Mold Mold Mold!
By raychill
@raychill (6525)
United States
June 17, 2007 1:40pm CST
We have mascot costumes at my job. Mascots which I am in charge of. I took charge of the mascots about a year ago. I noticed these costumes (7 of them, though we have 9 all together) smelled. They'd been to the dry cleaners though and hadn't been used since.
Finally after many trials I came to the conclusion the costumes were moldy and lo and behold I also found out that we aren't supposed to dry clean them. SUPER!
I've spent from about 9 am to 2pm this morning/afternoon trying to get the mold out of the worst costume! Sweat stains and little black dots lined the entire padded white insides of the costumes.
I used baking soda and hydrogen peroxide and vinegar. All suggestions found on the internet from places like ivillage.com and better homes and gardens. Nothing was working! I was scared of bleach because the costume is tan buy finally decided that bleach was my last resort and I poured bleach on a rag and slowly blotted away all the sweat stains and the black mold spots making sure not to push through and screw up the fur on the outside.
Put it back in the washer for probably it's fifth wash cycle of the day... added in some free and clear all and some free and clear downy and magically... it's disappeared! The Costume is now hanging outside in the nice hot sunny day to dry out.
I used BAM! in the case, to get rid of anything in the case (Bam was the only thing that didn't say "don't use on plastic") and get the smell out of there.
I think I've finally accomplished the task of getting mold out of the costume.
Problem is, not all the costumes have the white padded inside, So I'll probably have to find bleach for colors to do that.
Anyone else have moldy clothes problems?
Has anything besides bleach ever worked?
2 responses
@Flight84 (3048)
• United States
17 Jun 07
What are the mascots for? Are they for kids at the library? Mold is a pain in the butt to get rid of. When I was working in a salon, the place we ended up renting had mold real bad where a sink had leaked. I didn't think we would ever get rid of it. We ended up having to do the bleach thing too and it took hours to get rid of it all. It messed up the flooring a little, but the station covered it up.
@raychill (6525)
• United States
18 Jun 07
Sometimes you seem to be my only comment. Ha ha.
The Mascots are technically for the Summer Reading Club, which started out as a summer thing to get kids reading. They get prizes and awards and crap. Now it's kind of just become a mascot for the whole library. It's a big cat who wears red Sneakers...so it's name is Sneaks.
The mold sucks, because like...imagine putting on a costume with mold inside! gross! I feel horrible allowing people to wear these things. Thankfully the mold came out...hopefully for good. Now I just have 6 more to wash! luckily the rest aren't really too moldy.
@Flight84 (3048)
• United States
18 Jun 07
I know how gross it is to have to take a shower or bath with a moldy shower curtin. Gross! Gag! It's so nasty to think about it touching you. And I can't make myself try any kind of blue cheese because it has mold in it. Flavor my butt. I don't know...it's probably good. At least I know I would get the recommended amount of penacillin if I was sick. Ha!:)
@raychill (6525)
• United States
18 Jun 07
ha ha. True true! I hate mold it's so gross. I can't even imagine eating it. I always thoroughly inspect bread before eating it and other things that may cause mold. I won't let anything sit out long either cause mold grosses me out! I use that stuff you spray in the shower after you shower to keep mold off my shower curtain, since I have a small apartment and only a shower in my bathroom (no bathtub!) you're always really close to the shower curtain!
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
18 Jun 07
i stick them in direct sun for a couple of days-it killed the mold.then brushed it off.
after that i'll usually put them in a garment bag with those moisture absorbant crystals you can buy at ace hardware/walmart,and some dryer sheets to absorb the smell.
usually does the trick.
@raychill (6525)
• United States
18 Jun 07
Unfortunately at my job there is nowhere safe to stick them in the sun for a couple of days where they won't be stolen and I live in a small apartment above a garage so I don't have anywhere to hang them either...except my stair railing and there's only room for maybe two. We're not allowed to store them in garment bags either, They're pretty big and they have to be shipped in trucks where if they aren't in a protective case they will get destroyed. Dryer sheets didn't work. thanks for the advice though.
I think the person who had them before me didn't take care of them and now I'm paying the price.



