A few years ago we did Spain on a Budget and the one keepsake I wanted to walk away with was a pair of espadrilles.  Not any espadrilles.  The ones from the famous store in Madrid, Casa Hernanz. We were actually booked into an Air B&B only a block away.  Perfect! I never could’ve imagined all the choice and with my minimum Spanish vocabulary I was able to get a pair of shoes.

A few summers later my beige striped espadrilles are slightly dirty.  I searched and searched online and couldn’t find a simple step by step on how to properly clean the espadrilles.  Obviously I want to keep them and don’t want to be limited to wearing them around the house.

Recently I was talking to a friend who is a new mother and was staying with us a couple weekends ago.  She was telling me that for the reusable diapers the best way to get them white is drying them in the sun!  What? This was genius and gave me a great idea.

Before I go through the 3 easy steps to clean your espadrilles, let’s talk through some DON’TS! Since espadrilles are made of jute rope, throwing them in the washing machine wouldn’t be a great idea since the rope could unravel or come unglued.  You also need to be gentle with these shoes as they are hand sewn and the stitching could start to come apart.

Get your tools together.

You don’t have to use the exact products I am using but I would highly recommend Nellie’s products for all cleaning.  They are gentle on fabric and always get out tough stains.  I used the Nellie’s Wow Stick and Oxygen Brightener

Clean your espadrilles

• First fill the sink with warm water and add in the brightening powder
• Get the espadrilles wet with warm water and apply the cleaning stick to any spot that has excessive dirt.
• Use a toothbrush to work in the cleaner.  Once you see the dirt lifting use the toothbrush on the rest of the fabric.
• Rinse off the suds and submerge espadrilles in the warm water.  To keep them from floating place a heavy object on top.
• Let espadrilles soak for an hour.  (If you have coloured espadrilled you might only leave them in for a few minutes and check the colour)

Let the espadrilles dry in the sun

Our front door gets a lot of sunlight throughout the day so I put my espadrilles outside for  three days.  Guess what?  They are bright again and have regained their shape!

If you have a pair of shoes you are in love with and cannot think of giving up consider washing them. Some shoes can easily go in the washing machine, others will need a little more care.

Were you able to save your favorite pair of shoes?  Let  me know!

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