Athlete's Foot Keeps Coming Back?Your Socks, Shoes and Laundry

Athlete’s foot is a fungal infection, most often from a fungus called Trichophyton rubrum, and about 3% of people worldwide have it at any time.¹ The usual sign is itchy white patches between your toes, sometimes with red, sore or flaky skin.² Pharmacy creams work, but the infection often returns. One reason: the fungus lives on in what touches your feet.³

How it spreads

The most common route is between family members, and it also spreads through an infected person’s belongings.¹ That includes socks, shoes, towels and the floor.³

What a wash does

A 2025 review gathered hygiene studies on fabrics:³

Wash	Effect on athlete’s foot fungus
60°C (140°F), 45-minute main cycle	Cleared the fungus and yeasts from fabric3
30°C (86°F), 10-minute main cycle	Cleared yeast but not the athlete’s foot fungus spores3

Hot washes can damage delicate fabrics and use more energy, so save them for socks, towels and bath mats.³ Most of the evidence was from lab tests, and four of the authors work for a research company.³

Even a plain sock helps a little: in a lab test using skin scale from 31 patients, fungus grew in all samples with no sock, and in 64.5% with a plain sock.⁴

Breaking the cycle

1. Treat it properly. Creams are used once or twice a day for 1 to 6 weeks.¹ Follow the label’s full course even after the itch stops.
2. Wash socks and foot towels hot if the fabric allows.³
3. Rotate shoes: don’t wear the same pair more than 2 to 3 days in a row.²
4. Keep your towel, socks and shoes to yourself.²
5. Wear flip-flops in changing rooms and shared showers.²
6. Dry between your toes after washing.²

Diagnosing athlete’s foot by eye is often wrong, and untreated it can spread to the toenails.¹² If a pharmacy treatment hasn’t helped, ask for a skin scraping. For smell and sweat, see why your feet sweat and smell.

Try: “I’ve treated athlete’s foot three times this year and it keeps coming back. Can you scrape the skin to confirm it’s fungal, and should my family be treated too?”

Arms Up covers this in Chapter 7, “Sole Searching,” in sections called “Athlete’s Foot” and “Socks, Shoes, and What Hasn’t Been Tested.” It puts the shoe first, the sock second and the cream last, so you can tell what each one is doing. See the book.