How to remove odours and smells from clothes

Odours are invisible to the naked eye, since malodour particles penetrate deep down into the fabric at the fibre level. When not properly removed, body soils accumulate on the fibres of your clothes and eventually become visible and noticeable through bad odour or yellowing on the garment. With odour removal it’s important to understand what odour is and what the ideal laundry regimen is to remove it. Watch our step by step guide on how to get rid of smells, or read the instructions below if you’re interested in how to get BO smell out of clothes.

What causes odours?

When it comes to how to get rid of odour smell, it’s important to understand the cause. Factors that contribute to odour smell are:

• Fabric type. Synthetic fabrics trap odours more than other materials, and considering 60% of clothes are synthetic or blended, this means smell removal is a common issue.
• Cooler wash cycles. It might be environmentally friendly, but cooler wash cycles can add to the odour problem, as soiling and residues tend to harden in cold water.
• Larger washing machines. While it’s not the machine itself that causes odours, but large machines make it easier for the laundry load to pile up, which means dirty clothes sit around longer, allowing odour particles to penetrate deeper into the fabric.

Step by step guide on how to remove odour from clothing

 

Create a soaking solution

Add a teaspoon of vinegar to a tub of warm water to make a soaking solution that helps remove odour stains.

 

Soak

Soak the garment in the solution for one hour before washing.

 

Add Ariel

Place one Ariel 3in1 PODS with Touch of Downy Freshness into the bottom of the drum of your washing machine. Use two capsules if you have a large load and three if you’re dealing with an extra-large load of washing.

Add scent booster

For a more perfumed result and a high endurance freshness, add Downy Unstoppables scent boosters directly to your washing machine’s drum, then load your garments.

 

Add Fabric Softener

Use a fabric conditioner such as Downy for freshness. Simply fill the cap to the middle line and pour it into the dispenser drawer.

Wash

Wash on the highest temperature as indicated by the fabric care label

Effective stain removal on a variety of stains

So now you know how to remove odours. However, if you’re also battling with sweat and pit stains, which can lead to an especially bad mildew smell in clothes, or you want to know how to wash smelly gym clothes, workout gear and other sportswear, as well as remove other stains, then let Ariel give you a helping hand.