Tea tree oil is a natural fungicide and can be purchased at most health food stores.
Mix a teaspoon of oil into a cup of water and use a soft bristled toothbrush to clean the shoes. When you're finished scrubbing, dip a soft rag into the solution and go over the entire shoe, inside and out to clean the mold and remove the odor.
As a bonus, the tea tree oil is a natural leather conditioner as well so you will remove the mildew, clean the shoe and condition the leather all in one quick step!
If you don't have or can't find tea tree oil, mix a half and half mixture of rubbing alcohol and water. Use that to kill the mildew.
Then wipe with a cloth dipped in clean water and follow that up with a good washing with saddle soap to remove any stains.
The rubbing alcohol will kill the spores and the soap will clean the leather.
Just a couple of easy ways to save those mildewed shoes that you thought were ruined! I'm Mrs. Fixit and it's just that simple.
