Do wash the clothes you buy before you wear them?

shop - do you wash your clothes before wearing them?
United States
February 8, 2008 12:09pm CST
Do you wash your brand new clothes that you buy before you wear them or put them on your children? Do you wash the second hand clothes you buy at a thrift store or if you get them from family members before you wear them? I dont wash the brand new clothes I buy from stores but if i buy second hand clothes I will wash them first. Who knows where those clothes have been and if they were washed before being donated. If they are from a family member I generally dont. Do You?
9 people like this
31 responses
@mcc371 (918)
• United States
8 Feb 08
yes, i do wash clothes before i wear them no matter where i got them.I want to make sure the clothes i put on are clean. I am not a neat clean freak but I just don't know the cleanlyness of the person who might have tried them on last and to be safe you should wash clothes that come from a store as they may have been tried on several times by different types of people. You can never be to careful these days. I have bought clothes from second hand stores and I wash them as well. Clothes given by family i still wash too because they may have been hanging in the closet forever and need washed to get the dust mites off them.
• United States
8 Feb 08
yea i guess so. I nver thought about all those ppl that try that item on that i buy. If you think about its kinda disgusting. Guess I will start washing my new clothes. but what about baby clothes? People dont generally take their baby into the dressing room to try on the clothes for their child.
3 people like this
• United States
9 Feb 08
Good point. Baby clothes are usually not tried on, at least not to my knowledge. Maybe because the sizing on baby clothes isn't as precise as it is in children's clothes, or adult's clothes. Baby clothes, it's either too big or too small. If it's too big you bump them up, and that's that. Odds are they'll just outgrow whatever outfit it was in a week anyways. I don't think I've ever made my daughter try on clothes before (she's five months.) Just the idea of trying clothes on a baby seems ridiculous, not to mention difficult! I don't think the mom or the baby would enjoy trying on clothes. Babies are just a bit too squirmy!
3 people like this
@julyteen (13252)
• Davao, Philippines
10 Feb 08
i don't wear new clothes without washing first...but i have experience wearing new buy clothes from a mall because of clothes shortage while having our outings with friends.
4 people like this
@cobb1121 (126)
• United States
9 Feb 08
I always wash my clothes no matter where I get them. You never know who was handling your clothes before you bought them. It's just a thing I do because I see so many people handling clothes and returning them back to the rack or dropping them on the floor before putting them back.
• United States
9 Feb 08
wow i didnt relize so many people wash their clothes that they buy from a store brand new. almost everyone that responded to this discussion says they do.
2 people like this
@bowtieguy (5915)
• United States
10 Feb 08
Absoulutley, you never know who has been handling them, other shoppers and even employee's and no matter how sanitary someone is they will always be caring germs. It's inevitable and I just can't help but wash everything throughly before I wear them or put them away with the rest of my things.
3 people like this
@mathid (17)
9 Feb 08
first of all u avoid buyinsg secondhand clothes.Becoz, u see some skin problems may arise if they have any , even if they are from our own family member.
• United States
9 Feb 08
and thats why I was my second hand clothes before I wear them so I dont get those skin diseases. I buy them cuz the price for new clothes are outragious!! 40 bucks for a pair of jeans! you gotta be kiddng me. lol im not rich.
2 people like this
@tamz21 (67)
10 Feb 08
I always wash any clothes before wearing them just to make sure they are nice and clean
4 people like this
@Sissygrl (10912)
• Canada
9 Feb 08
I washed my baby's clothes brand new before she was 6 months old. Just because you never know who or what touched the clothes, and they are so apt to get sick, i mean you sterilize bbottles, you should wash clothes first i guess that makes sense.. but i'm wondering if that's only new moms that do that lol. I FOR SURE wash second hand clothes first before wearing them. that would be nasty not to. God knows where they been! If i get something from my mom i know its already washed and clean.
3 people like this
@Jimmy3371 (142)
• United States
9 Feb 08
Yes we wash everything before we wear them even from the stores, People try on clothes and you don't know what people try on and the store just hang them back up they don't spray them or do anything and from thrift store yes I wash them also to me it don't matter if I get them as a gift or what ever I will wash them.
3 people like this
@nyumix (1658)
• Belgium
9 Feb 08
Yes, I normally wash the clothes after I buy it. I don't buy second hands clothes so far. And also did not get clothes from family since I have quite big sizes, no body has mu size in the family. :)
@rookiekan (882)
• China
9 Feb 08
i dont wash brand new clothes until one of my friends tell me that u would feel itch of ur skin,so i wash brand new clothes after then,but i never thought there is difference between wash and un-wash.i never buy second hand clothes,so i am not sure if i would wash after buying it.
@Samanthavv (1380)
• United States
9 Feb 08
Usually I do wash clothes before I wear them, new or second hand. There are occasions when I don't... Like if I'm out and about somewhere that I can't run home and change real quick, and I just buy a shirt because something happened to the one I was wearing. Those kind of cases are usually the only ones where I don't wash them before hand. Because if I could wash it, then I'd just wash the one I had been wearing, right? There'd be no need for a new shirt! But it's very important that you wash clothes before you wear them. You can sick from not washing them. You could end up with something like scabies or other communicable diseases.
@angel08 (120)
• Philippines
9 Feb 08
Yes I wash the clothes I buy, brand new or on sale.
3 people like this
• Indonesia
9 Feb 08
hi, I always wash every clothes we buy before I wear them or my family wear them. it's not only about the fitted ones, because ... like baby clothes, well, I cannot trust the stores about how they packed the clothes before they put them into the racks or hung them at the stores. and I also prefer fresh cleaned clothes rather than 'their smell from the stores'. sometimes I just can't stand the smell of clothes from certain stores.
3 people like this
• United States
8 Feb 08
If I get them from a store or family i dont but seond hand yess.
3 people like this
@pinay81 (1535)
• Philippines
8 Feb 08
yeah i washed even new clothes and specially from the second hand clothes i dont like the smell of new clothes when i wear it and sometimes when i bought it in open store not mall there is some dust from the air so i washed it before i wear it:-)
3 people like this
• Canada
8 Feb 08
I wash everything before it goes on my or my kids. I wash brand new stuff because people have tried it on before me and sometimes it has been brought back and I dont know where its been. Its still new but it was in someone elses home and wore for a few seconds. I'm not a clean freak either but I just can't stand the thought of wearing clothes that someone I dont know had on
3 people like this
@jbrooks (264)
• United States
8 Feb 08
i was all the clothes that i get for my daughter no matter if it was just bought from a store, at a second hand store or from people that i know. my thinking is this. you do not know who has tried on the new items from stores and i would rather be safe than sorry. same with the second hands stores. like you said you do not know if they were washed before they were donated. and since i wash all her clothes i do it when someone i know gives her items. it is just a habit that i am used to and i do not see myself stopping it
@beeyah (48)
14 Feb 08
i always wash the clothes i buy just to make sure that the things i wear are clean.
2 people like this
@Foxfire1875 (2010)
9 Feb 08
I wash clothes from wherever I got them because I like the smell of my own washing powder. New clothes have nasty chemicals on them, also you don't know who has tried them on.
@ohwellie (140)
8 Feb 08
The only second-hand thing I've ever bought was a vintage scarf, everything else was brand new. I did hand wash that because it looked dusty. I will sometimes wash brand new things, if i do they're mostly underwear.
3 people like this