#HTE

Panasonic’s Smelly Sneaker De-Funkifier

I’ve lived in both Western and Eastern locales, and here’s what’s great about the former: No one knows how bad your feet smell. Sealed within your sneakers, your stinky secret is safe. But live in a place like eastern Asia, where you take your shoes off every time you enter someone’s home, and your malodorous cover’s blown.

So perhaps it makes sense that this device comes from Japan. Panasonic’s sexily-named MS-DS100 is an electronic shoe deodorizer that apparently uses science to de-funkify your kicks.

One of the common causes of unpleasant shoe odors is isovaleric acid, an odorous substance produced by foot sweat and bacteria. According to a survey(*3) Panasonic conducted with sneaker wearers, about 62% of those surveyed take some measures to remove shoe odors, but about half of them are not satisfied with the deodorizing methods they use.

The MS-DS100 utilizes Panasonic’s original ion particles, “nanoe X,” to dissolve and eliminate unpleasant shoe odors(*1). When the product is set in shoes and the switch turned on, “nanoe X” is generated and spreads from six outlets to every corner of the shoes to remove odors(*1) in the entire interior of the shoes from the heel to the toe.

The MS-DS100 can be plugged into the wall or run from a mobile battery. The little plastic vented caps that protrude into the sneakers can be removed and washed, in case your feet’s disgusting isovaleric acid clings to them.

The device will be out in September of this year, and initially at least, will be Japanese-market only. Us Western-country dwellers will just have to continue wearing our sneakers inside the house.