The only time I've seen sour clothes after they were washed, was when they were put away when not completely dry. It's a bigger issue when it gets warm.

I use hot water to wash with, I also keep the door open on the washer. I don't have a outside clothes line, but I have boiled clothes and it does work for a while but such a pain to do.

What is the actual temperature in the machine of your "hot" water? I'm wondering if there's something in your water causing issues. City water or well? Is it just your husband's clothes or everyones? Do any of your neighbors have these problems? Are you saying the clothes smell sour right out of the washer?

Another thought, perhaps a soak in an enzyme detergent and/or enzyme dishwashing detergent could help.

And you do take them right out of the washer and immediatly dry them?

Grainlady had some good suggestions.

Almost sounds like the machine is depositing the "smell" on the clothes. I would buy some kind of commercial washer cleaning product and run it through the machine at least twice. If you have a sanitize option I would use that cycle.

I would also change soaps. And use more soap than normal, even if you have to do an extra rinse. I understand CS is suppose to be THE soap, however, with your problems I would go for one of the top rated Tide products.

Below is the link for a post listed on this site referring to the ratings of detergent.

Here is a link that might be useful: FWIW-Consumer Reports new detergent ratings

With all due respect. Are your personal clothes stinky too or is it just your husband's. Could just be hard working man smells that need to be approached a different way.

I use Charlie's too and was having a problem recently getting the last bit of pee odor out of kids clothes / sheets (we are nighttime potty training right now) in spite of the clothes otherwise coming out clean & stain free. One trick I found was to do a vinegar rinse and add about 5-6 drops of concentrated essential oil (in my case lemon) to the rinse compartment after I filled it. That extra little bit of scent at the end of the laundry cycle seemed to either remove or mask out any remaining smell. And fortunately the clothes didn't smell like a big glass of MinuteMaid!

I've been adding Cascade powder (1/4 cup) to my husbands work clothes along with Tide HE, and vinegar in rinse, and his sweaty and very dirty work clothes are coming out cleaner and fresher than they've ever been. I have a FL.

Brutuses, what temp. do you wash in and does the cascade powder leave and spots on the clothes. I'd be afraid that on dark colors there would be bleach spots on them.

I am wondering if the machine be it TL or FL is getting overloaded with clothes and they are not tumbling correctly. I have washed everything and every type of "matter" known to man and have NEVER had clothes come out of the washing machine stinking.

If there is mold/mildew issue, one would expect ALL clothes washed to be sour.

If you have a FL, can you put your nose in the tub and see if there are any smells? Smell the dispenser as well.

Have you tried an extra rinse? If it is an FL do you leave the door open? Can you wash his clothes in another machine? If the problem persist I would think it's his strong...."aurra". Very strange.....good luck

Wash and rewash everything in hottest possible setting. Use several rinses on top of it even if you think it is rinsed enough. Use one cycle after this without any detergent. Use extra detergent (at least double)in first rewashing. Switch detergents too.I had problem like this about year ago w/my BF clothing and some of the towels even thou I never had any smell, mildew etc. in my FL's.I posted info about this somewhere here before. My BF started throwing things away, but after I rewashed everything many times over, it stopped and we have no problems now. You can soak and resoak, ton of laundry together in the bath tub and transfer it in wash machine to finish it out. I use only Persil now which is the wonder soap for me. We have hard city water. I used Cascade on regular basis in past plus Borax, baking soda but it is just hassle to have all sitting around. I never used bleach b/c I'm allergic to it. I use splash of vinegar in the rinse.
If you have some mildew in the machine and you do all the rewashing in hot and sanitary (preferably sanitary only)w/adding Cascade to it, it will help clean your machines inside too.
When it comes to our laundry, I don't care if I use more water for all the extra rinsing. It is absolutely necessary for me knowing that no detergent residue is left in b/c my BF has bad dermatitis.
Todays machine cycles don't rinse properly specialy if you fill them up w/ full load.
Use mixed loads too. It helps a lot!
CS did not work for me either.
P.S. Interesting thing about Tide. I was almost out of Persil so I got some Tide powder and did few loads and my towels are getting grey again and my BF started itching and breaking out too! Even w/ all the extra rinsing! He doesn't know I switched.
Can't wait for the Persil to come.

Ok, maybe some of you misunderstood me. Its only DH's shirts I smell a problem.... and my towels too. I have a top loading Kenmore washer, 3 yrs old. I mostly used warm water to wash, sometimes I rinse twice. This ONLY happens in summertime, his shirts stink after he wears them a little while. They do not stink coming out of the washer or dryer. Its really bad and he's constantly mad about it. Any other ideas you have tried???? at wits end!

