Into the sauna!: This helps remove musty odor from clothes.

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There’s a very specific aroma that hits your nose in vintage stores and secondhand shops: a musty smell that feels like you’re walking into a moldy basement.

Lucy Prader, 42, co-founder of thrift store The New New, also knows the smell. “Michèle Roten and I were of the same mind when we founded the shop: our home should not smell like this under any circumstances.” And indeed: the typical musty smell disappears when you enter the used clothing store in Zurich.

“We buy our clothes from private individuals and test the scent of the items one by one,” Prader explains. Most vintage stores don’t do this. “There, clothes are often imported in haphazardly assembled containers that then absorb moisture, resulting in bad smells.” To put it simply: the cause of bad odor is often improper storage. “Clothes need to be properly cared for. Even if you leave them in the basement or attic for years, in a worst-case scenario, smelly mold spores can develop,” says Prader.

Pot instead of washing machine

What can you do against the musty smell? Depending on the material, the shop owner uses a special washing technique and baking soda. Silk can be heated slowly in a pot and allowed to cool slowly several times, depending on the intensity of the scent. «Silk only shrinks if you heat or cool it quickly. “So you can’t wash silk in the washing machine at temperatures above 30 degrees because the temperature changes so quickly,” says the trained fashion designer, who has tried numerous washing tricks over the years.

The expert recommends washing materials such as wool, cotton and polyester with baking soda in the washing machine. He also uses baking soda for leather bags that smell of smoke. To do this, he sprinkles powder into the bag and vacuum seals it after a week.

sauna and sun

Prader has an unusual trick when it comes to leather jackets: “I put a leather jacket in the sauna.” Thanks to the temperatures above 80 degrees, he no longer smelled bad after going into the sauna. Heat helps with many odors. Leaving clothes hanging on the sunny balcony is also suitable for delicate items such as down jackets.

Second-hand fashion is becoming increasingly popular

The second-hand fashion market is growing rapidly. Consulting firm PWC predicts global growth of 16 percent in 2024 in its 2023 report. The volume of the worldwide second-hand fashion market in 2022 was 107.5 billion Swiss francs. PWC sees the reasons for the growth as consumers’ increasing need for environmentally friendly consumption and affordable prices.

Source : Blick