White sneakers: The ageless icon and how to keep them clean
Image: Vi Tran / Unsplash
White sneakers are a must-have, no matter your age. You don't need to be a fashion expert to know they're as essential as a good pair of jeans.
They are timeless, versatile, and loved across generations, making them the ultimate style shortcut.
Even my dad, with his classic taste, swears by them, while my Gen Z son practically lives in his Nike Air Force 1s.
There are a few fashion items that have stuck around over the years, quite like a pristine pair of white kicks.
Nike Air Force 1s are still very popular.
Image: Adam Djili / Pexels
Even though they started as sports shoes, think tennis shoes, they slowly crept into everyday lives, becoming a symbol of cool comfort.
My dad used to rock New Balances, which are now referred to as 'dad sneakers', while my youngest daughter is begging for a pair of Adidas Sambas.
Then there's me, now clocking in at 50, who used to love my canvas Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars in my young days. I wore them with just about everything.
Now my go-to white sneaker is a classic pair of Adidas Stan Smiths, even though I'm well aware of the fact that the Sambas are all the rage right now.
I used to wear my All Stars with everything.
Image: Cottonbro Studio / Pexels
Yes, the Nike Air Force 1s are still a big seller amongst the young ones, but some are now gravitating towards the retro styles like the New Balance 530s and the Vintage Club C 85 Reeboks.
White sneakers are the ultimate chameleon in your wardrobe.
They instantly elevate a casual outfit, add a cool edge to something more dressed up, and seriously, they go with everything.
They bring a fresh, clean, and effortlessly chic vibe to any look.
Youngsters are leaning into retro styles.
Image: Konstantin Mishchenko / Pexels
Whether you're aiming for athleisure, minimalist, or even a smart-casual ensemble, a pair of white sneakers just works.
I've even seen gents rocking them with suits!
But let's be real, owning white sneakers comes with one big drawback: they're notoriously difficult to keep clean.
One stray puddle, a rogue coffee spill, or even just daily wear can turn your pristine kicks into a dirty disaster.
It's a constant battle against scuffs, grime, and that dreaded yellowing.
Keeping white sneakers clean can be a challenge.
Image: Alena Darmel / Pexels
However, with a little bit of TLC, you can keep those white sneakers looking fresh. Here are a few tips on how to take care of yours. Spot clean immediately: The worst thing you can do is let a stain set. For small marks, a damp cloth with a little mild soap or even micellar water (yes the makeup remover) can work wonders.
Laces first: Remove your laces and soak them in a bowl of warm, soapy water with a scoop of baking soda. You can even toss them in a mesh bag in the washing machine.
Baking soda and vinegar paste: For more stubborn dirt on canvas or rubber, mix a tablespoon of baking soda with two tablespoons of white vinegar to form a paste. Apply it with an old toothbrush, let it sit for a bit, then scrub and wipe clean.
Protective spray: Invest in a good stain and water repellent spray. Apply it when your shoes are brand new and clean, and reapply periodically. It creates a barrier that makes dirt harder to stick.
Air dry: Always air dry your sneakers away from direct sunlight or heat, which can cause yellowing. Stuff them with paper towels to help absorb moisture and maintain their shape.
So, while the struggle is real, the timeless style of white sneakers makes all that cleaning worthwhile.
They're not just a trend; they're a fashion legacy, and they're definitely here to stay.
IOL Lifestyle
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

IOL News
14 hours ago
- IOL News
Dubai says ‘I do' to 10 days of paid marriage leave for Emirati couples
Dubai's new marriage leave law means less stress for newlyweds - 10 days of full salary leave to kick off married life in style. Image: Pexels. Exciting news has just rolled in for all Emirati brides and grooms-to-be! In a truly progressive move aimed at enhancing family stability and promoting a healthy work-life balance, Dubai has officially introduced a new law granting eligible Emirati government employees a full 10 working days of paid marriage leave. That's right, ten days to celebrate new beginnings without the pressure of rushing back to work. The initiative is nothing short of a win for Emirati couples and here's why: Promotes a healthy work-life balance: Couples can focus on enjoying their special time together without work responsibilities. Couples can focus on enjoying their special time together without work responsibilities. Offers precious bonding time: Newlyweds can plan and adjust to life together, laying a strong foundation for their future. Newlyweds can plan and adjust to life together, laying a strong foundation for their future. Encourages gender equality: Both partners are entitled to this leave, reinforcing the UAE's commitment to equal rights. Both partners are entitled to this leave, reinforcing the UAE's commitment to equal rights. Reinforces mental well-being: The decree acknowledges the importance of mental health during a life-changing chapter. The decree acknowledges the importance of mental health during a life-changing chapter. Reflects Dubai's family-first policies: It showcases the city's direction to prioritise family stability. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Legal expert Ahmed Elnaggar of Elnaggar & Partners said in an online report that the new marriage leave policy is a testament to the government's commitment to societal well-being. "It aligns with the UAE's broader vision of cultivating positive societal values through legislative frameworks.' He further emphasised that this initiative represents a forward-thinking leadership approach, reflective of how progressive societies evolve. The regulation strikes a balance between targeted benefits and equality, as it applies to both men and women, and complements existing legal frameworks that prohibit gender-based discrimination. While the decree currently encompasses Emirati government employees, Elnaggar said that it could extend to the private sector. "Organisations can now offer more days of leave contractually, but not less, potentially paving the way for future employment standards," he added. The announcement was made by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, vice president and prime minister of Dubai, to bolster personal fulfilment alongside professional duties. The new law specifies that eligible employees must have completed their probation and their marriage must be to a fellow UAE citizen, with a certified contract dated post December 31, 2024. During the leave, employees will receive their full gross salary, including allowances and financial benefits. For newlyweds, this period offers flexibility as they can use their marriage leave within one year from their wedding day, continuously or intermittently, ensuring they can fully cherish this special time. This landmark decree enhances the cherished institution of marriage while advocating for emotional stability and a balanced lifestyle for Emirati couples. A true cause for celebration!

