Here's why you should wash new clothes before wearing them

Wash your new clothes before wearing them, The Wall Street Journal warns

(Image credit: The Wall Street Journal/YouTube)

last updated 20 May 2015

If you don't launder your new clothes and sheets — yes, even the packaged ones — after bringing them home from the store (or getting them in the mail), you're making a gross mistake, according to Wall Street Journal contributor Heidi Mitchell. Untold numbers of people have touched the item, there may be mold and probably are chemicals like formaldehyde, and the "surprises are even more disgusting," Mitchell tells Tanya Rivero in the video below. After hearing about the possible lice and scabies, you might even consider washing your new garments twice, as Mitchell recommends. Watch and learn. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.