Getting Old Skates Clean Enough to Sell

Hi all,

It's been a while! I have actually taken a year away from skating to focus on my education, but am considering returning to the rink eventually.

Anyway, I have an old pair of skates I am considering selling. They were my "first" pair (as in the first pair that were actually wearable), so I am a bit sentimental about them, but feel that they are better used by someone else than sitting in my closet collecting dust. I have a bit of an issue: they are still stenchy. Realllly stenchy. :noshake: I have not worn them for at least two years, and they are still too smelly for me to feel okay about selling. I would like to clean them (they certainly need it, even beside the odor), but am not sure of a good method of doing so. I have used baking soda tricks with no success. They seem to need a "wet" cleaning of sorts, but I don't want to damage the interior. What's a good way to soften and clean these up?

Also, they are a bit worn. I wholeheartedly believe they would still do a new skater good (I would sell on a heavy discount for sure), at least as a starting pair. They're significantly better than rentals, even with their scratches and creases, but would I be harming a skater by selling these? They've molded to my feet a bit, so would this cause issues for a skater to use them, even if for a short time? They're beginner level skates, so I'm not concerned about them being too tough.

[OFF] This thread being in The Edge instead of The Lutz Corner, I honestly interpreted the title as 'reusing old programs with (jump-wise) clean content in order to be able to sell them better as a performance' at first. [/OFF]

I can’t answer your question about the smell, but you didn’t really mention the important stuff: how long did you wear them, do they show any signs of breaking down, and how much life is left in the blades?

Boots that smell strongly and have creases sound to me like boots that are at or near the end of their useful life, and as such may be more appropriate for donation than sale. It’s one thing to be sentimental about your first boots but you need to be realistic about whether someone will really be able to get much use out of them.

For the smell I think you could try those sprays that remove smells. I had a problem with my vacuum cleaner and the spray worked very well. I also think it is safe enough for different surfaces. I bought it from Amazon. But as far as I know, there are products designed for shoes. That is what you need.

TheSnowQueen2013 said:

They're significantly better than rentals, even with their scratches and creases, but would I be harming a skater by selling these? They've molded to my feet a bit, so would this cause issues for a skater to use them, even if for a short time? They're beginner level skates, so I'm not concerned about them being too tough.

Click to expand...

If they're creased and broken down they probably wouldn't be appropriate for a beginner at all. I gave away my broken down Jackson Elites to a beginner and they probably have as much stiffness as yours had new. I would also feel weird about selling boots to someone who wouldn't be able to judge whether they're too damaged or not.

Based on what you've written here, I'd suggest these aren't in good enough shape to sell, even if you could destink them. Since they're a bit sentimental for you, I'd destink them and keep them.

To destink them, open them up all the way - undo the laces. Since you've already dried baking soda, time to move on to charcoal. Use something like these:
https://www.amazon.com/Moso-Natural...&keywords=charcoal+shoe+deodorizer+bags&psc=1

Put them inside the skates. Then put the skates into something you can seal - a sealable plastic container, a plastic bag you tie, or etc. Let them sit overnight. Open the container. Remove the charcoal deodorizers, see how they did. Repeat again, this time for a couple of days. Open, see how they did.

If you live in a place where it's summer right now, between the charcoal treatments, open up the skates and put them out in the sun. UV light can help with bad odors.

Hi everyone!

Thanks for your input. Based on what you've all said, I think the skates may be simply unusable for another skater. On that note, it will be nice to keep them as some personal skating memorabilia, but I would like to still address the smell issue for the sake of cleanliness. I appreciate everyone's ideas on this, and think I'll try out that charcoal method. If I get a chance, I'll try to provide an update on how it works out!