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How Clean Are Your New Clothes? Find Out
'GMA' Found Harmful Bacteria on Brand New Clothes
By ANDREA CANNING and RICH McHUGH
Jan. 7, 2010
When you buy new clothes, you expect them to be new, not already worn by someone else. But that's not always the case.
Consider what happens after you return a pair of pants or a blouse. Often it goes right back on the rack, to be resold instead of staying in the back room, retail experts told "Good Morning America."
"The customer probably gets the wool pulled over their eyes. & A lot of people just come home and if it has a tag attached, they think it's brand new and they wear it," Tori Patrick, a former retail saleswoman, said. "You really never know where it's been."
To see how clean some "new" clothes were, "GMA" bought everything from blouses to pants to underwear from three popular chain clothing stores ranging from high- to low-end and handed them over to Dr. Philip Tierno, director of microbiology and immunology at New York University, to test the 14 items for germs.
Tierno found disturbing results. There was flora, or bacteria, on several items.
"On this black and tan blouse we found representation of respiratory secretions, skin flora, and some fecal flora," Tierno said.
On a jacket, Tierno discovered evidence of feces, skin flora and respiratory secretions, especially in the armpit and "close to the buttocks," Tierno said.
The biggest surprise came when Tierno tested a silk blouse.
There, he said, he found vaginal organisms, yeast and more fecal germs....
That's gross.... I'm glad I wash clothes before I wear them. The whole trying on thing, though...
yuckies...
but if you really want to get grossed out, check out what they find in hotel rooms.
Everett Potter's Travel Report: DISPATCHES: GERM-PROOFING YOUR HOTEL ROOM
great...now i can't shop or go on vacation ever again....
That's gross.... I'm glad I wash clothes before I wear them. The whole trying on thing, though...
yuckies...
but if you really want to get grossed out, check out what they find in hotel rooms.
Everett Potter's Travel Report: DISPATCHES: GERM-PROOFING YOUR HOTEL ROOM
Jillian, I just spent over 3 weeks with 2 twentysomething year old boys/men-my sons, (had to hurry and get that in). Also our loverly dog. Egads.
My mom always made us wash new clothes, how could she have known? I'm still itching and feeling creepy!
The solution.
Just go naked and don't stay in hotels!
(Shut up dillo)
But yeah, a girl I teach with told me about all the bacteria in new clothes, and she said a lot of it comes from the factory where they are made too!
Shall we also link to what's in our food we eat , or is it too close to dinnertime?
Oh lordy---Monk is everywhere today
It's always a good idea to wash new clothes before wearing.
With me it's always been because I know the cloth is treated with preservatives and bug repellant and all that....in addition to the fact that I know they have dyes (particularly blue jeans) which will cause people to rash up if they aren't given a good washing.
But I was also taught, you don't wear or eat anything unless you know everywhere it's been.
Who the hell knows where cloth has been, who has been touching it, who has tried it on.
