On Tuesday, August 30, 1994 at 11:00:49 AM UTC-7, JOHN B. KIM wrote:
I've seen a discussion of this somewheres before, but can't turn up
any archived info....
I have a pair of 3 months old Tevas, and I washed them for the first
time the other day. Before I washed them, they smelled a little like
dirt and rubber, but it was hardly noticeable. I took them into my
shower and washed them with normal soap -- I mainly just wanted to get
the mud off -- making sure to bend them to get to the pores (the local
dealer gave me the advice when I bought them). I left them to air-dry
in the bathroom for a day, and now they stink horribly.
What can I do? The local dealer said to try using the Teva soap, which
is like $5 for a teensy bottle. Is there anything I can do without
getting reamed for the Teva soap?
I had a pair of Reef sandals 3 years ago that did the same, but luckily
they broke apart soon after they started to reek.....
Help!
--
John Kim
kim@cs.umass.edu wiLL pRoGRam fOr fOOd
(413) 545-0067
By Richard-T [1 Comment]
June 23, 2010
I work in a biological research institute. As two of us have Tevas and both have the same problem we set about finding out why. The smell is caused by bacteria which live in and feed on the sweat and skin cells which accumulate on the sandals. This is by
no means unusual and most forms of footwear are susceptible to the problem, but we wanted to find out why the problem seems worse with Tevas than other types of footwear. The smell is actually caused by the waste excreted by the bacteria as they feed.
Through taking swabs from the Tevas and growing the bacteria found on agar we were able to isolate the strains of bacteria present. Although several strains were found, the predominant strain was Corynebacteria. This bacterium is known to thrive only in
acid conditions, and a simple litmus test confirmed the Tevas to be slightly acidic with a pH of 5.5. In further tests we discovered the acidity had been absorbed by the thick skin on the soles of the feet and the Corynebacteria were also present there.
It seems the materials used in Tevas are slightly acidic and so encourage the Corynebacteria bacteria to live on them, which in turn causes the Teva smell. There are many ways to reduce acidity, but most of the methods we use in the laboratory would not
be suitable for use on footwear and feet. After trying several ways of tackling the problem we decided to try Marmite, yes I do mean the stuff you put on your toast. Marmite is slightly alkaline with a pH of around 8 but also acts an antiseptic due to
the high salt content. Marmite is just alkaline enough to neutralize the acidity present in Tevas, and the mild antiseptic effect is all that is needed to kill the Corynebacteria bacteria. After treating both the sandals and soles of the feet by coating
with Marmite for about ten minutes then rinsing in water we found the problem of the smell was completely gone. Tests by taking further swabs from the sandals confirmed the Corynebacteria bacteria were no longer present. The pH of the sandals was found
to have shifted to almost 7 which should prevent the Corynebacteria bacteria from returning. It's too early to tell how long this treatment will work for, but our best guess is about three months before needing to be done again.
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