TimesLIVE
a day ago
- TimesLIVE
How algorithms are transforming the way we communicate
As social media platforms increasingly rely on algorithms to moderate content, online communities are changing how they speak to evade their censors. Sensitive or suggestive topics such as suicide and sex have become 'unalived' and 'seggs'. When words are caught in the system, emojis act as loopholes — the watermelon emoji being used by pro-Palestinian creators as a symbol for Gaza or the grape emoji as a byword for sexual assault. This new terminology is trickling offline and into the mainstream — a phenomenon linguist and content creator Adam Aleksic has dubbed 'algospeak'. I find it alarming that censorship exists, but it's beautiful that humans are always able to find ways to say what they want to say. Adam Aleksic In his new book of the same name, he breaks down how this form of coded speech develops, its fringe influences and what it means for the future of communication, on and offline. How do you define algospeak? Adam Aleksic: Algospeak is the concept that algorithms are affecting how we speak. You can't say 'kill' on TikTok because the word is suppressed, (so) creators instead chose to use words such as 'unalive' — it comes from a meme (in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man in which the character Deadpool says 'unalive' to avoid saying 'kill'). Now, we have young people offline writing essays about Hamlet contemplating 'unaliving' himself and that's an example of how this algospeak is bleeding into our real life. It's also maybe the most surface-level we can get with algorithms because we can just point to this and be like, 'Oh, this is clearly algorithms causing language change'. I think it's every aspect of language change. It's where words come from; it's how words spread. Usage of such terms, especially offline, is often derided as 'brain rot'. Do you see the rise of algospeak as related to that? I want to separate the idea that language rots your brain. A brain rot to me is this meme aesthetic that people use. Such as repeating words ad absurdum, that's brain rot. I think (brain rot) is a commentary on why we are getting so many of these words. It makes the words funny so you repeat them more, which makes them funnier. Why are they funny in the first place? Because they are there and they are there because of the algorithm — that's what brain rot as a meme aesthetic is to me. But it also points to how creators perpetuate these words into virality. Once we see a word is trending we'll hop onto that word. Can you share an example from your research where algospeak changed the meaning or tone of a conversation online? Algospeak is so much more than (a response to) censorship. One example I find fascinating is the word 'preppy'. To people (who are) older Gen Z and above, it means academic attire — Ivy League, Brooks Brothers, Ralph Lauren, that sort of aesthetic. Now, if you ask any middle school girl what the word preppy means to them, it's bright pink clothing with smiley faces on it. How did that happen? It's partially just normal semantic drift; you go from these upscale brands such as Ralph Lauren to more mid-tier retailers marketing to younger children. Preppy becomes associated with what middle school girls like to wear and all of a sudden we now have, since middle school girls like bright pink clothing, preppy becomes that word. I think algorithms accelerated that. I use the example where several TikTok shops have popped up advertising preppy clothing and they did that because they know this word was trending in that demographic. They hijacked a trending word on the algorithm for a chance for increased algorithmic visibility, for algorithmic optimisation, and by using that definition of preppy they pushed preppy further to the mainstream. What is the most unsettling algospeak term you've come across? I have a chapter on incel slang and I think it's unsettling that a lot of words middle schoolers are using — from 'sigma' to the suffixes such as 'pilled', 'maxing' and 'mewing' — these come from the manosphere. Sometimes (these terms) directly come from or are popularised by incel circles — this violent, misogynistic group of involuntary celibates. It seems concerning that their language reached the mainstream. I'm not trying to be an alarmist; I think most middle schoolers don't know where these words come from. They just think it's a funny word to say with their friends and that's reassuring and refreshing. Is this sort of fringe influence over mainstream language common? Yeah. We don't just spontaneously start using a word at once. It starts with groups that have a shared need to invent new slang and usually that's minority groups (or) fringe communities, because the mainstream already has mainstream language representing them perfectly. It's people who don't feel represented by language as a whole who need to come up with these new words. Historically, some prolific producers of language have been minority communities or fringe communities, such as incels. The way we adopt slang words usually follows the conduits of what we see as funny or cool. Who owns algospeak? Owning a word is an interesting thing. You go back to 2014, the phrase 'on fleek', which was popularised through (the short-form video app) Vine, was the first time we have video popularising phrases. It was coined by user Peaches Monroe, whose real name is Kayla Newman. Kayla never got a cent of royalties for this. She tried, repeatedly, to trademark the phrase, but couldn't until three years later and by then the trend was dead. In the meantime, (on fleek) was repurposed by brands. I