How to clean esparto espadrilles, one of the favorite summer garments.

Have your esparto espadrilles gotten stained and you don't know how to clean them?

Don't worry; Here we leave you a couple of very easy tricks to clean your jute or esparto espadrilles, whatever style they are.

Materials necessary for cleaning your espadrilles.

To put these cleaning tricks into practice you need to have on hand: neutral natural soap, a clean cloth, a soft bristle brush and baking soda (to eliminate any trace of bad odors). Additionally, if your sneakers are made of white fabric, we recommend our Oxygen Booster Nº04 so that they look like the first day again and before storing them in the closet, spray them with our Anti-Odor Perfume Nº 230.

Introduction to esparto espadrilles

Espadrilles are a very comfortable and simple type of footwear that is generally made of natural fibers such as cotton, leather, wicker or canvas with esparto grass soles. The most common are esparto-soled espadrilles with or without heels. It is common for us to use them throughout the summer, even until the beginning of fall.

How to clean different types of espadrilles

Now, depending on the type of espadrille, its construction and its material, you will have to clean it in one way or another. For example, something you should never do is wash your esparto espadrilles in the washing machine, since jute does very poorly with humidity, it can become deformed and damaged.

How to clean jute or esparto espadrilles

• Step 1: Brush the espadrille The first thing you should do is clean the entire espadrille with a soft-bristled brush. Brushing should always be done in the same direction to avoid dragging or tearing out the fibers of the fabric or untwisting the jute.
• Step 2: Rub the espadrille with a semi-damp cloth. Then, with a semi-damp cloth, rub the entire shoe, taking care to ensure there is no excess moisture. We advise you to always start rubbing with the fabric part and ending with the heel or sole (the jute).
• Step 3: Remove stains from espadrilles with neutral natural soap. Dilute a little of any of our natural soaps from Home Healthy Home . It is important that during cleaning you insert gauze or kitchen paper into the shoe to absorb excess moisture. If your shoe is made of white canvas, you can make a kind of paste with a little hot water and our Oxygen Booster Nº04. Distribute it on the white canvas and let it rest for at least an hour. Remove any remains of the product with a damp cloth with a few drops of natural soap.
• Step 4: Remove excess moisture with a clean cloth While cleaning them, always prevent the espadrille from acquiring excess moisture. Therefore, after brushing it you must remove excess moisture with a dry, clean cloth. Next, brush the espadrille one last time (the brush must be dry).
• Step 5: Dry the espadrille outdoors. Finally, dry the espadrilles in an outdoor place where the sun does not hit them and pick them up only when they are completely dry. You can leave them in the sun for a couple of hours, but not for long, since the sun eats away the colors and the color of your espadrilles could be affected.

Tips to prevent espadrilles from getting damaged

To keep your espadrilles looking like new, avoid excess humidity, do not use corrosive detergents, bleach, and avoid the washing machine and dryer.

Be very careful with excess humidity

As we have indicated before, humidity is the number one enemy of esparto espadrilles. Therefore, we advise you to avoid soaking, washing entirely or putting your espadrilles in the washing machine.

Do not use corrosive detergents

When cleaning shoes, it is not advisable to use whitening products such as bleach. This is because they could 'eat' the color of the shoes. Therefore, we recommend not using these products to clean your espadrilles.

Do not use the washing machine

Do not use the washing machine to clean jute or esparto espadrilles. This way you prevent the material from decomposing and the jute strands from untwisting.

Espadrilles that smell bad?

If the bad odor problem is due to humidity, use baking soda to eliminate the bad odor.

How to do it? After cleaning the espadrilles, place a teaspoon of baking soda inside them, especially on the toe.

You must leave the baking soda for 24 hours and, after this time, remove it with a semi-damp or dry cloth.

Before storing them, you can spray your shoes with our anti-odor perfume Nº230, this way the smell of wet esparto grass will disappear.

Finally, do your espadrilles slip?

You can apply hairspray to your sole to prevent this from happening. This is an almost magical trick to prevent your shoes from slipping when walking.

By the way, we almost forgot. If you are or are passing through Madrid, you cannot miss visiting Casa Herranz. Since 1845, they have been the reference jewelery store in Spain. They make the natural esparto cord for our Stain Remover Stick.