How I avoided smelly shoes

I’m very conscious about smells and have always made sure that my shoes/socks/feet don’t smell.

My normal routine at home: always fresh socks, never wear them twice; trimmed and clean toenails; exfoliate with a pumice stone a couple of times a week; and I always walk barefoot at home. I usually don’t wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row, especially in hot weather or if I sweat in them. With this routine, my feet,socks, andshoes basically don’t smell like anything, even after a long day wearing them.

But when I went on one-bagging trips where I only had one pair of shoes, after about a week, the shoes would get a persistent “foot” smell that was hard to get rid of, despite me only wearing fresh socks, using special disposable soles, etc.

During my current 2-month trip, I started using a pumice stone to thoroughly exfoliate every day during showers, and so far, I’ve managed to keep my sneakers odor-free, despite wearing them almost every day in hot and humid weather in SEA. I’m very happy that it worked, because it was the one main issue I had when traveling ultralight.

I’m curious to know if others have experienced this and how they have dealt with this.