Son's clothes stink

[Knittingsavesme]

My son has come back to live with me and his clothes really smell. I think it stems from not being able to dry them properly when he lived with his DD and DSM. There were lots of rows about washing and how long his clothes were on the clothes airer so I think his clothes became stinky because they were stored damp.

Now he's living with me and I'm really struggling with the stink when his clothes are washed (not to mention the smell from them when they are hanging up to dry). Even new clothes seem to have become tainted by the old clothes. You can smell the horrible smell when he wears them. It's definitely not the washing machine because my clothes and my DP's clothes all smell lovely when washed!

Can anyone suggest anything that might help? I've tried using Dettol cleansing liquid that you add along with your normal washing liquid. It helped very slightly but not much and didn't solve the problem.

I'm wondering about soda crystals? Any advice would be very welcome.

Great! Thank you!

I sometimes have this problem with dh's t shirts, mainly poly cotton whereby they've not been dried properly, or they've sat in the machine for too long before unloading. I also think the machine needed a detox so every week, I do a soda crystal cycle on its own. Ditto with vinegar.

With his dodgy T-shirt's, I spray febreeze on them whilst they're on the airer and hang in the bathroom with a window open.

He's had to bin a few but we've managed to keep his favourite ones ok,