How can I get mold off my clothes?

Forget bleach!

Rinse them in a solution of vinegar and water. If you can’t get them to the laundromat right away, hang them up and let ‘em dry after you’ve treated with vinegar until you can clean them. Vinegar kills mold spores, and is great at deodorizing, but it won’t remove those nasty black spots. However, it takes time for the black spots to grow, so if you can get to it before the black stuff sets in, you should be good to go.

Mold is tough to remove; it destroys a host material, including fabric. If you can get to mold quickly, though, you might minimize the damage.

Have you tried vinegar?

1. Soak some clothes in a bucket of water + 1 cup vinegar for 1–3 hours.
2. After soaking, wash the clothes with detergent, in a normal machine cycle, to remove the vinegar odor and as much mold stain and smell as possible.
3. Repeat the process as needed.

Borax might help, too. The most common brand is 20 Mule Team, although it can be difficult to find at grocery markets. You might need to buy a box online:

1. Put your clothes in the washing machine with detergent, as usual.
2. Dissolve a cup of borax in hot water.
3. Add the dissolved borax to the wash.
4. Let the machine run through its normal cycle.

Please let us know if you have any success.

And after all that, I’d run a cycle with Clorox 2 (color safe bleach) just to be on the safe side.

I hate mold.

So. Is there a certain type of vinegar? Is there a dilution, like 1 cup vinegar to 4 cups water ,or something? Will vinegar affect the color of the clothing?

Thank you. Thank you all. Just trying to get it right. ..

Get the cheapest white vinegar you can buy. I believe it’s the pH you’re looking for, more than anything, but I could be wrong on that one.

Dilute it until it smells sour. Completely wet each item with the vinegar solution. When I had a lot of laundry I would pour two or 3 cups into a top loading washing machine along with the detergent and then ran an extra rinse cycle to make sure the vinegar was out before drying.

And of course if you’re using a front loader then you will want to adjust the amount of vinegar accordingly.

I have never seen it affect the coloring but if you are uncertain you can take it to a dry cleaner.

There are non bleach oxyginators and I would highly recommend using something like that. Nothing wrong with a good cycle of vinegar, but you might also want to run them through something like Oxywash or what ever you can get that markets itself as an oxygen bleach. Here is a good website that explains why. https://household-tips.thefuntimesguide.com/oxygen_bleach/

Also, if you don’t get the perfect result the first time you wash, you can safely keep washing your clothes using the oxygen bleach and it should keep improving the look and smell of your clothes.

Thanks all ;)

@Seek has a point, but always read the labels on both clothing and cleaning products. Oxygen bleach can and will bleach some fabrics. Whenever in doubt test an inconspicuous area first.

You can also wash them in liquid Hexol or Lysol.

K. Update time. Today was the first load of laundry that didn’t smell like mold. I used an “oxi clean” HE detergent, in a HE washer machine.

Some clothes,well most ,were to far gone. Recovered some though. Thanks to all.

Peace n love.