How to Wash VIVAIA Shoes and Handbags

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Updated: 5/19/2022 | How to Wash VIVAIA Shoes and Handbags

VIVAIA is a sustainable and vegan shoe and accessory line made entirely from used water bottles. One of their main selling points is that (almost all) their shoes are machine washable.

Below we’ll go over the steps on how to clean your VIVAIA shoes along with a before and after photo of our shoes.

How to WASH VIVAIA shoes and Handbags

There are two ways to clean VIVAIA shoes and handbags.

The handwashing method.
The washing machine method.

We prefer the machine washing method because it’s much more convenient and you can wash multiple VIVAIA shoes and accessories at a time. And if you’ve ever owned a pair of VIVAIA shoes, you know that one pair is never enough!

We also wanted to mention that NOT ALL VIVAIA shoes are machine washable. Some will need to be hand washed or spot treated due to the construction of the sole, heel or other features.

Machine washing certain styles can damage the shoes. Shoes that should not be machine washed include:

Boots and heels with stiff and chunky plastic heels and bottoms.
Boots with molded toe boxes.

Shoes with these features should be spot-treated with gentle soap and a microfiber towel. All other shoes without these features can be machine washed.

Here are the steps on how to clean your VIVAIA shoes using the machine washing method.

Step 1: Remove the inner liner from shoe(s).

Removing the inner liner of the shoe just allows the liner to get washed a little better. There is a shoe detail screenprint within the shoe that will not remove in the wash.

However, over time the screenprint will come off with normal wear and tear.

Step 2: Throw the shoes in the washing machine

Throw your shoes in the washing machine. We don’t really organize them in any way because the machine will naturally disperse them during the washing cycle.

As you can see, we don’t use laundry bags. But you totally can!

It’s important to note that cleaning VIVAIA shoes this way does create microplastic waste. We recommend using a Guppy Friend garment bag to capture and prevent microplastics from entering the ocean.

Step 3: Add detergent and wash on a gentle cycle with cold Water

We use Tide pods to clean our shoes and handbags. We dropped one pod with our VIVAIA shoes, VIVAIA handbag, KEEN sandals, and APL Chelsea sneakers and set it to wash on a gentle cycle with COLD WATER.

We found that VIVAIA shoes are very durable, so you don’t have to worry about them being thrown around in the wash on gentle cycle.

If you need some extra odor fighting assistance, we recommend adding some baking soda to your load. This also helps with tough stain removal as well. We shake about a 1/4 cup of baking soda into each load.

DO NOT use warm or hot water when washing your VIVAIA shoes and handbags, as this can damage and shrink or cause warping of the fibers.

Step 4: Allow your shoes to air dry

We recommend laying your shoes out on the floor to dry. You can lay a towel on the ground to absorb any moisture.

Make sure to keep the shoes out of direct sunlight because heat from the sun can cause the fibers to shrink.

The shoes should be dry within a day. Once the shoes are dry, insert your soles and wear your VIVAIA shoes!

DO NOT throw your shoes in the dryer because it can damage the plastic sole and fibers of the shoe.

Before and After

Here is a Before and After of our VIVAIA shoes and handbag after they’ve been cleaned.

Before and After washing Venus Mules

We are very satisfied with how our shoes cleaned up, especially our Venus Mules! The points of our shoes were dusty from a recent wedding I attended. The stains came out easily and the sole of the shoe dried quickly.

The machine washing process was so easy and the detergent left our shoes smelling amazing and fresh.

Selkie Pastel Bouquet Tea Rose Dress Review Schimiggy

Wearing VIVAIA Venus Mules with my Selkie Tea Rose Dress

Before and After washing VIVAIA Harper Messenger Bag

Before and After washing the Harper Messenger Bag

We took our VIVAIA Harper Messenger Bag to Mexico for two weeks and it got super dusty and dirty. I got scuffs on the shoulder strap and on the bottom of the bag. After one wash, the marks were gone! I am super happy with how the bag cleaned up!