Cleaning white canvas, black pinstripe, Vans slip-ons?

Question

I recently bought a pair of shoes, one damaged damaged, dingy-yellow shoe fitting the description in the title. How do I best get the yellow shoe to match the clean one in color?

Answer 1

let the dingy shoe soak in hydrogen peroxide or alcohol all night.  it won't damage the dark and it can remove the yellow depending on what it's from (if it's protein based, the peroxide should work, if it's ink or dye transfer or gunk build up, the alcohol should work).  if it's grease, use dawn dish washing liquid (must be this brand, this is the only brand they use when tankers cause oil spills, so that should say something) and apply full strength and rub into dingy part until it looks white with suds. let sit for awhile then rinse thoroughly.  if none of that works, use either a thin paste of water and arm and hammer laundry detergent (powder, liquid won't work the same) and rub on yellow parts or get some dishwasher detergent and rub on only the yellow parts (if the black part is dyed fabric, the dishwasher detergent can fade the black because of it's chlorine content, the arm and hammer won't).  those are my best suggestions.  i would start with soaking (completely submerge in the liquid) and then if it's still there, keep going down the list - scrub with dawn, then laundry soap, then do the dishwasher soap.  each "technique" will not effect the next, so it's your pick where to start.