consulted on a lawsuit a few months ago where one influencer sued another for stealing her vibe and part of that was the linguistic intonations of her manner of speaking. My recommendation was that they're sort of both copying other people because you have to; this is how language works. We draw our idea of what language is from previous things and then we replicate that. Do you see algospeak as a form of digital protest? Absolutely. All language has multiple uses. I think this is one of the uses. Also, there are two definitions of algospeak: the old definition is the 'unalive' sort of stuff, the censorship avoidance. And then I tried to expand that definition, arguing that everything is algospeak. The genre of 'brain rot' is a cry for help from the algorithmic oversaturation of trending slang. It's poking fun at the fact that these words are over-represented, which already is a meta critique of the algorithm and (the) panopticon we're in. You look at individual surveillance-avoidant language because you have to recognise every word is being surveilled, which is a crazy thing we haven't had in the past. Is algospeak mostly an English-language phenomenon or are you seeing similar patterns globally? Totally globally. In Spanish, some people say 'desvivirse', which had a previous meaning of 'do your utmost'. Now it can also mean 'unalive' in the same way (it does in) English. In Chinese, the word for censorship is censored, so people use a word such as 'harmony' in allusion to the Chinese government's goal of making a harmonious society. But then that started being censored, so people started saying 'rivercrab' because it sounded similar; it was one tone off. Then that started being censored, so people started saying 'aquatic product'. It's alarming that the censorship exists, but it's beautiful that humans are always able to find ways to say what they want to say. Do you see algospeak evolving into a sort of digital pidgin or could it vanish as content moderation tools get smarter? We're always going to be one step ahead of artificial intelligence (AI). I believe that because AI has a biased representation of what language is. Language is constantly being changed and updated and you can't possibly have AI catch on to that. There's a lot of stuff with context that only humans can get. I think humans are resilient at finding ways to say what they want to say.

IOL News
3 days ago
- IOL News
Warm up with style: the soup board trend taking winter by storm
The soup board is a fanatic, winter-perfect creation that's taking over kitchens, cafes and social media feeds alike. Image: Pexels/Nadin Sh Once upon a time, soup was the ultimate symbol of simplicity - a warm bowl of comfort, often served with nothing more than a slice of buttered toast or a crusty roll. It was the go-to for sick days, cold evenings and quick homemade meals. But in the era of viral food trends and Instagrammable aesthetics, even this humble dish has undergone a glow-up. Enter the soup board - a fanatic, winter-perfect creation that's taking over kitchens, cafes and social media feeds alike. Also known as soup flights, soup boards are essentially curated assortments of multiple soups served in small portions, laid out beautifully on a board or tray and paired with an assortment of dippers, toppings and sides. Much like the butter board and charcuterie trends that came before them, soup boards are about more than just flavour - they're about experience, indulgence and most of all, presentation. Why settle for one soup when you can taste three - or even five? That's the philosophy behind soup flights. Each board typically features a variety of small soup servings: think creamy tomato bisque, rich butternut, classic chicken noodle, spicy lentil or wild mushroom. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ What elevates a soup board from a casual meal to a food moment is the ensemble of accompaniments. From mini grilled cheese sliders and rosemary focaccia slices to sourdough croutons, herb butters, flavoured oils, crispy chickpeas, charcuterie and even wine or beer pairings - the combinations are endless and cater to both comfort and creativity. The popularity of soup boards this winter can be credited to a few things. First, there's the obvious: soup is the ultimate cold-weather comfort food. It's warm, nourishing and endlessly adaptable. But soup boards go a step further by making the meal interactive and fun. They also tap into the visual culture of food - these boards are undeniably photogenic. A spread of vibrant soups in shades of orange, green, red, and gold, surrounded by rustic breads, garnishes and steaming bowls, is practically begging to be snapped and shared on TikTok, Instagram or Pinterest. For restaurants and home entertainers alike, soup boards offer a perfect balance of cosy and chic. Several eateries have already embraced the trend, adding soup flights to their winter menus and pairing them with local breads and curated toppings. While some soup boards on social media look like they belong in a high-end bistro, the trend is surprisingly accessible. You don't need a chef's budget or hours of preparation time. Leftovers can easily be repurposed, and supermarket soup can be elevated with thoughtful garnishes and sides. Add a swirl of cream, a sprinkle of herbs or some crushed nuts on top, and you've got gourmet in minutes. It's also an ideal setup for entertaining. Whether you're hosting a dinner party, a book club, or a cosy family night, a soup board caters to varied tastes and dietary preferences. Gluten-free? Vegan? No problem - just mix and match your soup selections and toppings accordingly.