Thrift shopping often comes with its own set of surprises; that’s a given. Veteran Goodwill shoppers always know to carry hand sanitizer, skip trying on clothes unless you really have to, and to always, always, wash thrifted clothes before wearing them (that’s the goal, anyway.)
One woman gave folks another reason to try their best to abide by this rule–or at the very least to inspect any garment properly they are eyeing–in a TikTok.
In a viral clip, Sierra Davis (@sierradavisdaily) shared a six-second TikTok as proof why you should “check items carefully at the thrift,” as she wrote in the on-screen text.
Davis then pans the camera from her shocked face to a pair of Levi’s shorts and then shows the inside. On the crotch area, there appears a brownish stain, more than likely from a bodily substance.
“Buy or bye?” Davis asks in the caption, using the #goodwillfinds hashtag.
Viewers are disgusted
Davis’s clip earned over 4 million views, and folks were gagging at the sight of the shorts.
“People dont wash the clothes they donate anymore????” a top comment read. Another said the person who donated it was “disrespectful.”
Others who identified themselves as former thrift store workers shared their perspective. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t uncommon.
“I worked at Plato’s closet for years,” one user said. “This is the case more often than not and having to tell a girl that we couldn’t take her jeans because of this is so embarrassing for everyone cause they usually have no idea.”
Another who worked at Buffalo Exchange said it happens “more often than you’d think.”
One user addressed the comments criticizing Goodwill for not washing the clothes before putting them on the rack.
“Yall are crazy for thinking goodwill should wash their clothes. I literally work there and we sort, hang, price then put out a desired 1,700 pieces of clothing In a day!!” one person revealed. “We have bins with probably 1000+ pieces of clothing stocked up daily. Not to mention the fact that most of it isn’t sellable anyway to begin with. We would literally have to have an entire laundromat and an entire team of staff fully for clothes washing in order to even try doing that. Literally insanity.”
Should you wash your thrifted clothes from Goodwill?
Absolutely, yes. According to an article by The Conversation, secondhand clothes are “swimming in germs.” You can get staph infections, strep, thrush, and even viruses like HPV.
The research cited in the article stated that pathogenic germs can live on clothes for months when kept at room temperature.
“Germs on cotton or mixed-fibre clothes stayed alive for up to 90 days. But on polyester fabrics, these germs lived as long as 200 days,” the article stated.
It would be in your best interest, then, to always properly wash your thrifted or vintage clothing, even if you have the itch (no pun intended) to wear it asap.
How to properly wash thrifted clothing
Luckily, the Martha Stewart website has a guide on how to do that very thing. The article shares a couple of methods to properly sanitize your thrift haul, as recommended by a laundry expertl. Namely:
- Washing machine: for an extra layer of sanitation, add some vinegar with hot water
- Steam cleaning: Pop them either in the dryer or use a garment steamer
@sierradavisdaily Buy or bye? ? #goodwillfinds #thrifting #thriftwithme #thriftedstyle ♬ Illegal – PinkPantheress
The Mary Sue reached out to Davis via TikTok comment and to Goodwill via email.
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