Same as you, Lisa

Yes, because all types of people try on clothes in the stores. Some are really disgusting too, no underwear, dirty underwear, MRSA, VRE, gag.

Only underwear. I do wash sheets and towels before using, though. Also, I sew garments for myself and my family, almost never wash the fabric first, have yet to have any problems.

Yes, for the same reasons Kathsgrdn cited, escpecially if I think it could be a returned item. I used to have a friend who would wear newly purchased clothing for a few times and then return it.

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. I am not capable of getting that 'new' look in some of my clothes after I wash them. Some clothes have a chemical/fiber smell that I can't stand so those get washed or anything I think someone else has tried on.

I will wash most things. All underwear and jeans and dark colored t shirts get washed because I don't want colored dye transfer to my bra or skin. A nice blouse would not be because it is not touching sensitive skin areas and it's unlikely I will be sweating in it. I don't always wash light colored t shirts. But most of my things are not things people try on. I don't really shop for clothes off the racks. I buy or am given unisex t shirts and jeans off the shelves at Walmart. Jeans are always washed to get rid of excess dye and sizing.

Towels and linens I can't imagine not washing. I hate the chemical smell of new sheets. As for towels anyone who has been in a warehouse or stockroom would never ever not wash them.

I am picky when I shop. I dig for things that are fresh and look like they haven't been anywhere but on the shelf.

I do, to get the chemicals out of them.

I just can't stand that new clothes feel/smell.

Pooh Bear

I wash underclothing but not other things like jeans or tops. Many of those are not washable and I don't take them in for cleaning. I always wash linens and towels.

I usually do because like mentioned above, I don't know if someone gross was touching or trying them on before, people have all sorts of weird skin conditions.

There has been a few times I bought something the day I needed to wear it when I haven't bothered, but I try to.

I'm copying and pasting Sherrmann's response:

Only underwear. I do wash sheets and towels before using, though. Also, I sew garments for myself and my family, almost never wash the fabric first, have yet to have any problems.

If you're gross, then so am I. I wash nothing I buy from the store except sheets because I don't like the smell. I like the crispness of a new item, be it a sweater, shirt, jeans or whatever. I really never thought about washing anything and I have never had a rash or any problem.

I do wash all the clothes that I buy before I wear them, also sheets, towels, etc. Can't stand the thought of who may have tried that garment on before I bought it!

I generally don't wash anything when it's new from the store. I probably should but I'm lazy about doing laundry. I've never had any adverse effects. It's kinda surprising though cause I'm a total germophobe in other ways. I wash my hands a million times a day and always have hand sanitizer with me but wearing things that other people may have had on for a minute or two doesn't bother me.

I do wash towels though because I don't think they really absorb well until they are laundered.

I have been washing new items in the last few years. Never use to but I have seen so many gross woman coming out of dressing rooms that I feel the need to just in case some nasty tried on what I'm buying.

I wash everything first.

The only thing that I don't wash before wearing/using is socks.

Wash everything first.

I won't wear anything without washing it first. Besides the reasons above, I heard a report that Mersa (sp?) can be transferred by wearing or trying on clothes that someone with it has tried on. That's an infection you really don't want to get.

I go so far as to not even try clothes on--I'm really pretty good at being able to assess sizes, fit and appearance of clothes, so I take them home, and wash before even trying them of. If I make a mistake, the Goodwill gets something new--but I'd rather toss a few $$$ away, than end up with some of the horrible 3rd world infections and infestations that are going around today.

I wash everything...including raw fabric I buy for sewing. I wash the fabric to remove the sizing and to get any shrinkage before I make the garment or whatever I intend to make with the fabric. And, if I'm lucky enough to find 100% wool these days, I preshrink it, too, by whatever method I intend to use if the finished garment gets soiled. This habit has saved me a lot of tears over the last 65+ years.