I know this sounds really bad, but maybe your husband has a medical issue like chronich fatigue syndrome. It is suppose to make the upper part of ones body have a bad odor. It could also just be his chemical make up and what he is getting exposed to at work. What does he do for a living? If he is wearing those special work shirts that are made out of the wicking material, you know those polyestery looking bright yellow ones, then they will always smell worse in the summer. They naturally absorb odors.

My husband is a garbage man, wears those wicking shirts and his shirts always smell much worse in the summer than in the winter. It's not my washing, it's just the excess sweat, heat and rapidly decaying garbage that makes everything worse. Nothing can be done about it. It's just his job.

You can check to see if it's your washing or his work by dampening a work shirt that is already washed and dried with no distilled vinegar used in the rinse. If you smell something fowl they need to be washed with white distilled vinegar, if not, then it's him and his job so there isn't much you can do about it.

As for the towels, a wash with two cups of white distilled vinegar in the hottest longest wash setting will get the odor out. Just make sure you get them completely dry in the hottest drier setting as well.

Also, do not use distilled vinegar in the final rinse. You may not be able to smell anything when it's dry, but if you are accidentally using too much, the clothing may smell of vinegar once wet. I found that out the hard way one time.

I don't have any answers, but if the towels and hubbys shirts are THE ONLY things that smell, I would think it is either the washer itself OR the items are not getting fully dry and developing a musky scent.

I still dont understand how items come out of the washer smelling fresh and clean (towels), and then developing a sour smell later???

Do the towels ONLY smell in the summertime too?

As mentioned it may be the material that his shirts are made of, combined w/the high perspiration in the summer that causes the smell. If that is the case, there is not a washer known to man that will rid you all of that issue.

I don't mean to turn this post completely into somthing that it shouldn't but I am wondering if the TL rinse could be the culprit; specifically if the clothes are not being fully rinsed and there is residual detergent/dirt left in the material. But then again, you did say you rinse twice, so one would think that problem would be alleviated. Geez....I am all out of words!!

Yeah that's what we had year ago. The laundry smelled fine after washing and drying but just putting it on and wearing it for little while my BF complained about the sour smell. It was the same w/towels. They smelled when you tried to dry yourself.
Just rewash everything in hottest water few times. I use extra rinse on each load w/ water plus and when that's done I put another rinse and spin on w/ water plus and extra rinse in that rinse and spin too.
One more thing, do you wash the sweaty laundry as its taken off or you let it sit in hamper?
Try using prewash too and more detergent.

joann, how's it going now? Have you found a solution?

I talked to a SIL over the weekend and it turns out she's been having the same problem with her DH's work shirts (he's a building contractor). His clothes would come out of the washer/dryer smelling fine but then develop a rank odor before midday, which was driving him crazy.

After they talked to a bunch of friends and relatives, he ended up going to a doctor (I think a dermatologist) and getting a prescription anti-perspirant. Turns out that none on the market are strong enough for him -- at least in the summertime. Now they don't have that problem anymore.

She didn't mention towels, just his work clothes.

They live in Florida, too.

No, still no solution to the foul clothes. DH is retired, not working, but is outside all day mowing or doing something. I think its the products we have today and the not so great washers that are being made. I have had this problem since we got married many years ago, so this it nothing new to me. I was just hoping Charlies soap would be my answer. I tried the Tide 2x an no help there either. I guess its time to boil clothes again.
Oh, I also have well water. My white towels don't stink, I use bleach in them. When I add it to the colored it doesn't help much or it will beach them out too much. The color safe bleach doesn't work either.

Joann since this is basically your hubby's clothes, then I would say it's a bacterial problem. Have you tried washing his clothes with a concentrated pet odor eliminator product? Put the product in when you put in the detergent. And since you have a TL let the clothes sit for a half hour with the eliminator product and the detergent before continuing on with the cycle.

I buy an odor eliminator from a janitorial supply company that works great for fish smells in the boat. That also may be the place to find a product that actually kills the bacteria. You can google, but here is one product that says that it also eliminates perspiration and mildew. This is the listing on the Walmart site.

Here is a link that might be useful: OUT! Pet Odor Eliminator Concentrate, 20 oz

One other suggestion: for the pee-odor items I mentioned above one other thing we've been doing recently is adding some Biokleen Bac-Out to the main wash cycle along with the usual amount of Charlie's and that ~really~ seems to do the trick on the odors w/o having to add anything to our normal vinegar rinse. If you have a Whole Foods nearby you should be able to find it.

FYI - we use about a "5 second squirt" for the stinky loads... not sure how much that is in fl/oz.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bac-Out from Biokleen

The only other thing I can think of to try would be lemon juice. I use that as a bleach to brighten and freshen and so far it seems to be safe on colors. If you do decide to try it, do not use it with detergent. You would only need a 1/2 to a full cup of lemon juice by itself in the wash.

I am so sorry you are having so much trouble with odors. I can understand it must be so frustrating to put in effort to get something clean only to have it come back stinky on you. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.