I bought a pair of teva’s a couple months ago for wearing on the boat. I love the shoes but they smell like the funk now. I soaked them in a bucket of dawn yesterday for 30 minutes, let the, dry in the sun and then sprayed them with febreeze and they still smell horrible. Anybody have any tricks to get the funk smell out?
mix 1 qt peroxide 1/4 cup baking soda 1-2 teaspoons liquid soap and 1 qt h2o. This takes the skunk smell out of dogs that get sprayed so it might take the funk smell out as well.
Some shoes use materials that smell as the deteriorate. Not much can be done if this is the cause. Some folks believe a very specific bacteria strain cause Tevas to smell. Here is a description and solution.
EDIT: This quote below is from another person. Not my work, except for my search fu. 
I work in a biological research institute. As two of us have Tevas and both have the same problem we set about finding out why. The smell is caused by bacteria which live in and feed on the sweat and skin cells which accumulate on the sandals. This is by no means unusual and most forms of footwear are susceptible to the problem, but we wanted to find out why the problem seems worse with Tevas than other types of footwear. The smell is actually caused by the waste excreted by the bacteria as they feed. Through taking swabs from the Tevas and growing the bacteria found on agar we were able to isolate the strains of bacteria present. Although several strains were found, the predominant strain was Corynebacteria. This bacterium is known to thrive only in acid conditions, and a simple litmus test confirmed the Tevas to be slightly acidic with a pH of 5.5. In further tests we discovered the acidity had been absorbed by the thick skin on the soles of the feet and the Corynebacteria were also present there.
It seems the materials used in Tevas are slightly acidic and so encourage the Corynebacteria bacteria to live on them, which in turn causes the Teva smell. There are many ways to reduce acidity, but most of the methods we use in the laboratory would not be suitable for use on footwear and feet. After trying several ways of tackling the problem we decided to try Marmite, yes I do mean the stuff you put on your toast. Marmite is slightly alkaline with a pH of around 8 but also acts an antiseptic due to the high salt content. Marmite is just alkaline enough to neutralize the acidity present in Tevas, and the mild antiseptic effect is all that is needed to kill the Corynebacteria bacteria. After trDid you think this was “insole discussion” and not inshore discussion? 
I actually found it interesting that tevas seem to have this problem and the scientific approach to finding the problem.
Hydra-Sports 22 Bay Sport
225 Rude
very interesting jim thanks
Jim, sounds to me like you guys had a LOT of time on your hands! I would have just thrown the damed things away and been done with the problem!
PS: Maybe Teva knows about the problem and uses it to sell more shoes. Kind of like planned obsolescence?
interesting, I gave up on Tevas because of the smell. Still have some issues with smelly sandals occasionally but never like those things.
So maybe a baking soda solution would work? should neutralize the acidity.
quote:
Originally posted by EasyJim, sounds to me like you guys had a LOT of time on your hands! I would have just thrown the damed things away and been done with the problem!
PS: Maybe Teva knows about the problem and uses it to sell more shoes. Kind of like planned obsolescence?
Angler 204 FX
Yamaha 150
Working in the sun all day everyday during the summer my feet have been susceptible to this. When buying flops I inspect them for the type of materials used in the upper part and try to determine how much sweat it will soak up. If it can soak up sweat they will not be fun to be around after awhile. Ola Kaui(sp) are ok but will reek after an extended period. Messed up and bought some other brand earlier this summer and was in a hurry, they were putrid after 4 days of working in them.
I soak my flops in Oxyclean and it seems to work for awhile but the odor comes back.
interesting read on the causes of the foot funk though.
www.advoutdoors.com
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Ammens medicated foot powder sprinkled in my son’s football cleats took care of a lovely cat pee smell.
Getting a pedicure once a month will take care of that.Nail Fever does a great job for $25.
Stonoman
Have a similar issue with lacrosse pads getting pretty rank from all of the sweat (and then stored in a duffle bag between uses). Normal wash doesn’t quite get rid of the smell. Wash with Scent Away, which is an enzyme cleaner that neutralizes bacteria. Hunters use it to remove scent from clothing. You can find it (or a similar product) in hunting section of sporting good stores and Wal Mart. I’d give that a try.
Had same problem with my sperry flipflops. Finally had to soak in bleach and then left in sun for several days to kill the bacteria. UV light deodorizers work the same way by killing the bacteria.
This subject is very funny. As it turns out I have had this discussion several times over the last 20 years on several types of footwear. My final conclusion after much in depth study is that the orientals use a glue that reacts to foot sweat that stinks like week old shrimp. They think this is funny. Their shoes that are sold in the orient don’t have this glue.
Capt. Tim Cutting
www.fishthegeorgiacoast.com
quote:
Originally posted by gratefulredThis subject is very funny. As it turns out I have had this discussion several times over the last 20 years on several types of footwear. My final conclusion after much in depth study is that the orientals use a glue that reacts to foot sweat that stinks like week old shrimp. They think this is funny. Their shoes that are sold in the orient don’t have this glue.
Capt. Tim Cutting
www.fishthegeorgiacoast.com
LOL!!!
Yep, I’ve noticed several brands of sandals develop “The Funk”. Maybe this is the reason.
Letting them bake in direct sunlight for a full day really seems to help.
The big guy
I have never tested this, but I saw/read recently that placing your shoes in a ziploc and putting them in the freezer overnight will kill any odor-causing bacteria. Good luck.
I used to have this issue a lot with flops and shoes but it is no longer a problem. I used to wear the Teva Halyards and they got pretty sour quickly, as did other leather bottomed sandals. I now either wear columbia drainmaker shoes, or reef sandals(the cushier ones without air bubble and bottle opener) and don’t have problems anymore.
I use “Totally Awesome” cleaner found at Dollar Tree stores, soak and scrub, put in sun. It cleans anything else on a boat,too. If you get pluff mud stank in shoes, you’re in trouble, man. And, Gold Bond foot powder does pretty good, too, after the cleaning. Hard to throw away Teva’s, I know, $$ there. good luck.
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