I’ve been a serious thrifter for years now and people tend to be amazed at the pieces I find {just check out some of my past Thrifty Threads posts} and I always offer to take them thrifting with me but occasionally I get a hesitant reaction. And then the person finally expresses their concern…
Is thrift shopping sanitary? Don’t you worry about bed bugs? Do the clothes smell?
These questions initially annoyed and kinda insulted me {do you really think I or any thrifter would wear dirty clothes no matter how cheap they are?}, but I realized this is a serious concern for some people.
To answer the question: yes, thrift shopping is sanitary. I know there’s the icky factor of wearing someone else’s clothing but think of it this way: When you go thrift shopping, you always wash the clothing before wearing them {here are my tips for cleaning thrift store clothes}. However, when you purchase new clothing, I bet you don’t wash them before wearing, do you? You remove the tags, put them in your closet with your clean clothes or just rip the tags off and wear them right away. You don’t know who or how many people tried on the clothes before you or if they were worn and returned to the store.
The way I see it, my thrifted clothes are clean and I know this because I’ve cleaned them thoroughly. I’ve never heard of anyone having issues with thrift stores clothes. However, there was a outbreak of bed bugs at clothing stores like Abercrombie, Hollister and Victoria’s Secret where the garments are new and “clean.”
So how do you guys feel, are you freaked out by wearing clothes that once belonged to someone else? Do people question how clean your thrifted clothes really are?
