So I got two pairs of footwear from Scarpa a couple weeks ago. A pair of Mont Blanc GTX boots and a pair of their Crux approach shoes. The odd thing is, they both stink of this kind of odd pepper smell. Sort of like old pasilla peppers. It won't seem to go away either! I've tried airing them out and hoping the smell would cure out of the boots but it seems to be sticking around. Any tips on how to get smells out of boots and has anyone encountered something like this before?

Does the smell detract from function? Not trying to be a dick, but new shoes/boots often smell weird... give it a couple trips, they'll revert to that familiar dead animal smell in no time.

Nope, no functional issue other than the footwear smelling making any room they're in smell nauseating after about 20 minutes. I should ruin them after a good trip or two I suppose.

Some kind of odour-eater spray or lemon juice perhaps.

Sort of like old pasilla peppers.

Nope, never had this problem but I have had new gloves that smelled like guajillo chiles. Oh, that may have been the tacos al pastor.