NWT purchases and the dry cleaner

[retronotmetro]

Does anyone (everyone) else reflexively clean their outlet/eBay purchases before wearing them?

I just bought a couple of NWT suits from eBay that are currently at the tailor's being altered. I was planning to pick them up and then take them to the cleaners for dry cleaning, on the theory that there may be nasties (moth larvae in particular) or other grossness (who knows how many people tried them on, and what their hygiene was like) lurking therein. But it occurred to me that the tailor does a much nicer job attaching and buttons than the person who does that work for my cleaners, and going to the cleaners will therefore waste some of the tailor's work.

 

[Don Goldstein]

Personally, I would have them tailored by your tailor and cleaned by your cleaner, but I'm not sure what is the best order. Yeah, I definitely agree that all ebay clothes should be cleaned before wearing. One big problem is getting stuff that smells HEAVILY of cigarette smoke - yuck!

 

[coatandthai]

Dry cleaning permanently diminishes the wool. The softness and suppleness of wool is due, in part, to lanolin content. The dry cleaning chemicals remove the lanolin. A suit is never as nice as it is before it has been cleaned.

 

[EL72]

I rarely dry clean suits and coats and never after buying them NWT. Do you dry clean suits you buy in B&M stores? They have also been tried on...

 

[lawyerdad]

I generally brush them out thoroughly and steam them, but don't take them to the dry cleaner as a matter of course. However, I've been fortunate in the relatively few used items I've bought, in that none have ever smelled of smoke or the like.

 

[Jared]

Would steaming combined with a day or two in the freezer be sufficient? After all, wool is already a poor habitat for bacteria...