Cleaning vintage items

[shadowrider]

This is a problem I bet most of you folks have had to deal with in the past... We all love vintage items and most of the time you get great deals on them. But, being the clean freak I sometimes am (ok, most of the time...) I find it difficult to accept the idea to buy and wear, say, a pair of used pants. Or shoes.
So how do you guys deal with the issue? Any known to science way to sterilize cotton?
I also have this pair of lightly used rough out boots, that I've had for a while but haven't dared to wear. I want to clean them before (in and out) somehow. Thoughts?

 

[Flw Sock]

If your looking to just styerilze them, you could use some lysol. I would use different methods for different types of clothing. For the shoes, I would just hand wash them with some soapy water, then go back with water again.

 

[Shangas]

The second-hand stuff I usually buy is either clean (never worn, or worn very sparingly) or dry-cleanable (coats, vests, jackets, trousers). So I just send them off to the drycleaner.

 

[Dixie_Amazon]

With shoes I have had the insoles replaced it they too yucky for my delicate sensibilities.

 

[DanielJones]

Clothing I either wash regularly of send to the dry cleaners if required.

As for shoes, well I haven't bought a pair used. But there are some UV tools out there that are supposed off kill off any of those little creepy crawlies inside the shoe.
http://www.uvshoecleaner.com/

http://www.sterishoe.com/SFNT.html

Reviews of the Steri-Shoe on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/SteriShoe-UV-Shoe-Sanitizer/product-reviews/B0035Z9594

Since I haven't used these tools I can't say how effective they are, but it couldn't hurt to dig a little deeper in research and maybe try one yourself to see. If you do be sure to write up a review here.

Cheers!

Dan