I’ve been checking this out lately, and there are a few things you can try to get rid of the smell of Birkenstocks that you wear every day (like I’ve been doing):

1. Baking powder (or bicarbonate of soda, same thing) - put a couple of tablespoons’ worth in a pair of socks, tie the ends with string (hemp string if you want, or re-use those old shoelaces ;)), then lay flat on the footbed of your Birks. Or, just sprinkle a tablespoon or so on each footbed and shake out in the morning (this is a bit messier, obviously!). I’ve read that you could dry out leather/suede using baking soda but with bare feet on your Birks all day I wouldn’t worry about this too much.
2. Herbs! Possibly the most hippy-ish way to deodorize. Put a mix of two or more of these herbs in a pair of old socks: rosemary, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, orange peel, lemon peel, thyme, lavender and/or pine needles. Personally, I’d choose pine needles but there’s quite a mix of aromatic herbs and natural ingredients you could choose from! Use the same sock method as the baking powder.
3. Cat litter, scented or plain. Use same as the baking powder.
4. Rubbing alcohol. Put in a misting spray bottle and apply generously. Apparently if you use this regularly you might be able to prevent any smell in the first place.
5. Shoe spray. Of course! If you get a pump bottle you can refill, you could save money by refilling the bottle with rubbing alcohol when it’s empty.
6. A couple of pieces of cedar wood, cut to shape. You could also try cedar shoe trees (those foot-shaped things that can be used to stretch shoes) if you can find them. Cedar smells great (kinda like pine needles - notice a trend here?) plus it’s natural, so the only drawback with this method is that you might have to cut planks of cedar to fit your Birks and other shoes.

I think one trick you might need to do is to put your sandals in a cloth bag (or wrap them in a T-shirt) after inserting any smell-absorbing stuff. This would help the baking powder, herbs, wood, whatever, absorb the odor from your Birks, and simulates the effect of sticking those same ingredients in a shoe, which is of course enclosed. In the morning, just unwrap and go. Works a treat.

I try to deodorize my sandals about every couple of weeks, maybe once a week in the summer.

Hopefully this helps you avoid that ’stinky hippy’ moniker that still seems to get spread around sometimes

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