I wore a couple of suits that went without drycleaning for a while due to cost and time issues. Honestly, I probably have never drycleaned them enough, having worn them multiple times between cleanings. Gross? Sure.
The pants began to smell a little. Off to the drycleaners they went, and were apparently cleaned and pressed. I put them on, and they still smelled, but perhaps less. After wearing and drycleaning a few times more, they still smell.
If possible, how can I fix this without damaging the suit? Is it permanent? None of my other clothes smell this way, probably because they’ve been cleaned more frequently.
Towels
My former roommate had foul smelling bath towels… like mildew. One day, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I washed them all. The next time he showered, the same smell appeared. What should I have done to wash the towels?
Dry cleaning solutions stink, themselves. Hang the suit, without the plastic cover, for a while in the air, and the smell should go away.
As for the towels, if they are white or light colored, add a 1/4 - 1/2 cup of bleach or a cup of baking soda to the wash. (one or the other, not both) The towels will smell as sweet as the day they were purchased.
Don’t put anything not made of cotton in the load with the bleach. The bleach will ruin synthetics.
What sort of smell is it? Airing them out may help a dry-cleaning chemical smell, as in the previous post, or possibly even other odors. Does it smell like sweat, or does it just smell? (Or for that matter is it a wool suit with a faint wool odor? That’s natural, although suiting wools don’t often smell.)
I found that washing towels using detergent and oxygen bleach (the same basic stuff as Oxi-Clean, only stronger) purchased from a natural/chemical-sensitive products company over the Internet gave vastly better results than using store-bought detergent.
To de-stinkify any laundry, add about 1 cup of borax to any wash load. Use your regular amount of detergent. Bleach also de-stinkifies pretty well, but not as well as the borax, IME. (Borax is available in the laundry section of most any grocery store. It’s probably lurking on the top or bottom shelf.)
And for the suits–air 'em out and use a different cleaner.
About a half of a cup of white vinegar in the washer with the towels helps as well (and of course, detergent). I promise your towels won’t come out smelling like salad dressing
You can also use ammonia when you wash the towels. Add a cup of it as the washer is filling. (I do this if I accidently leave laundry in the washer for a while and it starts to get that really nasty smell.)
With the suit pants, you might try sealing them in a plastic bag with an open box of baking soda, and letting them sit like that for a day or two. The baking soda might absorb the odor.
What about a product like Febreeze? You could try it on the inside of the cuffs to see if it spots, and if not, it may solve your problem.
I don’t think it’s the drycleaning products because the jackets, which are hardly ever worn, don’t smell… just the pants. They are not wool.
So, I can only assume its some kind of accumulated sweat or something in the suit pants that does not have the chance to accumulate in clothes that are (1) cotton; and (2) washed more frequently, such as boxers and jeans.
I’ll try airing them out, the Febreeze experiment, and report back.
I fear that the smell is now effectively tattooed into the material, and new pants are the only option.
If the pants aren’t wool there’s an excellent chance you can hand wash them in cold or barely warm water. If nothing else works you might try this. They might be a little wrinkly, just take them to the cleaners to get them pressed.
I’ve never had anything that said “Dry Clean Only” not come out fine from hand washing.
If the pants are a synthetic blend it is possible for human body odor components to become (how I don’t know) permanently embedded in the material (remember polyester shirts) . If the pants aren’t wool are they wash & wear synthetic blend? If so look at the washing instructions. You may be able to run them through a wash cycyle at home.
While I have successfully washed many clothes that were “Dry Clean Only”, I have ruined several non-woolen items this way, and suggest that unless you’re comfortable with the risk of destroying a garment, not to try washing it.
