Discussions

I’m wondering if anybody has any idea what that smell is in the clothing you buy from second clothing stores?  
VV has that smell and I always wash the clothing before anybody wears out... but it often takes more than one wash to get it to come out.  
I’m wondering if someone who maybe works there could tell me if they spray something on the clothing before it’s racked to sell.

VV does nothing to the clothes aside from remove them from the bag, hang them, and price them. What you're describing is a "closet smell" from clothing being in a confined area like a closet or a bag or a box without much ventilation, a sort of stale fabric smell. There isn't anything that can be done about this other than laundering the item (you should really be washing all of your second-hand purchases before wearing them anyway). You may also be smelling on occasion mold or mildew on clothing that might have slipped by the noses of workers.  
 
Edited by petrichor, 2019-08-04 20:28:52

I find the most common smell on second-hand clothes is the smell of laundry detergent from it's previous owner. Many detergents are very, very strong (I can often smell people's detergent while they're wearing their clothing) and take multiple washings to remove.

Definitely not detergent smell. It’s like a smorgasbord of clean and funky grandmas attic clothes mixed together for a while. We wash everything in hot water.