Jennifer Jennings loves the crisp look and the fresh, clean feel of brand-new clothes. However, the clothing, it turns out, does not love her back. Heavily dyed items leach into her skin as if it’s a sponge. Nearly all clothing right off the rack turns her skin hot and red. Eventually, profuse sweating kicks in.
“It doesn’t matter what the fabric is. I definitely have a hyper-sensitive reaction to new clothing, ” she told The Epoch Times.
Jennings is not an outlier. Many people react to new clothing. What they might not realize is that all clothing, including online orders and secondhand garments, can be a minefield of risky irritants hiding in plain sight.
Your New Clothes Have a Backstory
You don’t know a garment’s history—where it’s been, what it’s been treated with, when it was packaged, what’s in the packaging, or who’s touched it, Dr. Shilpi Khetarpal, a Cleveland Clinic dermatologist, told The Epoch Times.
There are also a number of chemicals added to clothing fibers throughout production. It starts with the cleaning process. Organic products such as wool and cotton have dirt and sweat that need to be removed, Karen Leonas, a North Carolina State professor of textile sciences, told The Epoch Times.
“They go through a pretty harsh chemical process,” she said. “And then during yarn production and fabric production, they go through bleaching and scouring with surfactants used.”
For those who are highly sensitive, sodium hypochlorite and hydrogen peroxide in bleach can break down the skin barrier; fragrances added to detergents can also be irritating. However, the more concerning irritants are in finishing chemicals. Fabrics are often dyed, and some also have chemical finishes to make them water-repellent, fire-retardant, antimicrobial, stiff, wrinkle-free, or soft. Some chemicals are washed off; some are supposed to remain on the fabric to continue working.
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One of the worst offenders is formaldehyde-based resin, which has been restricted in use to lower quantities in recent years and is used to make fabric wrinkle-free. Azo dyes, banned from clothing production in Europe, are associated with dermatitis among workers and wearers of clothing.
“Azo dyes are cheap and easy to apply and can give all range of colours, making it the most common group,” according to a review in Current Treatment Options in Allergy. “They only partially bind to textile fibres which may explain their sensitization properties.”
Flame retardants, used on some children’s pajamas, are associated with disruption in hormones; in animal studies, they are considered neurotoxic.
There’s also rising concern about potential harm of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, often described as “forever chemicals.” PFAS are used in clothing for stain-resistance so your clothes last longer.
It’s not unusual for excess chemicals to remain on fabric, Leonas noted. “A lot of times they don’t get rinsed properly,” she said.
The long supply chain, especially for overseas items, also puts clothing through many hands before it ever hits the sales rack, Leonas added. Almost all clothing has been stored in a back room, a packed warehouse, or a manufacturing factory where it has accumulated dirt, bacteria, dust, or mold. Clothing in a store may have been tried on, discarded on a dressing room floor, stepped on, and hung back on a rack—or even worn and returned. Anyone who touched clothing while shopping or handled it at any point between manufacturing and the sale has transferred microbes onto the fabric.
Diem ‘Richard’ Nguyen
Liên Minh Bảo Hiến Mỹ Gốc Việt
Vietnamese American Conservative Alliance (VACA)
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