Can you wash Brooks shoes in the washing machine? Brooks says no, and on its blog it says it twice for emphasis: no machine washing and no dryer. Its gear-care page even anticipates the hand-wash setting many machines have, and still tells you to say no. What Brooks wants instead is the uppers washed by hand in warm water with a mild soap, the shoe never submerged or soaked, then air dried.
The answer is the same for Brooks running shoes, walking shoes and what many people call Brooks tennis or gym shoes, whether it's a Ghost, a Glycerin, an Adrenaline or another model. Brooks' care advice is written for its shoes in general, not model by model. SneakerSalt is not affiliated with Brooks.
Brooks' own answer, point by point
| Question | Brooks' answer |
|---|---|
| Normal wash cycle? | No. The blog and the gear page both rule it out. |
| The washer's hand-wash setting? | Still no. The gear page notes many machines have one and recommends you just say no. |
| Tumble dryer? | No. |
| Radiator? | No. The gear page rules that out too. |
| Soaking in a sink or bucket? | No. The support page says not to submerge or soak the shoes. |
| Washing by hand? | Yes: the uppers, gently, in warm water with a mild soap. |
One older source disagrees. A Brooks community blog post from 2008 said a soak in the sink worked well. Brooks' current support pages say the opposite, and they're the ones to follow.
Why Brooks says no
Brooks gives one reason itself: its Australian running blog says the spin cycle can degrade the material. The rest shows in its method, where every step keeps the shoe out of standing water and away from heat. A washer does the opposite, holding the whole shoe under water and tumbling it, often warm.
Other makers and cleaning bodies spell out the damage. The American Cleaning Institute says detergents and agitation can harm the adhesives shoes are built with. Scott Sports says temperature and detergent attack the bond between sole and upper. ASICS warns that soaking can damage fabric and adhesives, and that too much heat can make a shoe come apart.
Take the Ghost 16, Brooks' main everyday shoe. Its midsole is DNA LOFT v3, an EVA-based foam infused with nitrogen, with engineered air mesh above it and RoadTack rubber below. Mesh copes with water reasonably well. The foam midsole is the weak point: soaked through, it holds water for days, and heat from a hot wash or a dryer can warp it. That's the part a running shoe depends on, so it's the wrong part to gamble with.
The hand method, in Brooks' order
- Caked mud off the bottoms. Let it dry, then knock and brush it out of the outsole.
- Insoles out. Brooks names this step. Take the laces out too; washing them separately is common advice.
- A bowl of warm water with a little mild soap. Enough to dip a cloth or soft brush in. The shoe doesn't go in it.
- Wash the uppers gently. Small strokes over the mesh, wringing the cloth often so it stays damp rather than dripping. The aim is a clean surface, not a wet lining.
- Take the soap back off. Go over the mesh with a clean, damp cloth.
- Wipe the midsole and outsole. DNA LOFT is foam, so wipe it rather than scouring it.
- Stuff and air dry. Brooks suggests filling each shoe with a dry washcloth or some paper towels; swap them out when they get damp. Room temperature, nowhere near a radiator.
Our Brooks cleaning guide covers black and white pairs, smell and what to leave alone. The fabric itself is covered in our mesh and knit guide.
Laces and insoles
Laces. These are the easy part. Put them through the machine in a mesh bag; our washing machine guide counts laces among the few shoe parts a machine handles well. Or put a little foam on a cloth and pull each lace through it. Dry them flat, away from heat.
Insoles. Brooks tells you to take them out but, in what we found, doesn't say whether they can be machine washed, and we won't guess for it. Check the insole for its own label. Hand cleaning is the cautious route: wipe the top with a little soapy water or foam, don't soak it, and let it dry completely before it goes back in. Putting an insole back damp undoes the drying.
Already put your Brooks in the washing machine?
Then the job is drying, and Brooks' own drying method still applies. It just takes longer after a full soak.
- Insoles and laces out straight away, dried flat on their own.
- Wrap each shoe in a towel and press to get the worst of the water out of the mesh.
- Fill them with a dry washcloth or paper towels, as Brooks suggests, and swap in dry ones whenever they're damp. Skip newspaper in pale pairs; the American Cleaning Institute warns that newsprint ink can rub off.
- Air, not heat. Room temperature, out of direct sun, away from the radiator Brooks warns about, and no dryer to hurry it. The mesh will be dry long before a DNA LOFT midsole that soaked through.
- Run in another pair meanwhile. Brooks suggests rotating pairs anyway, so each one dries fully between runs.
- Look at the joins before your next few runs. Where the midsole meets the upper, at the toe and the heel. Adhesive softened in a drum doesn't always give way at once.
Leave any mark the wash missed until the shoe is dry, then spot clean it without heat. If the sole has started to come away from the upper, that's one for a repairer; cleaning can't reattach it.
Between hand washes
Most of what makes a Brooks look dirty sits on the surface of the mesh and the midsole, and that doesn't need a bowl of water. SneakerSalt Shoe Cleaning Foam goes on with two pumps, sits for ten seconds and comes off with a dry cloth, so there's nothing to soak and nothing to dry. It's rated excellent on mesh and on rubber outsoles like RoadTack, it lifts surface grime from foam midsoles like DNA LOFT, and laces are rated good. The brush and cloth come in the box. We found nothing from Brooks on cleaning products, so this is our method, not Brooks'.
Questions people actually ask
Can I use a magic eraser on shoes?
On the rubber outsole, lightly, after testing a small spot; soles are what melamine sponges are mostly used for. It works by abrasion, so keep it off the mesh upper.
Can I wash running shoes in the washing machine?
It depends on the brand, and they disagree. adidas's running-shoe guide allows a cold, gentle cycle in a bag. Brooks and ASICS both say no. Go by the name on the tongue.
Is dish soap good for cleaning sneakers?
Brooks asks for a mild soap and doesn't name one. A small amount of plain dish soap in warm water fits that. Use as little as you can and take it back out of the mesh with a clean damp cloth so no residue is left.
Clean the surface, skip the drying: SneakerSalt Shoe Cleaning Foam, $24, free shipping, brush and cloth included. If it doesn't clean your Brooks, email us a photo within 30 days for your money back.
