Poll: do you wash new clothes before wearing?

[BillChin]

Do you wash new clothes before wearing them? If you do, is it for all articles of clothing, or only stuff that others might have tried on? Or only the undergarments? Or?

[Seonachan]

2 words: formaldehyde

[emmline]

I usually don't worry about it. If it smelled or something, I wouldn't buy it.

[fearfaoin]

I do, but it has nothing to do w/
other people trying it on. I don't
know if I just have sensitive skin
or what, but new clothes feel stiff
and itchy to me until I wash them.

[mutepointe]

I couldn't vote in the poll because the choice that I wanted wasn't an option. (Don't you just hate that. Who is this pollmeister?) I probably wouldn't wash dress clothes especially if it messed with the finish of them. There is really nothing like a brand new crisp white shirt saturated in formaldehyde to make a person feel special. I have textile issues so if the new clothes are going to be scratchy and it's an event that I couldn't deal with scratchy clothes, then I would wash them.

I buy a lot of my clothes at Gabriel Brothers, a chain that sells seconds. I'd wash something from there that wasn't sealed up when I bought it. Sometimes clothes from there are stained or dirty from manufacturing or transport but the price is worth it.

[talasiga]

why wouldn't you wash it?

[Lambchop]

I couldn't vote in the poll because the choice that I wanted wasn't an option.

Same problem here. Now I'll have to write it all out.

Fabric sizing is what makes textiles stiff and itchy. I wash nearly everything before wearing to get the sizing out. I can't stand the itching and prickling and stiffness. This goes for bedding and linens, too. If it doesn't soften up immediately, it goes into the homeless bin. If it does soften up nicely, I'll run right back to the store and buy more.

The only time I don't wash it is when it clearly has not been tried on and is something like a suit that has to be dry-cleaned.

You really should wash things, though. They're not manufactured under the most sanitary of conditions sometimes, and you never know if they've been fumigated or what.

You should especially wash jeans in hot water because you wouldn't want to get crabs. I learned that as a little girl, right after I learned about always wearing nice underwear in case you have to go to the emergency room.

[Nanohedron]

You should especially wash jeans in hot water because you wouldn't want to get crabs. I learned that as a little girl, right after I learned about always wearing nice underwear in case you have to go to the emergency room.

I learned that in my 20s, only it was from trying on a pair of brown polyester slacks (Well, c'mon. It was the times we lived in) in a men's clothing shop. And how, you may ask, do I know that's how I got them? Why, I mentally retraced my steps back through the previous day or two to the most plausible cause - and it was the only one, because I definitely wasn't gettin' any at the time, that's for sure. I mean, jeez. Crabs. It just had to be The Immaculate Inception. Providence could've seen to it that I got them the normal way, but noooooo.....

[Denny]

so you've become a better musician since then

[Nanohedron]

I still don't play Crabs In A Skillet, though.

[Denny]

been a long time since me 20s

fellow band member were not any help either

[Doug_Tipple]

My mother was aghast when I visited, but she didn't kick me out of the house, either. The downtown drug store owner made me say the word, though. I should say in my own defense that I was in my early twenties, and the college that I attended was only 50 miles from the Mexican border. I happened to have a new 1965 VW bug. Bug, is that the right word?

[BillChin]

I am surprised at how many say they wash before wearing. I thought it would be more like 50/50. Perhaps the topic title skews the results for responses.

I wash sometimes, and sometimes not. Sometimes I give a quick wash. Sometimes I just spray Fabreeze. Some items such as new dark colored towels sometimes have too much dye, or poorly applied dye and will bleed onto items. I also sometimes buy second hand clothes. Most of the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores no longer wash, but most donations come in already washed. Still, they spend time in a large bin with lots of other used clothing.

There are plenty of reasons not to, including time and effort (laziness), cost (especially at laundermats), use of water (especially in drought areas).

[Lambchop]

Sigh. OK, if it's True Confessions you want . . . only this one isn't about ectoparasites. But it's a VERY ILLUSTRATIVE example of why you want to wash things before wearing them.

Once upon a time, back in the leggings era, which wasn't all that long ago, I found this really cute pair of leggings that went perfectly with a long black top. They had this neat brightly colored abstract design, which had black in it, and that's why they went with the black top. It was the last pair they had, so I felt really lucky to get them. And, I swear, they looked absolutely NEW and untouched.

Being that I needed them the very next morning, I did not wash them. As I said, they appeared to be pristine . . . tags still on, crispy creases, all the right stuff. With Lycra though, it's hard to tell. Which I now know.

Off I went in my new leggings. And black top, feeling quite the thing. About 15 minutes after getting to where I needed to go, the most . . . potent . . . aroma began to emanate from my vicinity. I looked around and saw no one to blame. The stench was acrid enough to bring tears to your eyes. The warmer it got, the worse the smell. It was increasing exponentially. People were beginning to look alarmed.

With dawning horror, I realized that it had to be those leggings. This was confirmed in the ladies room, where I found myself holding the leggings from hell. I do not know who had worn those leggings, but they had, in fact, been worn previously and by someone whose personal hygiene habits were not up to my standards.

I had to put those horrible things back on in order to go home and change. I truly deplored having to return those leggings, because they were the only pair. I laundered them repeatedly and still they stank. And it wasn't that the leggings stank all over, but that just a . . . certain part . . . of them stank. And the stink stuck.

I had to return them. It isn't easy to explain a smell like that. There is just no discrete way to do it. The clerks were incredulous. A security guard came over and involved himself in the discussion. It was a nightmare. Nobody believed me. They took them back, though. Popped those tags right back on and plopped them right back on the rack.

I would have felt a lot better about the whole thing if I'd washed those leggings before wearing them.

[SteveShaw]

I must confess that catching crabs isn't my first concern when trying on trousers. When I come to think of it I instinctively reach for a pair from the back of the rack to try on, but I do that when I'm buying a book too (I want a pristine copy, not one that some browser has already crumpled up). Risks of catching something nasty from unwashed new clothes must be vanishingly small. I supppose not all clothes factories are ultra-hygienic, but then unworn garments are hardly cordial places for micro-organisms to thrive on for very long. I only buy socks and undies in multipacks these days it seems and it's a rock-solid bet that they haven't been tried on. I don't think twice about blowing a new harmonica and don't give a thought as to the bloke or blokess who might have stuck the thing in its box in China or Germany, but a second-hand one? That's a whole different kettle of fish. It gets stripped down and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected with isopropyl alcohol before it goes in my gob.