Azzalea...although I'm not sure you can catch MRSA from fabric alone...I understand your caution. I'm a non medicating diabetic who's immunity challenged to begin with and my husband had three different strains of MRSA when he died. I never contracted any of them...thank the Lord...and I was his sole caregiver until the last 36 hours of his life. Naturally, I took precautions, but my hands came in direct contact with his clothing, etc as I cared for him and it. Maybe I was just lucky.

Anne

I don't wash anything before wearing it including underwear. It's ususally in a package anyway.

brand new I wash sheets, towels and under wear.

I no longer wash clothes from goodwill, unless there is an odor.

I just wear it to work anyway, and get all sweaty.

But I used to wash almost everything... When I didn't have a washer for a while, I started relaxing about all that "cleanliness", and then I stuck by it.

Moni

I wash every new item before I wear it...you never know where they've been. :(

Well, I'm gross, too. I only wash sheets and towels before using them.

I wash sheets because they say to on the package. I will also wash anything else that says to but it's rare. I buy my underwear in a package and it's never occurred to me to wash my bras first.

I rarely buy used clothes but I have in the past. If it looks and smells clean I didn't wash it. If there was any doubt I did.

I wash sheets, towels and undies before wearing them but not bras. I worked retail and it has never occurred to me to wash clothing before wearing. MRSA probably could not be transmitted through clothing. I had MRSA last year when I was traveling. I had it on my finger. I no longer have it, I got tested twice and both tests were negative.

I'd say I don't and never thought about it but I usually buy things off the internet. I do like the new feeling of clothes.

I wash everything. Don't like the smell of new clothes. Also some fabrics (like jeans) are too HARD when new. I consider washing things a "breaking-in".

I wash everything before wearing it.

When you see the label "Made in (Third World Country)", picture the sweatshop where that item was made. Think about the storerooms where the fabric was kept or where the finished product was piled before being packaged. A lot of different people manufactured the fabric, cut the fabric, assembled the pieces, inspected and packaged the product. Where was it during transit? Is that smell just from 'sizing', or also 'fumigation'.
I don't send new non-washables to the dry cleaners though -- just air them well.

I never used to wash new clothes until my sister got a job at QVC. She works in return goods.
QVC has a very, very generous return policy, they will almost take back anything for any ridiculous reason. She tells me about some of the nasty clothes that get returned. Smelly shoes with worn soles, body odor and stains on clothes, half empty bath gel, it goes on and on. It all has to go somewhere...some get sent back to warehouse for resale, some go to outlets and some go to charity.
After hearing her stories I will now and forever pre-wash all my clothes.

Hi salgal,

Hey ... there's an idea ...

... maybe I should take my old undies (the ones that have gotten way too big around the waist) back to the store (if I could remember which one).

Hard to find the receipt, too, no doubt.

Could I say ... without stretching things too much ...that I'd changed my mind?

ole joyfuelled

They don't have general stores much anymore, Joyful.

a nice dress or pantsuit that has to be dry cleaned...NO...but everything else is washed first...

Absolutely wash everything first. Think about where that fabric started out and where it was made, all the hands and chemicals that touched it before you. Bleeeehhhhh! It grosses me out to think that people don't wash their clothes before wearing, even underwear that is packaged; it was still handled at some point.

I never even considered people wouldn't wash stuff first, thanks for the creepys!

I wash everything first including things that come packaged. I opened a packaged pair of men's shorts one time and a dead bug fell out. I did return them but that was enough for me. Now everything gets washed first.

I'm utterly baffled by the gross factor - not only does it reek of panic-mongering and misinformation...

but I wonder how many people really get how all of the drug-resistant strains of this and that came in to existance in the first place? we've spent 50 years weakening your own immune systems, and strengthening the bugs...I suspect that the immune-compromised lady may actually be the most robust person here!

Chinacat--It's the chemicals I want to remove, not the germs. Germs are everywhere.

I just wash clothes that are close to my skin. Underwear, sheets, etc..

Can't be to careful these days. I never drink a cola out of a bottle or can, I pour it in a glass with ice. Why, you say. The ex wife found a dead mouse in her coke or Pepsi "after" she had drank it all. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person. LOL