How to get the smell out of boots
For a smell that is already established, removing the moisture is not enough on its own. You have to deal with what grew while the boot was damp.
By Scooter M., Enthusiast. Published September 1, 2026.
We earn a commission if you buy through the links on this page, at no extra cost to you. It never changes a ranking, and we recommend products with no affiliate link behind them where those are the right answer. Full disclosure.
Start with the insole. It is usually the whole problem. People treat the boot and leave the footbed in, which is like cleaning a room and leaving the source under the floor. If you do nothing else on this page, take the insoles out and look at them.
- 01
Pull the insoles and judge them honestly
Out they come. If they are hard, flat, permanently discolored, or they smell strongly on their own once out of the boot, they are finished - replace them and you have removed the largest reservoir in one move. Compressed foam that has been repeatedly soaked does not recover.
- 02
Get the boot completely dry, first
Everything downstream needs a dry boot. Powder cakes in a damp boot, activated carbon cannot adsorb when it is saturated with water, and a liquid spray makes a damp boot damper. Overnight on a convection dryer, or the no-dryer method with paper changed as it saturates.
- 03
Clean the interior you can reach
Wipe out the footbed and as far up the lining as you can get with a damp cloth, then dry it fully again. You are physically removing residue rather than sterilizing anything, and physical removal is worth more here than people expect.
- 04
Treat what is left, with a dry-mechanism product
A drying powder into the toe box, or an activated-carbon pad on the footbed. Powder for boots you can shake out; carbon for insulated or bonded linings you cannot. Give it a full 24 hours before judging it.
- 05
Put cedar in for storage
Unfinished aromatic cedar absorbs residual moisture and holds the boot in shape. Do this only once the boot is dry - a tree in a wet boot just becomes damp cedar.
- 06
Change the routine that caused it
This is the step that decides whether you are back here in three weeks. Insoles out every evening, boots somewhere with moving air, a second pair in rotation if the boots are worn daily. The smell came from a boot that never got back to dry.
The two shortcuts that make it worse
- The washing machine. It saturates every soft material in the boot, including padding you cannot get dry again, and on leather it strips oils and can distort the shape. You solve a smell and create a leather problem.
- Drying them fast with heat afterwards. Having soaked the boots, people reach for a radiator. Atsko states that force drying with heat causes leather to harden and shrink. You now have a boot that smells slightly less and fits worse permanently.
The freezer myth, addressed
Freezing gets recommended constantly. We are not going to tell you it works, because the reasoning behind it - that freezing kills the bacteria - is not something we can source, and many bacteria survive freezing perfectly well. It also does nothing about the moisture or the residue. Drying and replacing the insole are both cheap, and both have a mechanism you can actually follow.
If it comes back
A smell that returns within a couple of weeks means the boot is not getting dry between wears, not that the treatment failed. That is a drying problem wearing an odor costume, and the fix is in the boot dryer roundup or, for daily wear, a second pair on rotation.
What we would buy for this
Chosen from the same registry as our roundups, on published specifications rather than on testing we have not done.
Dr. Scholl's
Dr. Scholl's Odor-X Odor Fighting Spray Powder
A powder rather than a liquid, which matters: powder absorbs the moisture the bacteria need instead of adding more.
Skip it if: You want the smell gone tonight - powder is a prevention product, not a rescue.
#ad We hold no verified live price for this product, so we show none. How this site is funded.
Zorpads
Zorpads Shoe Inserts
Thin activated-carbon pads that stick to the footbed and adsorb odor compounds instead of covering them with perfume.
Skip it if: The boot is wet. Carbon that is saturated with water cannot adsorb anything else.
#ad We hold no verified live price for this product, so we show none. How this site is funded.
Generic
Cedar shoe trees, split-toe
Unfinished aromatic cedar absorbs moisture and holds the shape - two jobs at once, which is why every shoe-care list has them.
Skip it if: The boots are soaking. A tree cannot move enough water out of a saturated boot; dry it first, then insert.
#ad We hold no verified live price for this product, so we show none. How this site is funded.
Frequently asked
How do you get the smell out of boots quickly?
There is no genuinely fast route, but the quickest real one is: pull the insoles out and replace them, dry the boot completely, wipe out the interior, and put a carbon pad or drying powder in. Expect 24 hours before you can judge it.
Can you put boots in the washing machine to remove smell?
We would not. It saturates padding you cannot dry again, and on leather it strips oils and can distort the shape. You trade an odor problem for a leather problem and often still have the odor.
Does baking soda work in boots?
It absorbs moisture, which is a real mechanism and the same one a drying powder uses. The practical drawback is getting it back out of a textile lining. A purpose-made spray powder does the same job with less mess.
Should I replace the insoles or the whole boot?
The insoles, nearly always. They are the main reservoir, they are cheap, and they are designed to be replaced. Replacing the boot while keeping the same drying routine just restarts the clock.
Does freezing boots kill the smell?
We cannot source the claim that it kills the bacteria, and plenty of bacteria survive freezing. It also leaves the moisture and residue in place. Drying properly and replacing the insole are cheaper and have a mechanism you can follow.