EVA, PVC and mesh: what each one survives

EVA foam: heat is the whole story

The slides, the flip-flops and the clog are moulded from ethylene-vinyl acetate, a closed-cell foam. It is light, it does not absorb water, and it can be rinsed under a tap indefinitely. What it cannot do is come back from heat.

A pair left on a car dashboard in summer will shrink and twist, and the shape it takes is permanent. The same goes for a radiator, a hot boot lid, or the top of a tumble dryer. Rinse them, shake the water off and leave them somewhere shaded with air moving.

Foam also compresses with use. A slide that felt plush at three months and flat at eighteen has not broken, it has done its job. That is the honest lifespan of any thick EVA sole under daily wear.

PVC jellies: cleaning is easy, sunlight is not

Jelly shoes are waterproof by construction rather than treatment, so soap and warm water gets everything off them and they dry in minutes. Clear versions show sand and dust more than any other colour here, which is a cosmetic issue rather than a durability one.

The two things that damage PVC are prolonged UV and hard cold. Left on a sunny windowsill for a season, clear PVC yellows and loses flexibility. Left outside in a freeze, it stiffens and can crack at the flex point across the ball of the foot. Store them indoors and away from a window and they last for years.

Never take an abrasive to a jelly shoe. The gloss is a surface, and once it is scratched it stays matte in that spot.

Mesh and knit sneakers: keep them out of the machine

Every lace-up in the range is a bonded construction: the upper is glued to the midsole rather than stitched all the way round. A washing machine combines heat, water and mechanical agitation, which is precisely the combination that breaks a glue bond, and the shoe comes out looking clean with the sole starting to lift at the toe.

Pull the insole out, let it and the shoe dry separately in air, and brush the mesh once it is dry rather than while it is wet. Wet dirt gets pushed into the weave; dry dirt comes off. The suede panels on the classic sneaker want a dry brush and nothing else.

If the inside starts to smell, the insole is usually the culprit rather than the shoe. Washing the insole by hand and drying it fully fixes most of it, and rotating between two pairs so each gets a day to dry out fixes the rest.

Outsoles and grip

Rubber outsoles wear from the outside edge of the heel first, because that is where most people land. Once that edge is rounded off, the shoe rolls slightly at heel strike and the grip on wet surfaces drops noticeably. Look at the heel edge rather than the tread pattern when deciding whether a pair is finished.

Foam soles with no rubber layer, which is most of the slides, wear faster and get slippery on wet tile as the texture flattens. The textured outsole on the double-buckle slide holds up better than a smooth one, but nothing in EVA stays grippy forever.

Storing them so they are usable next season

• Dry completely before putting anything away. Damp plus a dark cupboard is how mildew starts on a fabric lining.
• Keep foam and PVC out of direct sun, including through a window.
• Do not stack heavy things on foam slides for months; the compression sets.
• Loosen the laces before storing a sneaker, so the upper is not held in a deformed shape.
• A shoe stored in a sealed plastic box with no airflow will smell when you open it. A box with the lid ajar will not.