All Good Wedding
  • Fashion
  • Inspiration
  • Events
All Good Wedding

How to get rid of that thrift store smell from vintage clothes

by Danielle Anderson
June 30, 2025
Reading Time: 3 mins read
How to get rid of that thrift store smell from vintage clothes

If you love thrift stores or you are a collector of vintage garments, then you’ve most probably faced one or more of these problems. Leather goods that are scuffed, dried out, or nicked and they often have the mysterious stains, yellowed fabric from age and exposure, and the most irritating issue, that bad smell from the garment.

Good news! You don’t have to worry anymore! We’ve got few tips for you to get rid of that horrible thrift store smell from your vintage garment.

Five ways to get rid of the horrible vintage garments smell:

Activated Charcoal

Activated Charcoal is also known as activated carbon, active carbon, or active Charcoal. It can be easily purchased from the pet supply stores, or you can buy it in brick form from Innofresh. It’s a fantastic odour absorber and neutralizer.

To use it, you have to seal the smelling item in a container or a sealable bag (even a trash bag will work) along with the activated Charcoal for nearly 24 hours, or you can keep it like this for up to one week.

Kitty Litter

Record-scratch waits for what???? Yeah, you read it right. Kitty litter is a great odour eliminator and is a fantastic item that doesn’t go too well with water like silk kimonos or beaded clutches. The kitty litter is known to contain activated Charcoal, so if you already have it at your home, you can use them as a substitute to activated Charcoal in the same way.

White Vinegar

Dress your vintage clothes like a salad by spraying white vinegar on it. Well, this sounds pretty weird, we know it. Still, the acid in the vinegar will prevent that odours – the vinegar smell will disappear very quickly, so you don’t need to worry about your vintage garment smelling like vinegar or pickle.

Vodka

Well, this could be the favorite drink of many people out there. But you can also use it to get rid of that thrift store smell from your vintage clothes. We know it’s weird, but it’s true. Vodka is a spritzing agent for odour removal from vintage clothes. But you don’t need to get an expensive one, and you can use the cheaper options like Popov or Georgi.

Steam

Steaming a cloth piece is another effective way of getting rid of that horrible smell from your vintage clothes. If you have a scent-infused steaming solution, this will help you eliminate the odour from your vintage goods, and will also be handy in reviving wrinkled and napped fibers.

Conclusion

These were the 5-ways on how you can get rid of those thrift shop smells from your vintage clothes. Thrift shop smell could be irritating for a person who loves collecting vintage clothes. So all you need to do is, follow one of these 5-tips, and your old cloth will be free from that horrible smell.

Receive Our Newsletter

Thank You For Subscribing :-)







Recent

Is uniform fashion ever going to be a thing?

Is uniform fashion ever going to be a thing?

April 17, 2026
Fashion Ceo Of An $85Million Clothing Company Wears A $299 Wedding Dress To Marry Her Boyfriend

Fashion CEO Of An $85Million Company Wears A $299 Wedding Dress

April 13, 2026
The incredible wedding that almost didn’t happen

The incredible wedding that almost didn’t happen

April 6, 2026

Categories

  • Events
  • Fashion
  • Inspiration
All Good Wedding

All Good Wedding

Category

  • Events
  • Fashion
  • Inspiration

Recent Posts

  • Is uniform fashion ever going to be a thing? April 17, 2026
  • Fashion CEO Of An $85Million Company Wears A $299 Wedding Dress April 13, 2026
  • The incredible wedding that almost didn’t happen April 6, 2026

© All Good Wedding - For The Love Of Wedding

  • About us
  • Contact
  • #3125 (no title)
  • #3126 (no title)
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Cookie Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Test

© All Good Wedding - For The Love Of Wedding