How to Dry Your Shoes in The Dryer – Avoid These Costly Mistakes

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We’ve all experienced that awful feeling of walking in wet boots. Not only that it is extremely uncomfortable, but it can also cause nasty foot odor or fungus. Since not everyone has a footwear dryer available, the question “how to dry your shoes in the dryer without a rack” comes up a lot.

Drying shoes in your dryer without a rack only takes three basic steps. 1. Tie the laces together and put them in the dryer. 2. Leave the laces hanging out, then close the door over them. 3. Lift shoes by pulling the laces, so they’ll stay hanging in the middle, and turn on the dryer. Read a detailed guide and learn which mistakes to avoid.

I want to show you the best of how to dry your shoes in the dryer without risking damaging them. I know friends that managed to ruin some great pairs of boots by doing this improperly.

Problems With Drying Shoes In The Dryer

Tossing a pair of damp shoes in a clothes dryer can be a good way to get them ready, but there are still problems with drying them in the dryer.

Before you dump them in the dryer, you should think if it’s worth it. Sometimes the risk isn’t worth it.

Here are some of the most common reasons why dryers shouldn’t be your first option:

• Electricity: Modern dryers don’t waste as much electricity as they used to, but there are much more efficient ways to dry your footwear. There are lots of special footwear dryers that can completely dry your footwear while using very little electricity.
• Noise: Heavy boots can bang a lot and jump around in the dryer, causing a lot of annoying noise in your home. This could also make your dryer move around if it’s unbalanced.
• Damage: It’s not that often, but dryers can potentially cause some serious damage to your footwear. For example, the heat can melt the glue on your footwear and separate the sole or you can even get your shoes all scratched up.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t dry your shoes in a dryer at all, but you need t know what you are doing so you don’t cause any unnecessary damage.

How to Dry Shoes in The Dryer Without Rack

Your first thought is probably to just throw them in and turn the dryer on, but it will take a bit more than that. The biggest problem I have with this is how much they can bang around while you dry them inside the dryer.

I have a cool tip that I’ve been using whenever I wasn’t able to use my regular footwear dryer. It can save you a lot of hassle once you learn how to dry your shoes in the dryer without a rack.

1. Put your shoes inside the dryer and leave the laces hanging out, then close the door over them.
2. Pull the laces from the outside to lift the shoes so they stay hanging in the middle.
3. Tie a knot on the laces so they’ll stay in place and turn on the dryer. During the drying process, your shoes will stay in place and won’t scratch or bang around.
4. After the dryer is finished, untie the knot and enjoy wearing your dry, warm shoes.

Since drying your boots this way is not the best option available, you should probably check if boot manufacturers have any warnings about dryers. It’s still a handy solution if you have nothing else at the moment.

Shoe Drying Dos and Don’ts

To know how to dry them in a dryer or any other way, you first need to know your shoes. Make sure to check the material and any instructions that you may have gotten from the manufacturer.

Let’s imagine you just got brand-new shoes, got them soaking wet, and returned home. What do you do now? Most people would just place them next to a stove or a heater, but high temperatures could damage them.

Campfires are also the reason behind many ruined shoes and boots, I’ve experienced it firsthand. If you need to use a campfire to dry your footwear, make sure to place them at least 5 feet away from the fire. Even further if it’s a big one.

If your shoes are delicate, any kind of heat source is a bad idea. In this case, you can crumple up a piece of newspaper and place it inside the boot. It will soak up the moisture, but it will be slow.

Footwear dryers can be a huge help here, they blow warm air and can dry all types of shoes without damaging them.

Final thoughts

A dryer is a great alternative if you need to dry your soaking-wet shoes as soon as possible. However, they do pose a dose of risk. If you don’t want to risk it, you can check out our reviews of some of the recommended boot dryers.

They are much safer and more efficient in drying footwear even if you know how to dry your shoes in the dryer properly.

If you have any follow-up questions, you can leave them in the comment section.