The sandals you lived in all summer are now sitting by the door looking like evidence. Darkened footbeds with the ghost of your toes printed on them, dusty straps, a faint but undeniable smell. Every year people either scrub them into ruin or shove them in a cupboard and buy new ones in May. Neither is necessary.
Cork-and-suede footbed sandals are genuinely repairable, but they hate two things above all: soaking and heat. Almost every horror story — warped footbed, cracked cork, straps gone stiff and pale — comes from water sitting too long or a radiator finishing the job. Work dry-ish and slow and they'll come back remarkably well.
The footbed: dry brushing first, always
Start with a completely dry shoe and a stiff brush — an old toothbrush works, a suede brush is better. Brush the whole footbed briskly in small circles. A surprising amount of what looks like permanent staining is compacted dust and dead skin, and it lifts off before you've introduced a single drop of liquid.
For what's left, mix a little mild soap into a small bowl of warm water and dip the brush so it's damp, not dripping. Work in sections, scrubbing gently along the shape of the footbed, and wipe as you go with a barely damp cloth so you're lifting dirt away rather than pushing it deeper. Keep the water off the cork rim as much as you can.
If there's a lingering smell, sprinkle bicarbonate of soda generously over the dry footbed, leave it overnight, then vacuum or brush it out in the morning. It works better than any spray and doesn't add moisture. Repeat once more if the sandals had a hard summer.
