Kendal Shoe Deodorizer Sanitizer Meta-Review

Do you have stinky shoes? Or do you have athlete’s foot and want to make sure your shoes get cleaned after you wear them? Have you ever even thought about how to clean the bacteria and odor out of your shoes?

Quite honestly, I’d never thought of how to clean the inside of my shoes out, but now that I think about it, I’ve realized how much my feet sweat and I’m a little grossed out by what’s probably living (or growing!) inside my shoes. So what can you do about it?

Well, I’ve just found the solution to getting rid of shoe bacteria and odors. It’s an ultraviolet shoe sanitizer/deodorizer.

What is a Shoe Deodorizer?

Kendal UV Shoe Deodorizer

Basically, it’s a little light bulb that you put into your dirty shoe. The bulb emits “super intensity ultraviolet sterilization” and kills whatever’s growing inside your shoes. It works a little like a boot dryer, but these are much smaller, and emit 7nm wavelength UV rays.

The claim is that within 15 minutes, your shoes will be 99.9% sterilized of whatever’s living there. By killing the bacteria and fungi, the unpleasant odor of your footwear is eliminated. It also has a drying effect, and it emits ozone. The effect would be similar to a spray, I assume, but this is likely much more economical in the long run.

My first thought when I saw this was that it sounds like something out of science fiction. I mean, using ultraviolet rays to sanitize shoes? Or it sounds like the mythical “Sweet Feet” formula from the movie (and book) Holes. Remember? The uncle in the story spends years perfecting a formula to deodorize running shoes and it turns out the missing ingredient is onions.

But these UV shoe sanitizers aren’t science fiction, and apparently, they actually work. They’re made by Kendal, a relatively reputable company (at least this isn’t their only product), so that’s a point in their favor. And many of the reviews on Amazon are quite positive about how well these actually work.

A package includes two sanitizing bulbs which draw power from a single AC adapter. The bulbs are supposed to last 800 hours (which would be a whopping 1,280 cleaning cycles) before needing to be replaced, and they’re screw-in bulbs that should be user-replaceable. A replacement bulb pack costs around $18 from the manufacturer, or you can get UV shoe sanitizer replacement bulbs here on Amazon.

Is a UV Shoe Sanitizer Worth It?

To use them, just plug it in to an electrical outlet, and place one bulb in each shoe. There’s a 15 minute automatic shutoff timer, so you shouldn’t need to worry about your shoes getting overheated and going up in flames. There’s an indicator light on the plug that turns red when the lights are on and green when they’re off.

The Shoe Deodorizer Bulbs

I’m not a scientist, but some of the reviews point out that it would be a terrible idea to try to use the bulbs directly on your skin to get rid of fungus from Athlete’s Foot. They also mention that you should cover any mesh or see-through shoes to avoid direct exposure to the UV rays.

A few reviewers claimed their units stopped working sooner than they should have, but most of the reviews are very satisfied with their deodorizers. If you want to sterilize your shoes without using some kind of harsh chemical spray, I suggest checking out this Kendal UV Deodorizer. Let me know what you think!