I got that pop up too when I clicked on the top topic. When I clicked on the bottom topic (this one) it didn't appear. Going to work my way upwards and see what happens.
Well launder or dry clean what you can . I would not put any masking perfume on any fabric they can be worse that the original. I would choose a non perfumed smell nutralizer if such things exist. I am very wary of perfumed products. I can be allergic to many of them and get a really streaming nose.
Add a cup of vinegar to the rinse cycle and it gets rid of lots of odours. I use it when my work clothing has been piddled, pooped or puked on and when I wash the dogs bedding. Not a trace of nasty pongs once dried. Also good for freshening up carpets. Vinegar smell disappears when dry leaving odour free carpets.
I've never bought clothes from charity shops and would find this very off-putting. Mentioning no names or places, there was (and may still be) a charity shop with second hand clothes, books, records, etc which I visited once - the reason being the awful stench of stale BO which really assaulted the senses. I retreated politely and got back out to the fresh air. My nose isn't very sensitive so it must have been bad.
I bought a beautiful coat from Ebay which had obviously picked up cooking smells, though in every other respect it was pristine. I sprayed it with Febreze and it is now odourless.
It hasn't always been like that. I used to buy clothes for me and the children from a charity shop years ago and they smelled ok. The second hand clothes stall in the open air market doesn't smell like that. I blame this modern obsession with hygeine, fear of infection, being sued etc
I bought a dress from ebay which the seller had doused in that scented deodorant spray that is advertised. Febreze I think it's called . I washed the dress in hot water and biological at least three times drying it outdoors before the smell was gone by which time I was sick and tired of the thing and it went to the charity shop.
The steamer should only have fresh water in it, although some shops put lavender oil in, maybe it’s the lingering scent of that? however, shops aren’t able to wash any of the clothes and sometimes you don’t notice the smell until you get home when the clothes are in a smaller space. But we try to weed out those that are smelly and rag them. Furniture auctions are similar, I bought a wardrobe and got it home to find that it smelled awful, but in a large auction room it wasn’t noticeable.
Has anybody else noticed the strange smell (not a 'dirty' smell) that charity shop clothes have? I've discovered today - perhaps I'm a bit slow on the uptake - that it's the steaming machine that they 'iron' the clothes with. Is there any way of getting rid of the smell? Even washing seems to leave it behind a bit.