The Real Reason You Should Wash Your New Clothes Before Wearing

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When many of us bring home new clothes, we tend to either try on the garment again or rip off the tags and wear immediately that night (ahem, this editor). Well, as Refinery29 highlighted from a piece in WSJ, you shouldn't actually wear anything without washing it first. As Donald Belsito, a professor of dermatology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, pointed out, despite clothes "looking clean," most synthetic textiles are colored with dyes, which can irritate the skin.

But the worst clothing culprits come from the stores themselves. “I have seen cases of lice that were possibly transmitted from trying on in the store, and there are certain infectious diseases that can be passed on through clothing,” he said. To avoid issues like this, along with fungus that could be hanging around from humidity, Belsito recommends​ washing your new clothes at least once before wearing. Why take any chances? 

What do you think? Do you already wash your new clothes before you wear them? Sound off in the comments below! And if you’re in the market to shop new clothes, check out these cute summer tops.

Bobby Schuessler
Market Director

Bobby Schuessler is a fashion editor with over a decade of editorial experience covering shopping, style, and beauty. He's spent over seven years at Who What Wear, currently leading the market team to deliver highly covetable and convertible content. He creates data-driven shopping guides featuring top retailers like Nordstrom, Shopbop, and Net-a-Porter and is at the forefront of Who What Wear's shopping tentpole strategies, including Amazon Prime Day. He also works on branded content initiatives and appears on camera in video and shopping livestream franchises. He has also worked across a variety of other media brands and fashion retailers like Refinery29, PureWow, Men's Health, and Gilt covering commerce, trend reporting, women's and men's fashion, home, and lifestyle.