OUR BOOT BANANAS REVIEW: FIGHTING FUNKY FEET

Last updated on April 20th, 2023 at 11:08 am

Unfortunately, smelly climbing shoes come with the territory of being a climber, with Some shoes being renowned for absorbing odor. This is a common problem with synthetic shoes as they don’t have the natural breathability of their leather counterparts. 

Regardless of how good your shoes are at dispelling moisture if you are crushing hard and putting your shoes through their paces, the chances are your shoes will start to develop some unwanted fruity odors at some point.

There have been plenty of trips and tricks whispered around crags across the world to deal with this problem. Some climbers suggest antiperspirant shoe spray or simply leaving your shoes to air out after use. Others suggest more extreme remedies, like freezing your shoes or – perhaps the most unusual one I have come across – putting kitty litter in your shoes.

Thankfully, we have a better, minimal effort solution: the Boot Bananas. Besides proper shoe storage, this is perhaps the easiest method for de-fuming your funky footwear. These climbing shoe deodorizers use a concoction of natural odor-neutralizing salts and minerals to fight the unwanted funk. Simply slip them into your shoes and let them eat up all those fruity odors. Easy.

So, how well do they work? We put these Banana shoe deodorizers through their paces to find out how good they really are.

What are Boot Bananas?

Unlike other shoe deodorizers, Boot Bananas were created especially to fight the funk of climbing shoes.

It all began when a British climbing couple, Alex and Phil, moved into their new flat. They quickly realized the smell of Phil’s climbing shoe was becoming a problem. After properly cleaning their shoes and trying all the popular deodorizers on the market, it seemed that nothing was up to the challenge.

So the couple decided to create their own solution. They perfected their ‘recipe’ using a blend of natural ingredients including bamboo charcoal, dried lavender and essential oils. They then created a banana peel exterior, made from 100% cotton, that ‘ripens’ and darkens in color as the shoe deodorizer soaks up moisture. The Boot Bananas are expected to last approximately 6-12 months before needing to be replaced, depending on how pungent your shoes are, of course.

Boot Banana Review: Our Head-to-head Test

For our Boot Banana review, I decided to dig through my collection of climbing shoes to find the worst-smelling pair of shoes I own. The winner of this unfortunate contest was one of the first-generation models of the La Sportiva Solutions stuffed at the back of my cupboard.

They smell bad. Like really bad. If I remember correctly, these shoes had served several months of service when backpacking across Asia, including several deep water solo trips. The horrible combination of sweat, saltwater, and relentless Asian humidity still haunts me.

As well as testing the Boot Bananas out on climbing shoes, I also decided to test them on a pair of equally disgusting sneakers, after all, the Boot Bananas themselves say they are suitable for “climbing boots, running shoes or any other fruity footwear”.

Needless to say, the Boot Bananas have their work cut out.

For this experiment, I used one banana in the Solutions and the other in the sneaker. In the remaining climbing shoe and sneaker, I bought a popular antiperspirant shoe spray on Amazon to use as a comparison to measure the effectiveness of the Boot Bananas.

Over the course of 48 hours, I applied the spray and placed a banana in both sets of shoes and let both work their magic. After two days I would, reluctantly, re-smell both pairs of shoes and see how much change, if any, occurred.

The Test Results

48 hours later and the results were in.

Up first, the antiperspirant spray. While the shoe spray did certainly help reduce the overpowering stench in both the Solution and the sneaker, it didn’t completely eliminate the odor in either shoe. The climbing shoe still has that lingering smell of dampness, and the sneaker also still gives off that sickly-sweet smell of sweat. That said, I like that the spray acts as a prevention and remedy, as it can be applied directly to your feet to reduce sweating before putting your shoes on, as well as applied to your shoes after use.

I am sure if this was used more frequently and over a longer duration, like directly before and after using your shoes, the effectiveness of this remedy would improve. That said, this isn’t exactly the hassle-free defuming solution I was looking for.

The Boot Banana, on the other hand, really surprised me. It seems to have done a significantly better job at ridding both shoes of the odor. That damp smell that has been haunting this pair of climbing shoes was significantly reduced, if not completely eliminated, with the use of the Banana. There was also a significant improvement in the smell of the sneaker too, and when comparing the shoe spray, it was clear the Boot Banana had worked some voodoo magic with both of these shoes.

There’s a pretty pungent smell of lavender that comes off these banana shoe deodorizers, but after several days of not having them in, the lavender started to reduce. In honesty, I was half expecting the lavender to just mask the odor rather than eliminate it but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Amazing!

Boot Bananas Alternatives

Boot Bananas aren’t the only climbing shoe deodorizer available. While they have certainly received our seal of approval, If you can’t get your hands on them, or just don’t like the smell of lavender, there are other options available to you.