Should You Wash Your Walmart Clothes Before Wearing Them?

Alexa (@alexasnakol0) has learned firsthand why it’s important to wash new clothes before wearing them. In a viral TikTok with more than 2.5 million views, she says she suffered from a nasty mothball smell.

The stench, she heard, was coming from her pants. She shared her experience to warn others about the smelly dangers of putting on brand new clothes.

Washing pants PSA

Alexa starts her video by saying, “PSA to wash your pants after you buy them before wearing them.”

She talks about how she just got her pants from Walmart. However, as she walked around, she started smelling ‘mothballs’.

“And like all day, all I smelled was mothballs and I thought at this point I was going crazy,” she says. ‘I thought: I don’t know if these moths are following me. So I’m sitting here and I’m like, buddy, there’s no way the smell is just crazy.

She then moves her camera again to show how she is sitting. The young woman sits cross-legged on a chair.

‘And this is how I sit. “I’m sitting exactly like that,” she says. “I’m like mothballs, it smells like mothballs and I was done.”

The TikToker then lowers her head to her pants and sniffles a few times. “Why do my pants smell like mothballs?” she says, browsing again before calling a popular brick-and-mortar store.

“Walmart, do you put mothballs in your shipping containers or something?” she asks. ‘Because… I thought I was going clinically crazy. And I get it, sometimes I wash my clothes before wearing them, but this just wasn’t one of those days and it probably should have been.

Do you always have to wash new clothes?

Several outlets have talked about why washing brand new clothes you just bought is a good idea. Time said customers should “always wash new clothing before wearing it.”

The publication spoke with Dr. Susan Nedorost, professor of dermatology at Case Western Reserve University. Nedorost is also director of the dermatitis program at the University of Hospitals Medical Center. She says dispersed dyes in new clothing can “bleed” onto people’s skin, causing allergic contact dermatitis. According to the doctor, this immune system-related reaction is usually a direct result of coming into contact with these dyes.

“Sweating and friction” are the biggest troublemakers when it comes to the release of these dyes. It is therefore not difficult to understand why when you throw new clothes into a washing machine, these dyes are released. Soaking them with water and shaking them would eventually release these dyes. Nedorost says: “By washing new clothes, you may remove some extra dye and therefore have lower exposure.”

In extreme cases, if these dyes enter a person’s bloodstream, they can cause a lifelong allergic reaction. So washing your new clothes before putting them on can be a relatively simple precaution to prevent this.

The human element

Yourself also published that new clothing often “contains[s] leftover dyes and chemicals,” echoes Time position on washing before wearing.

The New York PostHowever, writes that there is another reason why you should wash new clothes: other people. Think about the crowds of people who process and ship your clothes, and others who may have tried on the pants or shirts at the Macy’s where you are shopping. A Procter & Gamble employee quoted in the article says, “The human body naturally produces body debris throughout the day. On average, this amounts to approximately one liter of sweat and 40 grams of sebum [oils from the body]10 grams of skin cells and 10 grams of salt.”

If you don’t wash your clothes, you may come in contact with all this grossness.

TikTokers agree

One commenter who responded to Alexa’s video said they were gagged that she didn’t wash her new clothes right away.

“I’m sorry, but who doesn’t wash the clothes they just bought?” they asked.

Someone else echoed this sentiment, writing, “I’m afraid washing your clothes after you buy them is common knowledge.”

Someone who said he was a retail worker emphasized why washing is a good idea: “I work in retail and people try things without underwear on. So yeah, wash your clothes lol.”

Others have said they bought clothes from Walmart that smelled like mothballs.

“I had to wash my Walmart jeans three to four times to get rid of the mothball smell,” one person wrote.

The Daily Dot has reached out to Walmart via email form and Alex via TikTok comments for more information.

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