How to remove bad odor from a suit

[lordwinters]

I've recently gone through the bad ordeal of cleaning a suit jacket that absolutely REAKED of someone's sweat building up over a near 70 year period. I bought a 1940's orphaned suit jacket off ebay for a very meagre sum, and was very happy about it until the thing arrived in the mail. The seller had not said anything about odours in his ad, and he must've been very aware of it seeing as the moment I opened the box a wave of a sweet and nasty stench blew out. I was a bit angry, especially seeing as the jacket fit me fairly well. But enough about that, lets get to what I have done to get it smelling "alright" again. I began with dry cleaning, did nothing. Then I left the jacket in the bag from the cleaners with a device meant to get rid of humidity on cottages and the like, which actually after a few weeks had gotten a fair amount of the smell to vanish. Then I tried the same thing but with a bowl of vinegar, helped somewhat. Then I freezed the thing two times, also helped somewhat. But what in the end helped most of all was cleaning it by hand, with water. A risky move, but certainly helped most of all. So if you want to risk it, then water clean is by far the best way to get rid of stench.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Did you use a detergent? Was it difficult to get the jacket back in shape after drying?

 

[Rudie]

I did that once with a jacket. I soaked it with mild wool detergent over a period of eight days, rinsing several times. At first the water was a dark brown and reeking very badly, then turned to brownish yellow. When no funk came out of it anymore I let it dry and then had my tailor iron it back in shape. Worked pretty well.

 

[lordwinters]

Yes I did, a mild one specific for hand wash of wool clothing. To dry I merely put it on a hanger and hung it on my balcony, pulling the fabric into place, but not much was needed. Be sure to secure the shoulder pads though, lest they move around when soaked.