Rather horrible smell

[Twenty_20]

Washed my jeans ( leave me alone they needed it ), but i dont think my house have enough fresh air and they have that horrible stale water smell.

apart from washing them again, or hanging them outside for a day (i live in manchester, UK), what can i do to get rid of the smell.

thanks

[digital_denim]

I believe that's the smell of mildew. You might just have to dry them on low heat. Or wear them dry, as a lot of us do now. It's faster than letting them dry alone.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

i've never done it, but people have had success putting their jeans in the freezer overnight to kill the offending bacteria

[nairb49]

Freezer would make sense.

Most washers don't have water hot enough to kill the bacteria, which is why once you get it, it stays. Suppose you could boil your jeans....

[mwrenchd]

Yeah freezer works great for me. Put them in a trash bag first if either you keep smelly food in your freezer (e.g. fish) or you crapped your pants. Just leave them in there for at least 4 hours and they should come out smelling as if they were just washed.

[Twenty_20]

Anyone tried the freezer?

or could i just hang them by a Window (open) all weekend?

[beefcake]

how did you wash them? did you use a detergent? if so, what kind? how much?

[eldave04]

I dunno if a freezer is sufficiently cold enough to kill bacteria. I think they just go dormant and would start up again when the jeans thaw out (ala raw chicken). I would just wear them, eventually they will stop smelling like mildew.

EDIT: maybe buy some antibacterial fabreeze, that should kill two birds with one stone

[denimdestroyedmylife]

hmmmm... maybe a 3-hour soak in liquid CO2?

[darkanimal]

Put them in the freezer together with salmon and tuna.

[386]

The freezer cured my stank Nudie Conny raw jacket.

[synthi]

http://www.195below.co.uk/index.html cryogenic treatment is the way forward

[Tisswat]

How about dry cleaning.

[drgitlin]

If you washed them with a detergent it should have lysed the bacteria. Perhaps you should wash them again, but use more washing powder this time.

[minya]

Freezing your jeans WILL NOT kill bacteria. Let's just get that rumor out of the way...

[smw356]

there is an anti-bacterial fabreeze that might help some.

[digital_denim]

Penicillin detergent??

[denimdestroyedmylife]

Freezing your jeans WILL NOT kill bacteria. Let's just get that rumor out of the way...

Controlling bacteria in jeans

• 
  
• -18C (0 F):
  The temperature that freezers should be running at. Freezing does not destroy bacteria, pathogens or their toxins and spores. In a freezer bacteria are merely in a state of suspended animation or a hibernation state. They will not multiply, but nor will they die.
  
• 65C (149F):
  Most bacteria will start to die at this temperature
  
• 70C (158F):
  The internal temperature of jeans should reach this to ensure any bacteria has been destroyed.

[minya]

HAhahahahaha, that was fucking awesome.

[digital_denim]

I have access to an autoclave.

[haptronic]

i think this very situation is why the sugarcane 2 step...has a detergent and then anti bacterial...

sorry this is no help for you this time

[poly800rock]

i think this very situation is why the sugarcane 2 step...has a detergent and then anti bacterial...

sorry this is no help for you this time

if only someone knew how to fucking properly use it!

if its mildew, isn't that fungus, not bacteria per se? just fucking wash it, nothing is more disgusting than that smell.

[haptronic]

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showpost.php?p=197829&postcount=1485

[sneakeraddict]

they probably never dried out thoroughly.

You should re-wash them with some biological washing powder. That way, anything living in them is well and truly dead. Or you could soak them in a dettol solution.

Like everyone said, my experience of Febreeze is it actually makes jeans smell WORSE and adds a horrible masking odour!!

[mwrenchd]

The freezer gets rid of sweaty crotch smell for me and makes 'em good for at least a few weeks. It may not kill bacteria, but it certainly gets rid of the odor, for me anyway.

[__3xL]

So anyone want to take some cut up denim with a seam sewn intact and leather ( to emulate a pair of jeans and the tag and threads ) and throw um in the oven inside out at 200 degrees for 30-60 minutes and see what happens ?

[Guest jeffvyain]

shit in them. i highly doubt you'll smell mildew after that

[penfold]

ive had this experience before..put them in a dryer with those scented drying sheets...that should do the trick arr kid

[ang_kangkong]

I saw an episode of "Good Eats" where he had to freeze something that needed to get colder than the freezer got. He used a cooler and dry ice. I'd guess, although, I highly doubt anyone'd do it, no matter how denim-nerdy, that you could do the same with jeans, dry ice, and a cooler.

[PG2G]

Someone already said it, but I'll reiterate. Wash them again, and wear them until they dry. Its a lot faster.