hanging clothes in sub-zero temperatures to remove smell?

[processing]

I recently retrieved some clothing from a tailor. Though the tailoring was mostly decent, a few of the items smelt really bad. Reminiscent of urine. I'm not sure what he did to them.

Anyhow, I read on this forum some time ago that a good way to remove bad smells from jeans without washing them was to put them in the freezer for a while. So I figured I'd do something similar to these garments.

The only difference is that instead of putting them in a freezer, I hung them up outside, exposed to the Canadian winter (though it's not snowing or anything). Also, there are both wool and cotton articles involved.

Will this work in removing the smell? Will this be somehow detrimental to my clothes?

Forgive me, I'm still terribly ignorant regarding sartorial matters, and even more where their care is concerned.

 

[Antonio Centeno]

Try it and report back!

I've heard of this method being used to kill bacteria growth in shoes; I doubt your clothing has something "growing" in it. Most likely it's a smell due to small airborne particles that settled on them. Brushing the garments thoroughly and hanging them outside to "air out" will help most likely get rid of the smell - not the temperature so much.

And this won't harm the wool or cotton fibers - assuming it doesn't get -80

 

[stubloom]

Urine has two components: the stain and the odor. To get rid of the stain AND the odor.....

* Washable garments: launder or hand wash.

* Dry clean only garments: take to a skilled dry cleaner, tell them to flush the area of the urine with a steam gun, hang dry, and then dry clean. To test whether all the urine has been removed, tell them to steam the garment by hand on a puff iron. If there is any urine residue left, their nose will tell them instantly.

The most common cause of odors in garments (assuming you haven't spent the evening in a smoke-filled bar) is perspiration and body oil. Brushing, the garments, hanging the garments outdoors or placing them in a freezer will do almost nothing to remove the root cause of the odors.

 

[Raralith]

You are saying your pants (wool trousers?) smell like piss and you want to try to freeze it? Why not get it taken care of properly and just dry clean it? Yeah, not the greatest thing for clothing, but those "once or twice" a year trips to the dry cleaners definately encompass urine smells

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Originally Posted by stubloom

Urine has two components: the stain and the odor. To get rid of the stain AND the odor.....

* Washable garments: launder or hand wash.

* Dry clean only garments: take to a skilled dry cleaner, tell them to flush the area of the urine with a steam gun, hang dry, and then dry clean. To test whether all the urine has been remove, tell them to steam the garment by hand on a puff iron. If there is any urine residue left, their nose will tell them instantly.

The most common cause of odors in garments (assuming you haven't spent the evening in a smoke-filled bar) is perspiration and body oil. Brushing, the garments, hanging the garments outdoors or placing them in a freezer will do almost nothing to remove the root cause of the odors.

Most likely they were dry cleaned in old dirty solvents and he is smelling that. Right?

 

[Master Squirrel]

Only fire can get rid of that smell. I recommend burning your entire wardrobe.

If you don't want to do that, then clean/wash them.

 

[processing]

Originally Posted by Antonio Centeno

Try it and report back! I've heard of this method being used to kill bacteria growth in shoes; I doubt your clothing has something "growing" in it. Most likely it's a smell due to small airborne particles that settled on them. Brushing the garments thoroughly and hanging them outside to "air out" will help most likely get rid of the smell - not the temperature so much. And this won't harm the wool or cotton fibers - assuming it doesn't get -80

Will do. I'm probably going to brush them a bit more, too, since you recommended it.

Originally Posted by stubloom

Urine has two components: the stain and the odor. To get rid of the stain AND the odor..... * Washable garments: launder or hand wash. * Dry clean only garments: take to a skilled dry cleaner, tell them to flush the area of the urine with a steam gun, hang dry, and then dry clean. To test whether all the urine has been remove, tell them to steam the garment by hand on a puff iron. If there is any urine residue left, their nose will tell them instantly. The most common cause of odors in garments (assuming you haven't spent the evening in a smoke-filled bar) is perspiration and body oil. Brushing, the garments, hanging the garments outdoors or placing them in a freezer will do almost nothing to remove the root cause of the odors.
I don't see any stains of any kind, just the smell. The poster patrickBOOTH below you suggested that it might not be urine. You seem experienced in these matters; could he be right?

Originally Posted by Raralith

You are saying your pants (wool trousers?) smell like piss and you want to try to freeze it? Why not get it taken care of properly and just dry clean it? Yeah, not the greatest thing for clothing, but those "once or twice" a year trips to the dry cleaners definately encompass urine smells

The thing that smells the most is a cotton blazer jacket, not pants of any kind. I think it might've been just the blazer emitting the offensive odour, but all the items were in close vicinity at some point. The smell wasn't there to begin with, I just had the articles altered by a tailor, and when I retrieved them, I detected the funky odour.

Originally Posted by patrickBOOTH

Most likely they were dry cleaned in old dirty solvents and he is smelling that. Right?
Could be. I didn't order any dry-cleaning though, just straightforward tailoring (taking in some jackets and lengthening of sleeves). I did notice what might be some tailoring imperfections around the sleeves of the offending jacket; it looks like he perforated button holes in the wrong place, then tried to mend them. Could the dry-cleaning have been used in an attempt to cover them up? Assuming it *is* a dry-cleaning solvent odour; how can I get rid of *that* smell?

 

[stubloom]

Response to patrickBooth: Yes, it's a possibility that the questioner (or the tailor) dry cleaned the garments prior to working on them, but doesn't specifically state that. If they were dry cleaned first (a common courtesy to the tailor), then it's certainly possible that the garments were cleaned in "dirty solvent". Purified (or distilled) dry cleaning solvent is odorless; dry cleaning solvent that has not been purified or distilled prior to the garments being cleaned will contain emulsified food fats, body oils, creams, lotions, perspiration, etc. and will stink. Natural fibers like wools, silks, cottons and linens will absorb those impurities from the dry cleaning solvent like a sponge and that could cause the garments to smell. For further information on the latter point, please see... Blog post: My dry cleaned garments smell of dry cleaning solvent! Why? http://ravefabricare.com/true-qualit...vent!-why.aspx

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Originally Posted by processing

Could be. I didn't order any dry-cleaning though, just straightforward tailoring (taking in some jackets and lengthening of sleeves). I did notice what might be some tailoring imperfections around the sleeves of the offending jacket; it looks like he perforated button holes in the wrong place, then tried to mend them. Could the dry-cleaning have been used in an attempt to cover them up?

Assuming it *is* a dry-cleaning solvent odour; how can I get rid of *that* smell?

Take them to a better dry cleaner. Try brushing and steaming them yourself. Steam removes a lot of odors.

 

[Metlin]

Wow. Don't people wash their clothes anymore?

 

[teddieriley]

They smell like piss because your tailor wore your clothes and pissed himself.

 

[Xenon]

could the smell be mold? I once had a new article of clothing altered at a department store and when I retreived it, it had the putrid mold smell to it. Most likely from excess humidity left on the ironning board or pressing maching which had not been used for a while. Its the same smell you get in old basements ect.

 

[changy]

Originally Posted by teddieriley

They smell like piss because your tailor wore your clothes and pissed himself.

Is your avatar a chick or a dude?

 

[alliswell]

Originally Posted by Metlin

Wow. Don't people wash their clothes anymore?

Not their dry clean only ones.

 

[teddieriley]

Originally Posted by changy

Is your avatar a chick or a dude?

Based on your avatar, you're probably hoping it's a dude.