Your wellies will help you through any cold and wet weather condition. To keep them intact, it’s important to regularly clean them.

• General care guide for looking after your wellies 
• Exterior
• Soles
• Inside 
• Drying
• Removing ‘blooming’

General care guide for looking after your wellies 

Before explaining how to clean your wellies, let’s begin with some general care guide tips. 

When you are not wearing your boots, keep them in a cool and dry area, standing upright with boot trees or rolled-up towels. This will help your boots maintain their strong shape. If you aren’t wearing your wellies for an extended period of time, you may also want to consider adding a sachet of cedar, lavender, or baking soda to the inside of them to keep them smelling fresh. 

Make sure that you wear socks every time you wear your boots. They will help absorb excess moisture and prevent odours and stains. 

Once you have taken your wellies off, allow them to completely air dry before wearing them again. You can speed up this process by stuffing them with dry, clean, towels or tissue paper for an hour. 

Exterior  

To maintain the flexibility and cleanliness of your wellies, you should wash them with lukewarm water after every wear to remove any mud or debris. 

If there is dried mud and debris you will need…

• A medium bristle brush 
• An old cloth
• A clean cloth
• Dish soap 
• Warm water 

To begin cleaning your wellies, use a medium bristle brush to brush away any mud and debris. It’s best to use a circular motion to do this. To prevent getting mud and debris on your floor, complete this step on some newspaper or over the sink. 

After you have removed as much mud and debris as possible, dip an old cloth in warm water until it is damp, and wipe the exterior of your wellies. This will help you identify any mud and debris lingering on your boots. 

To remove the lingering mud and debris, mix one teaspoon of dish soap with two cups of warm water. Dip your old cloth into this solution and wipe your boot from the top to the bottom. The dish soap will help to break down the stronger mud and debris and remove it from your wellies. 

Once you are satisfied that you have removed all of the mud and debris from the exterior of your boots, wipe them down with a clean cloth dampened with lukewarm water. 

Soles

When you are cleaning the exterior of your boots it’s important that you don’t forget to clean the soles. 

To clean the soles you will need…

• A medium bristle brush 
• A small bristle brush, such as a toothbrush 

To begin cleaning the soles of your wellies, use a medium bristle brush to scrub the sole of your shoe. This will remove the mud and debris on the base of your sole. 

Once you are satisfied with the cleanliness of the base of your sole, use your small bristle brush to deep-clean the grooves of your sole. Use a vigorous scrubbing motion to lift the dirt from these grooves. 

Inside

If you don’t regularly clean the inside of your wellies, they will become odorous and begin to grow athlete’s foot fungus. 

To clean the inside you will need…

• Heavy-duty laundry detergent 
• Warm water 
• Two clean cloths
• Distilled white vinegar 
• A spray bottle 

To begin cleaning the inside of your wellies, mix one teaspoon of heavy-duty laundry detergent and two cups of warm water. Soak a clean cloth in your mixture, and wipe down the entire interior of your wellies. Make sure that you reach every surface to prevent odour and bacteria growth. 

After you have wiped down the interior of your wellies, dip your second clean cloth in warm water and rinse the detergent solution away. Again, make sure that you reach every surface so that all of the detergent solution is removed from the inside of your boots.  

Next, mix a 50/50 solution of distilled white vinegar and warm water. Put this solution in a spray bottle and lightly spray the inside of your wellies. This is an added precaution to ensure that no odorous bacteria or fungi are lingering inside your wellies. 

Drying 

After you have cleaned the exterior, sole, and interior of your wellies, you need to leave them to completely dry before wearing them again. 

To dry, leave them in a cool and dry location, away from direct sunlight and heat, to air dry. It is important that they are left to air dry away from heat as this will break down their strong structure and leave them droopy. If you want to speed up the drying of your wellies, insert dry, clean, towels or tissue paper, inside your boots for one hour. This will help absorb some of the excess moisture and limit the drying time.

Removing ‘blooming’

‘Blooming’ is when a white marbled film develops on the outside of your wellies. This happens as a result of the rubber, which is a natural product, in your boots being exposed to certain temperatures, causing insoluble particles to rise to the surface. It doesn’t affect the durability of your wellies, however, it can be removed if you don’t like the cosmetic look. 

To remove ‘blooming’ you will need…

• Olive oil 
• A clean cloth 

To remove ‘blooming’ from your wellies, simply add a few drops of olive oil to a clean, dry, cloth and wipe it over your boots. For the best results, work from the top of your wellies down to the bottom, working on small areas at a time to ensure that every surface is covered. 

Never add the olive oil to the sole of your wellies. This will only result in the sole of your wellies becoming slippy and could result in you falling over. 

Whilst you are cleaning your wellies, we can clean your laundry. From general washing to dry cleaning and ironing, we have a service that will fit your needs.

To book your Laundryheap service head to the Laundryheap website or download the free Laundryheap app.