Probably TOTALLY off base here, but are you sure it’s the clothes? Is it a particularly sweet smell? Ever been tested for diabetes? Sometimes people with out of control diabetes can smell off. Just a thought.
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon]
As for the holes, I’m going to guess either you use bleach frequently, or my cat visits your house and does to your clothes whatever she does to my flannel sheets. Or you have moths. Have you tried mothballs? They have their own intolerable smell, too, though.
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Must be your cat; I don’t use bleach. I suppose it could be my cat, but he’s declawed and the holes are really too close together to correspond to his front teeth. He’s not even really a biter, so unless he sneaks into my closet specifically to punch holes in my clothes, I’d have a hard time blaming him.
As for moths, unless they’ve developed the aesthetic sensibilities necessary to poke dozens or sets of holes the exact same size and distance apart over a matter of months, then I don’t see that as a viable explanation. Of course, if they have, it means they’re probably now too big a match for the cat, who usually dispatches them for me.
Just what I need, a healthy does of paranoia. 
Nah, I am pretty sure I am not diabetic. The smell isn’t particularly sweet and it is something that gets worse when the clothes have been washed. You know how people in fabric softener commercials bury their nose into a shirt that just came out of the dryer, inhale deeply, and then say “Ahhhh” like their clothes smell fantastic? When you do that to my clothes instead of saying, “Ahhh” you say, “What the hell?”
My money is on the detergent or the laundromat itself being the culprit, but if I make the necessary changes and the smell persists I will keep the diabetes check in mind.
Tide makes me itchy so I never use it. If I did use it, and they changed their fragrance to smell like a deodorant tampon, I would cease using it immediately. I particularly like Wisk paired with Snuggle fabric softener.
[QUOTE=Full Metal Lotus]
Have youy checked the vent to your dryer, and the lint trap (behind the lint filter)?
It is possible that rain or other moisture (even condensation) has gotten into your vent pipe and is growinga mould / fungal colony. (it happens).. when your dryer is not in use, air from the outside flows in through the vent hose and “pollutes” the dryer, and then it gets “baked” into your clothing.
Also, if you have an upright washer, it may not be draining completely, again allowing sitting moisture to develop an organic colony. (Note: the perforated drum that is inside your washer can be perfectly dry, but the larger chamber it rides in can still have an inch (or more) of water in it).
Couple of things to check for, anyway.
Regards
FML
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How would you check under the washer drum? I used to have this problem (clothes smelled kinda cheesy, and I didn’t–it was definitely a laundry problem). I never did figure out what caused it, and then we moved, so the problem went away.
[QUOTE=pbbth]
Are there gnomes that break into my home at night and use some magical power to fuck up my clothes? Am I imagining this whole smell out of nowhere? Damn smell gnomes!
[/QUOTE]
Step 1) Stink up pbbth’s clothes
Step 2) ???
Step 3) Profit!
[QUOTE=pbbth]
It isn’t a smell like I have ever smelled before. It doesn’t smell like mold or mildew at all or cat piss or anything else I could imagine it to be. It kind of smells like burnt soap, but even that isn’t entirely accurate. I have never smelled anything else like it. I use a different washer and dryer every time I go to the laundromat just in case but the smell still persists. I had friends and a guy I dated for a short while tell me they couldn’t figure out what I was talking about but coworkers said they could smell something too so I can’t tell what in the world is going on. Maybe it is related to the water in the laundromat…I will try a different laundromat and see if maybe that is causing it. I switched soap brands too so I don’t think that has anything to do with it but I can always switch a third time.
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Maybe the commercial dryer is too hot. I had a home dryer where one of the thermostats went out, and the clothes roasted. They had a burnt soap smell to them.
Look for an allergen free soap, they have no dyes or scents in them. Also, make sure you read the label and don’t use too much soap. Maybe it’s possible that you could be using too much soap and it’s not getting all rinsed out of the clothes, then when you dry them the heat gives it a burnt soap smell.
I have determined that it can’t be the dryer because even clothes that ran through the washer but were then hung to dry still have this smell. When I walk through the doorway where those clothes are hanging it is like being his in the face with a wall of smell, despite the fact that they are dry and clean. I am going to pack up a small load of freshly washed clothes and go rewash them with a different detergent today to see if it is caused by my detergent. If that doesn’t work I guess I will have to live the rest of my life completely naked because I have no idea where that smell could be coming from in that case.
[QUOTE=pbbth]
I know that when my clothes get to a certian age they do start getting pinprick sized holes in them, but if these clothes are fairly new I can’t help you there, but if it looks like snake bites you should be very careful when doing laundry and try to avoid any possible snakes.
[/QUOTE]
Does the phrase “inevitable pinhole burns” mean anything to you? 
[QUOTE=pbbth]
If that doesn’t work I guess I will have to live the rest of my life completely naked because I have no idea where that smell could be coming from in that case.
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You DO realize that you are now obligated to post pics to prove this if it happens, right?
My email’s in my profile…
[sub]Jest sayin’…[/sub]
[QUOTE=VunderBob]
Maybe the commercial dryer is too hot. I had a home dryer where one of the thermostats went out, and the clothes roasted. They had a burnt soap smell to them.
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That is what I was thinking as well.
Off to MPSIMS.
I know what you are talking about, I started smelling this new pungent, sweet, with funny undertones of like sweat, …the smell is quite offensive. I smell it in cheap items. Plastic bags, soaps, cars, boxes, furniture, clothing, I can smell it in our fruits and taste it too. Try buying clothing from Walmart, smell the item. I have tried to wash it out, it doesn’t work. I don’t think many are aware of this smell because they have become immune to it, from it being everywhere. Does anyone know what they are using in our products to make this smell and why?
Same stuff they’re putting in the chemtrails. Don’t worry, though, it’s for your own good.
Well, since this thread is zombified anyway, I’d be curious to know if the OP ever figured this out, or if the smell stopped happening (or if the OP became a nudist).
For me, it got a lot better when I started washing my tinfoil hats with the darks rather than the whites.
It was the detergent. This whole situation actually caused me to switch to unscented everything except shampoo and bath soap. It was a little frustrating to spend a couple of months testing out all the unscented laundry detergent, deodorant, etc. to find the ones that worked for me but in the end it was worth it.
I’m sorry this is a zombie thread. I saw it and I was like girl, don’t you have a small child? Do you seriously need to ask?
Oh well.