washing vintage clothing

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Hello everyone i was wondering if all you guys could help me out with your vintage knowledge. Im soon to be opening a vintage boutique in the UK. Importing clothing from america, vintage items such as tshirts, levis, lacoste cardigans, flannel shirts, track jackets etc. all abit like retro vintage. the thing is they all smell musty and stinky. The thing is i dont want to wash them in the washing machine with a fabric conditioner becasue then my shop will smell of say fairy washing tablets for instant. iv been around the vintage shops in london smelling there clothing and theydont have any smell at all they smell like new clothing in away. how do i get these hundreds of thousands of clothing washed and cleaned to smell normal of nothing like they do in all these top vintage boutiques??? no skanky smells and no fabric washing powder smell??. iv tried using a steamer but this jsut steamed all the horrible smell out of the dresses made them wet and then when they dried they still smelt stale. PLEASE PLEASE HELP ITS DRIVING ME NUTS. ALSO TO PEOPLE WHO HAVE OPENED YOUR OWN VITNAGE BOUTIQUE DO YOU IRON EACH INDIVIDUAL TSHIRT DRESS JACKET ETC?
ALL YOUR ADVIDE WOULD BE AMAZING
CHEERS GUYS
LOVE STEVIE X :insane::violins::violins::violins::violins:
 
I don't know what is available in the UK, but I would see if you can find a laundry detergent that is fragrance free, I'm sure there is one. Most of the items you listed should be easy to throw in the washing machine. The only other option would be to hang them up outside and let them air, but you would need a lot of clothesline for that! Good luck!
 
wash and dry t-shirts(inside-out) on warm settings, get the prossess done quickly as the summer heat will sour them siitting in a washer. Air out woolens and furs in the shade of a breeze and Out of the Sun! Hand wash Items in a sink of luke-warm water.
But remember: These items that you think are stale have been living ang floating from owner to attic to sale to ... well you get the picture.
Do the best you can with clesning but note: that vintage is passed down and previously owned and although you may be a non pet, smoking drinkin'ecko friendly place, that doesn't mean that 90 years ago the person that owned your dress did not smoke. Not to mention her little dog Fifi!
 
I wash or dryclean everything - then they're line dried so they smell of sunshine and fresh air

:sunshine::beach::sunshine:

But I'm in Australia: if I were you, I'd just find the lowest perfume washing powder you can and bung the lot in the washing machine. Better to smell clean and of washing powder than of all the other stuff anyway.

Oh - and yes, we iron or steam everything. And when nasty customers stomp on them, we wash, iron, steam, mend it all. But then I'm crazy....:paranoid:
 
For the new store we're cleaning or washing all but the old/delicate items.

I've been using a WHOLE lot of Eucalan! And the nice part is that we save water because it doesn't have to be rinsed out (well -- unless the item is SUPER dirty and requires extra cleansing!)
 
from a customers viewpoint--- I love vintage and sometimes the smell is all part of the charm but many of my friends are very wary of vintage because they think it smells...

so if your shop is only starting out, you might start on a better customer range by smelling of fairy rather than must!!

good luck..
 
THANX EVERYONE YOUV HELPED MEE SOO MUCH IM DEFO GONA LOOK INTO THAT EUCALAN STUFF. IL KEEP THINGS AWAY FROM THE SUN AND AIR THEM IN THE BREEZE AND THANX SO MUCH EVERYONE

KEEP THE REPLYS COMING :D THE MORE ADVICE THE BETTER :):):):)::)):
 
I'd take it all to the laundrymat, sorted, of course, and just line up with a whole bank of top loaders. It will cost a smidge more, but save you time.

With anything of man-made fabrics, whites, lights, and such, I would add in a 1/2 C of bleach (yes, I said the B word) once the clothing is all in the machine and saturated.
I bleach a lot and very successfully....my trick is to dilute the bleach in water a large cup (old plastic drink cup) then put it in when the load is full and all wet, let it cycle a bit first to make sure, then use the bleach cup on the machine and wash it down with another bit of water through the system.

Your stuff sounds like newer vintage, so it will likely take the treatment very well. You don't want to put anything musty into an enclosed situation like your shop. It's sorta like where there's smoke there's fire...where there's must, there's the potential for full on mold, not to mention they have the dirt from wherever they came from, the epithelials of the former wearers, sweat bacteria, etc. That is what the smell is from.
It only takes one bit of mold spores to start a whole disaster. I live in a humid place, and I can verify anything even damp from a hideous day of moist air can start a spore fest.
If you're buying from a ragger, there is also the potential for droppings from assorted small critters and moth babies getting into the batch. Raggers are in large warehouses, often open air, unairconditioned, and they keep the doors open all day, so birds can go in, and whatever scampers through the door, well, does.
I picked at a ragger a few times, and although the stuff was "clean" it wasn't freshly clean.


Sorry for the tyrade. I have alergies and wash or clean everything, with only a select few getting minimal intervention.



Oh, if you have a to do/steam rack and hang things the day before, gravity will take care of a lot of the trouble. Make sure after you steam that you let the stuff hang well spaced, perhaps with a fan or some air movement, to dry out before packing on the racks on the sales floor.
 
Anything machine washable, wash in a low-odor detergent if you can find one you like. Do you have Woolite in the UK? Anything that needs hand washing I wash in Woolite (or a store generic version of it), and that seems to take out stale, musty odors. You can use it in the machine as well. There's also a spray disinfectant for linens that I've successfully used on items that don't really need cleaning, but some "freshening up," such as wool coats or suits. I steam them and spray with this disinfectant spray, and that seems to help a lot.

Best of luck to you!
 
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