to almost always wash items straight from the shop?

[LDNmummy]

I do not wear items or use items such as bed sheets and throws for instance, straight after buying them. I always put them in a wash first (unless I am super eager to wear something or need the item straight away).

I worked in retail for years, and not only do you not know the condition the items were made in, but they are hardly ever handled well before being displayed on the shop floor.

I remember working for one high street store in particular (a certain lingerie store with a naughty back area and pink shop front, famous for an electrical item named after a carrot munching furry animal), that handled intimate items in rat infested stock rooms (that occasionally flooded through from the roof in my branch) in open cardboard boxes with items spilling out all over the stock room floor. Stock checks were also counted out over old dirty carpeted floors in damp rooms etc, this shop was the worst IME although I do wonder if Primarni could beat them.

There has only ever been one store I have worked in that did not handle merchandise at all like this but the majority do.

So after working in retail, I never wear things without washing first, surely other people must be the same, or am I just being neurotic?

[halcyondays]

I always wash bedlinen before using it, but not clothes.

[troisgarcons]

No one ever died from wearing a new blouse ....

[totallyshoeless]

clothes usually look their best before their first wash, so I don't bother. Luckily I don't tend to choose my wardrobe from Ann Summers (though I expect it's not the only culprit). So I would say YABU.

[barbie007]

I always wash new clothes too, especially underwear YANBU

[momnipotent]

YANBU. Anything that comes into our house that's 'new', including 'new to us', gets washed before use.

[Aimsmum]

I never wash anything that I have just bought.

If something looked a bit grubby or smelled of damp or whatever, I wouldn't buy it.

[cookielove]

Ooooh i wear straight away, and try and get as many wears out of them as possible, things like jumpers never wear as well or feel the same after they have been washed. Hmmm bed linen, yeah i just put it straight on the bed.

[lydiamama]

YANBU, if you are not comfortable with wearing anything before washing, just do not do it. I only wash things that do not come in a close package, no harm in having a wash I think

[ChristinedePizan]

Anything that goes on my nether regions is in a packet. As is bedlinen. You can tell if the packs have been opened. I don't care about shirts/jumpers/trousers

[LDNmummy]

Ha at cookie, love the ownership of laziness there.

Totally Ann Summers is not the only place I have worked, it was just the grubbiest IMO. Every high street store I have worked in (except Benetton) has been almost exactly like Ann Summers.

Barbie underwear is a definite must wash for me too.

[ColdSancerre]

I was going to say the same as Christine.

I never wash anything before I wear it.

[Tomorrowslookingfine]

cookielove same!!! i like "new clothes smell"... am i weird?

[ChristinedePizan]

meant to say that no, I don't wash stuff. I did when DS was a baby but now I don't bother with him either. Skank central here :o

[LDNmummy]

But those clothes are not cleaned before going into the packet, unless you see where they were made, I doubt they would be much cleaner TBH.

I suppose I am just coming from a back room perspective here. Seeing the way products are handled and/ or stored is at times.

[mamasmissionimpossible]

I always wash new clothes, especially for the dc's :o. I don't like the stiff feel of the clothes and wondered if they have sprayed something chemically on them to make them that way. I thought most people did wash clothes before first use tbh.

[SingleFosterMum]

Never have
Never will

[orienteerer]

YABU

[Tee2072]

Depends on how it feels. Some new close have the 'sizing' feeling of stiffness, those I was. Otherwise, I can't be bothered.

[LadyOfTheManor]

I wash linen merely because it feels a bit starchy. Love the feel of new jumpers. Hate new jeans.

[marriedinwhite]

When I got home tonight I popped a brand new set of towels in the washing machine. My mother told me new towels have to be washed first to make them properly absorbent . I don't wash anything else though, although when ds was born nearly 17 years ago I was instructed by my mother to wash all the baby clothes and linens before using them but he arrived almost four weeks early and somehow I didn't manage to get around to it.

[Kladdkaka]

YANBU that new feel that clothes have is because they are sprayed with formaldehyde to preserve them in storage. This is a poison and can be absorbed through the skin. It is a particular problem for people with compromised lungs, such as asthmatics.

[DontGoCurly]

I never do. I've worked in clothes retail and most of the clothes come in plastic that has to be ripped off before it goes on the display.

But even if they didn't I still wouldn't wash them.

[GingerWrath]

I worked in an M&S factory part time as a teenager, all the underwear was steam cleaned before distribution.

[LDNmummy]

married I noticed that about towels so agree with your DM, plus the really fluffy one's leave little bits all over you until they have been washed a few times.

I remember loads of febreeze and other chemicals being sprayed on clothes but never realised the other chemicals could be formaldehyde! I just figured it was to keep them smelling fresh along with the copious amounts of febreeze.

[usualsuspect]

YABU