are very wet, prefer using journal paper instead of heat (radiator or direct sun).
You can also remove the insole for more efficiency.
Tip #3: aerate your feet between two games
Your shoes will appreciate, if the field is particularly wet, change your socks, you’ll feel like a new person!
Tip #4: Don’t walk on asphalt
It damages the studs.
Tip #5: Use shoes disinfectant or talc to kill bacteria
You can find shoes disinfectant in sport shops, or talc in drug stores to limit the spread of the bacteria. Use it once in a while.
You can also buy one for your friend that has smelly feet. It’s not the most diplomatic way to say it, but that’s rather effective…
The cleaning products I use
Tip #6: maintain their leather
If you have leather cleats, maintain them once in a while by applying grease with a cloth.
Player Tip
A player shared me this tip: if all your shoes are smelly, maybe it’s because of your sweat that helps the spread of bacteria. To solve this problem, you can try to follow the next steps:
- Buy a new pair you’ll use all along the process
- Put talc into all your shoes,
- place your shoes into a bag, add more talc, close the bag and shake it,
- Repeat every few days, adding talc, for one to two weeks.
- Wash your feet with a disinfectant like betadine, every day during the all process.
The objective is to break the circle of bacteria going from your feet to your shoes, and from your shoes to your feet.
You have your own tip? Share it with other players in coments!