Even without fungi festering inside your shoes, feet tend to stink up because they just plain sweat too much. Think about it, you use your feet all the time. And because of much effort, it easily becomes one of the sweatiest parts of your body. Your sweat combined with the bacteria that’s pretty much everywhere, tend to make your feet stink up. Here are some tips on preventing stinky feet.

Keep your feet dry. While you can’t really plug your pores to prevent your feet from sweating, you can do your best to keep them dry. The easiest way is to wear socks.

Use powders and sprays. Foot powders and sprays are known to be. Avoid antiperspirant sprays as sweat is also a healthy thing. Go for deodorizers and germ killers.

Wear leather. So PETA and others might get pissed off with this but the truth is leather shoes allow your feet to breathe. But fret not, animal lover, many new shoe technologies today offer maximum cooling and air circulation through improved “breathability” of materials found in sporting shoes.

Clean your shoes. Your shoes can harbor bacteria and fungi. There are sprays that are commercially available made solely for the purpose of deodorizing your shoes and to kill bacteria and fungi that may have found their way into them. If they’re washable, wash them every so often. If not, at least get the insoles out and give them a good wash.

Visit your doctor. If you think that your feet sweat excessively and that you’ve got athlete’s foot, make sure that you pay your doctor a visit to have yourself checked up. There are also some prescription medication designed to control sweating.