# Do You Wash New Clothes Before You Wear them? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2021, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-new-clothes-before-you-wear-them/946157 "2021-07-10T14:47:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 5
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2021, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-new-clothes-before-you-wear-them/946157/5 "2021-07-10T14:59:02Z")
Not usually. Though from time to time I remember a post (here, maybe) from someone that worked in a clothing store. They said that when the trucks unloaded all the racks of clothing, they’d have to leave them in the back room for a day to air out and get rid of (what they described as) a formaldehyde smell. I assume it’s just whatever the final rinse was after making/dying the clothes, but it did get me washing new stuff for a while. ETA, I believe this is the post I was looking for: > [@Do you usually wash sheets before you use them?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-usually-wash-sheets-before-you-use-them/682205/12): > > This. Great Og, I can’t emphasize it enough. Elsewhere on this board, I’ve discussed my year at Macy’s. Whenever new clothes were brought in from the docks to the floor, the smell was overpowering. You, the average shopper, are never supposed to experience this - trust me! :eek: Please, please, please, \*always \*wash new clothing - new ANYTHING - as well as yourself as soon as possible after you’ve tried new stuff on. If you can’t wash it, make the monetary sacrifice and take it to the dry… Plus, I found lots of other posts about formaldehyde being used in manufacturing process (including one from Lynn). --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-wash-new-clothes-before-you-wear-them/946157)._