Decadent but good – how sneaker cleaners give your shoes a makeover

Laura Scholz

8.3.2023

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Sure, I can clean my sneakers myself. But specialised sneaker cleaning services are currently springing up like mushrooms. I want to know why.

«Please don’t judge me, I walk my dog in these all the time,» I say in an awkward attempt to justify the condition of my sneakers as I pull them out of my bag.
«Oh, we’ve seen worse,» Raoul Hüttenmoser assures me as he inspects the extent of the damage – his own feet nested in a pair of snow-white New Balance MR530SYA’s. He has a point – why should I be ashamed, when banged up beaters like mine are his daily bread? That’s why I’m standing in Sneakky Klean, a sneaker cleaning shop in Zurich Altstetten that opened in December 2022.

«Only in Zurich …,» replies a friend when I tell her about my visit. Wrong! In Switzerland, the sneaker cleaner business is really taking off. You can also have your grubby shoes professionally cleaned in Basel and Lausanne, for instance. So, Raoul and his colleague Enrique Frias – he’s the flashy Air Jordan 1 Retro Low type – decided to go big. «We’d had the idea for a while and figured that instead of starting from scratch ourselves, we should reach out to people already in the know.» The rest reads like a modern love story: they slide into the DMs of Devonn Vidal, the founder of Sneakky Klean in Miami. Established in 2019, the team now refurbishes 1,200 sneakers each month. Sparks fly. They get to know each other virtually and finally arrange a first meeting in Zurich. The chemistry is right. It’s a serious affair. So serious, in fact, that Raoul and Enrique fly to Miami to soak up all their colleague’s knowledge and return to Zurich as official Sneakky Klean partners.

«Of course, we can’t divulge all the details. At a certain point, unfortunately, we’re going to have to kick you out,» Raoul tells me with a laugh. Trade secret. Dagnabbit. But that was the deal from the start. Well, that just means I’ll have to pay even closer attention. Lined up in their studio are Nike, Asics and On shoes next to footwear from Christian Louboutin and Amina Muaddi. Indeed, they also dare to deal with non-sneakers. In the corner an infrared cabin that comes into play during bleaching is humming away. Right in front of the shelf for finished sneakers there’s a huge fan, eagerly waiting to blow-dry the «like-new» models.

Enrique is already busy with step 1 in reviving my Adidas Supercourts. The laces regain their former strength in a foam bath, a loudly rattling circular brush chases stubborn little stones and other dirt out of the sole after the rough stuff has already been removed by hand. «One time we pulled an absolutely massive shard out of a shoe. It’s a wonder the owner never sliced their foot open,» he says. Foaming and bubbling, my shoes already look brand new. «From here on out, we keep our techniques to ourselves.»

In three days I can pick up the refurbished sneakers and inspect them. That’s how long it takes for the guys to work their magic. How much you’ll have to shell out for them depends on the type of shoe. Standard models from your usual brands will be spruced up for 49.99 Swiss francs. Higher-priced models, often made of more delicate materials, are priced at 69.90 francs by Sneakky Klean. You can find this and all other info on sneakky.ch or in the app (site in German). This also makes booking the pick-up and drop-off service a breeze. What more could you want? Hmm, maybe make a habit of cleaning them yourself so that your sneakers don’t fall into disrepair like mine did. Naturally, the right tools and kits for doing so are also available in the Sneakky Shop.

And the end result? It’s quite something. This definitely won’t remain the only time I visited sneaker cleaners. Maybe even without a dog as an excuse in future.

Laura Scholz

Senior Editor

Laura.Scholz@digitecgalaxus.ch

Always in the mood for good hits, great trips and clinking drinks.

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