How to Restore the Icy Soles on the Air Jordan 11

The Air Jordan 11 is one of the cleanest shoes of all time. The only problem? When those icy soles start to yellow. 

No one wants yellowed soles. 

The good news is that you can restore and revive your Jordan 11’s back to their original, icy state with Reshoevn8r Sole Revive…

Jonny Bubbles is here to show you how and help you along the way.

This is Shoe Care Academy; Let's get bubbly!

All in the Details

Before we hit the soles with our Sole Revive, let’s spend a little time working on the beautiful suede of these Jeter Jordan 11’s. 

Jonny hit them with the medium brush to get rid of any surface dirt, and then used the Brass Bristle Brush to reset the nap of the suede.

As you can see after just a few minutes with the Brass Bristle Brush this suede is looking less crunchy. We’ll see if we can’t give these even more life a little later on with our Mink Oil.

Now onto the main attraction, those nasty yellow soles.

From ‘Yikes’ to Ice

Let's see if we can't get those yellow stains out of your Jordans. 

The first step to any sole restoration is to remove excess dirt or debris. Jonny used the stiff brush and Reshoevn8r cleaning solution to give the entire outsole a good scrub. Our Reshoevn8r solution is the most complete shoe cleaner for Jordans, from the soles to the upper. 

Typically with a shoe like the Air Jordan 11 where the sole features solid rubber traction pods, it’s a good idea to tape off those areas so that the Sole Revive is only applied to the translucent portions. But for the purposes of this video, Jonny was given the OK by resident sneaker restoration expert Vick Almighty to skip the tape job.

Safety is of utmost importance, so it’s smart to put on some gloves before you start working with the Sole Revive to protect against skin irritation.

Using the included applicator brush, Jonny applied a thin layer of Sole Revive to the entire sole, being cautious to avoid getting it on the carbon fiber plate, the midsole, or the upper near the toe cap.

With the Sole Revive spread across the sole, it’s time to wrap the kicks up in Saran Wrap.

How you wrap the kicks is just as important as applying the Sole Revive. You want to make sure that you don’t stretch the Saran Wrap around the shoe too tightly, as to avoid pulling some of the Sole Revive off of the sole and onto the midsole or worse, the suede upper.

Once the Saran Wrap is securely in place, you’re ready to send your kicks on an all-inclusive vacation to the Vick-2000, or whatever you call your own UV setup.

Your at home UV setup doesn’t have to be as crazy as ours. Because we revive sneakers commercially as a part of our Online Cleaning Service, our three lamp setup is a must. But for the everyday sneakerhead, you can make do with a single UV lamp or even let the shoes bask out in the sun for a while. 

How long you need to leave your kicks under the UV lights depends on how yellow your soles are and how powerful your setup is. It’s okay to take them out and check on them periodically to see how they’re progressing. 

After leaving the Jeter 11’s in the Vick-2000 for 4 days, Jonny saw some improvements, but wasn’t completely satisfied.

Jonny reupped on the Sole Revive, and put them back in to ‘cook’ for another 10 days. After 2 weeks total in the Vick-2000, the soles are back to that beautiful icy blue.

Smooth Like Butter

Now that the soles are revived, Jonny decided to give the upper a little more love with the help of our Mink Oil and prototype Horse Hair Brush (coming soon). 

Class Dismissed

The night and day difference between the two sneakers definitely meets the burden of proof, the Sole Revive did indeed work its magic.

You have the kicks, and we have the tools to keep them clean. Hopefully now you understand a little more about how to unyellow the soles on your own prized pair of Jordan 11’s. Reshoevn8r has all of the tools you need to clean your Jordans at a moments notice. 

Thanks for attending another Sneaker Care Academy session. Catch you next time!