By Dr. Evan Lewis, PhD · Last updated August 2026
Smelly shoes cannot cause athlete's foot on their own, because the smell is bacterial and the infection is fungal. What a smelly shoe does tell you is that the lining stays wet, which is the condition dermatophytes need most, and once the fungus is in there the shoe becomes the thing that keeps reinfecting you.
Can smelly shoes cause athlete's foot?
Not by themselves. You have to bring the organism home first, almost always by walking barefoot on a floor somebody else has been on. A shoe with no fungus in it will never give you athlete's foot no matter how badly it smells.
What the shoe does is decide whether the infection takes and whether it comes back.
What does a smelly shoe actually prove?
That the lining is not drying out. Odour is bacteria digesting sweat that has soaked into foam and fabric, so a shoe that smells is a shoe that stayed damp between wears.
That matters because damp is the whole ballgame. Wearing occlusive shoes for extended periods predisposes patients to dermatophyte infections, and the risk is elevated with excessive sweating. A smelly shoe is a readable signal that both of those apply to you.
What does the smell not prove?
That there is fungus in there. Plenty of shoes smell and hold nothing but ordinary skin bacteria. Smell is a moisture readout, not a fungal test, and treating it as proof leads people to throw out perfectly good footwear.
The reverse trips people up more often. A shoe can hold dermatophytes and smell completely normal.
How does the fungus get into your shoes?
Off your own foot, usually. You pick it up somewhere barefoot, it establishes between the toes, and skin scale carrying it sheds into the shoe every day after that. Household spread is the other route, and it is not rare: transmission between household members was documented in 44% to 47% of households in a scoping review, with dermatophytes recovered from slippers, sandals and socks.
How long does it survive in a shoe?
Longer than anybody expects. The same review reported dermatophytes persisting in the home environment for up to 18 months, and asymptomatic carriage on people for up to two months. Six weeks of not wearing a pair is not a reset.
What actually removes athlete's foot from fabric?
This is where the popular advice falls over. A controlled test put three Trichophyton species on 180 gauze pads and ran them through household laundering, heat drying and freezing.
| What you do | Result | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Wash at 40 degrees | Conidia survived | Not enough |
| Wash at 60 or 90 degrees | Conidia removed | The number that matters |
| Tumble dry after washing | Did not remove them | No |
| A week in the freezer at minus 20 | Did not remove them | No, and this one is everywhere |
| Fragranced spray in the shoe | Changes the smell | Not aimed at this at all |
The source is Akhoundi and colleagues in the Journal of Fungi, and it is the most quietly useful paper in this whole subject. Socks and washable liners can go to 60 degrees. Boots and trainers cannot, which is exactly why the shoe is the hard part. How to disinfect your shoes works through the options for the ones you cannot wash.
Why does the same shoe keep reinfecting you?
Treat the foot, put it back in the same shoe, get it again. That is not bad luck, it is the documented pattern. Recurrence and relapse for superficial fungal foot infections is reported at 10% to 53%, and a review across 33 studies from 1920 to 2016 names reinfection from an infected shoe, sock or textile as a reason.
If yours keeps returning to the same toe, why athlete's foot keeps coming back in the same spot covers the loop in detail.
Why do nurses get athlete's foot from their shoes?
Because the shoe never gets a chance to dry out. A twelve hour shift in a closed clog or trainer, then the same pair again the next morning, is the pattern StatPearls is describing when it says wearing occlusive shoes for extended periods predisposes patients to dermatophyte infections. Add a shared changing room floor and the odds go up again.
The answer is not a different brand of shoe. It is a second pair, so nothing is worn two days running, insoles out at the end of every shift, and socks that go through a 60 degree wash. Anyone on their feet all day in closed footwear is in the same position, from kitchen staff to tradespeople to warehouse crews.
How do you clean shoes after athlete's foot?
- Socks and washable insoles: 60 degrees, if the label allows it.
- Everything else: rotate so no pair is worn two days running, take the insoles out and let the shoe dry open with moving air.
- The pair you wear most: that is the one carrying the problem. Give it the days off.
- Do not bother with the freezer. It has been tested and it does not do it.
Where does a foot spray fit in?
Sole Shield is two ingredients, iodine and water. It is not a laundry product and it is not a fragrance. There is no scent in it at all, which is deliberate.
Its place in this is the daily habit at both ends of the loop: on the sole and between the toes when the shoes come off, and inside the shoe while it is open and drying. Iodine has a long documented history of use on skin, going back to the 1800s. Ours does not sting and does not stain, unlike the decolorized iodine on the pharmacy shelf whose FDA-registered label lists 45% alcohol and warns that it will stain skin and clothing.
What it is not: a reason to skip the 60 degree wash, or a substitute for seeing someone if the skin is broken. If you have an active infection, get it looked at. This is the routine that runs alongside, and afterwards.
Frequently asked questions
Can smelly shoes cause athlete's foot?
Not on their own. The smell is bacterial and the infection is fungal, and the fungus has to be brought in from outside, usually by walking barefoot on a shared floor. What a smelly shoe does prove is that the lining stays damp, which is the condition dermatophytes need, so it raises the odds considerably once the organism is present.
Can smelly shoes cause foot fungus?
Same answer. A shoe cannot generate fungus from nothing. It can hold it for a very long time and hand it back to you every morning, which is why the shoe matters so much in recurrence even though it is not the origin.
How long does athlete's foot live in shoes?
Longer than most people assume. Dermatophytes have been reported persisting in the home environment for up to 18 months, with recovery from slippers, sandals and socks. Leaving a pair unworn for a few weeks is not a reset, which is why rotation and washing matter more than resting a pair.
Do I need to throw away my shoes if I have athlete's foot?
Usually not. Rotating so no pair is worn on consecutive days, removing insoles to let them dry, and washing socks and washable liners at 60 degrees deals with most of it. The pair worn most often is the one carrying the problem, so give that one the days off first.
Does the freezer kill athlete's foot in shoes?
No. In a controlled test using three Trichophyton species, a week at minus 20 degrees Celsius failed to remove the conidia, and tumble drying failed too. Washing at 60 or 90 degrees is what removed them. The freezer trick is one of the most repeated and least effective pieces of advice in this subject.
Why does my athlete's foot keep coming back?
Recurrence and relapse are reported at 10% to 53% for superficial fungal foot infections, and reinfection from an infected shoe, sock or textile is named as a reason across a review of 33 studies. Treating the foot without addressing what it goes back into is the most common version of this.
Should I spray inside my shoes?
It is a reasonable habit as part of a routine, provided you understand what it is for. A fragranced spray changes the smell and nothing else. A two-ingredient iodine spray like Sole Shield is aimed at the skin and the lining rather than the scent. Neither replaces drying the shoe out, which does more than either.
How do you disinfect shoes after athlete's foot?
Start with whatever can go in the machine. Socks and washable liners at 60 degrees is the one step with a controlled test behind it. For the shoes themselves, pull the insoles out, dry them open with moving air, and keep the pair out of rotation for a day. Our guide to disinfecting shoes works through the sprays, UV devices and dryers one at a time.
IodinePure products are cosmetics listed with Health Canada, for daily foot, skin and nail care alongside professional foot care rather than instead of it. If you have diabetes, poor circulation or broken skin, speak to a clinician first.
