Question from julien
Years & years ago, my family and i began following your advice to avoid all permanent press clothing because of the outgassing of formaldehyde from the finish.
Recently my wife received as a gift two beautiful shirts from Land’s End catalog. Sure enuf, we noticed the easy-care labels. Is it possible the no-iron finishes have evolved in a positive direction?
For approximately two years i’ve noticed most manufacturers of men’s shirts and chinos are taking the no-iron route YET AGAIN.
Even Jcrew, Ralph Lauren, and other companies that had pretty much stayed away from these finishes.
I need new chinos and will have to research again! My wife would love to keep the two unique pretty shirts, and we’ve considered the possibility of always handwashing and airdrying so as not to contaminate washer&dryer.
But if today’s no-iron easy-care finish yet has formaldehyde, is it worth having in our home? (we’ve been nontoxic and natural since 1988!!)
Please consider doing an update on this frustrating topic.
Thank you for your life devotion to helping us live healthy lives!!
Debra’s Answer
Yes, there have been some changes in how permanent press fabrics are made to be permanent press, but the active agent is still formaldehyde.
This article explains it all very well: OrganicClothing.blogs.com; Permanent Press: Facts Behind the Fabrics
I’m terribly sensitive to many synthetic rubbers including spandex and Lycra.
Debra, you’re right about the importance of reading labels (and descriptions) but even then there can be problems. While searching for cotton socks some months ago, I found that 100% cotton socks didn’t always mean that. Sometimes the description would say something like, “100% cotton with elastic around the top of the sock,” or if I called the company they would tell me that, “Oh, yes, there is elastic around the top of the sock.” One supposedly 100% cotton t-shirt I ordered for my husband had some kind of synthetic mix around the neck – Lycra or spandex – and, of course, I reacted to touching it. You can’t be too careful.
It is reassuring to know that you don’t try to remove chemicals in cotton clothing unless you have to. That’s what I’ve been doing, too. It’s just the ones with especially bad chemical odors that seem to need the special soaking and washing.
You’re right. But if I remember correctly, by law the labels are supposed to tell you the fabric content and then say something like “exclusive of decoration” if the decoration, for example, is made of something else.
I just called Furnature.com and asked about their SafeWashing system. He said that the Furnature company has been in business in Boston for 100 years.
Fred was very open about giving directions for SafeWashing which I greatly appreciated. He cautioned that it might not do the whole job but then it may. He also said to be careful as it may ruin the fabric or item.
They process fabrics for chemically sensitive customers who order non-toxic furniture and bedding. The person may react to a certain fabric before the SafeWashing but often do not react after it has been done. If the person does not react after the process, it’s considered a success.
First, soak the fabric/item overnight in milk and then rinse in cold water. Next, soak it overnight in white vinegar and rinse in cold water. Finally, wash it in non-scented baking soda and rinse. The amount of baking soda to use would be up to the person. I’m not sure if the rinsing would be by hand or machine but I would only guess that machine agitation might help in getting rid of the chemicals, too.
In the past I have soaked odoriferous new clothing items such as cotton and wool sweaters in pure white vinegar, sometimes for many weeks. I use a large, covered glass container. After a good length of time I wash it with my laundry soap (Ecos, Free and Clear, Earth Friendly Products) and non-scented Arm and Hammer baking soda and then rinse the item. The clothing items I have soaked for an extensive amount of time have all looked just like new after this process. Most lost odors and I was able to wear them. Some did not lose chemical odors so I did not keep them. I remember one wool sweater that smelled like tires before as well as after a long vinegar soak.
At least this might give us a bit of control over the chemical onslaught in our world…
Thank you. Good to know.
My rule-of-thumb is to find the least toxic choice for any item I am looking for and not try to remove chemicals unless I need to. There are plenty of fabrics available that don’t have easy care finishes.
This answers some questions, too – http://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/2010/11/10/how-to-get-rid-of-chemicals-in-fabrics-hint-trick-question/ – except where to buy safe clothing.
Thanks to Julien and, Debra, thanks for this article. I, too, am now frightened and amazed at the amount of chemicals saturating cotton clothing! For many years I’ve been carefully reading the descriptions of cotton clothing for both my husband and myself, making sure no suspicious terms are included such as “wrinkle resistant,” etc. If there are no suspicious chemical terms included in the clothing description, can I be certain that no terribly toxic chemicals have been used in the processing of that piece of clothing? Is organic cotton our only option? Organic cotton jeans and other organic clothing is so expensive. Do you know any manufacturers who provide safe, non-organic cotton clothing?
Look on the clothing page of Debra’s List for the least toxic clothing websites I know of.
One of the things I’m finding these days is the use of organic cotton blended with synthetics like spandex. Some trendy designers think they are doing good by mixing some organic cotton with synthetics, but they are missing the point of providing clothing that is 100% pure. So read labels carefully.