Unwashed new jeans make you sick

[snopes]

Comment: My wife claims that you can become sick by wearing brand new
denim jeans before washing. She says this is due to the dyes used.

[Avril]

There may be some dye transfer, especially with really dark wash, but I've never gotten ill from it.

[Black Sunshine]

I will not wear any new article of clothing before I wash it. This is not because of any fear of getting sick from dyes though. It is because I have no idea who may have tried on/worn the garment before me. I have seen way too many people way too many times at public events wearing clothes with the tags still attached. I have even heard people brag about how as soon as they wear the garment to said event, they will take it back to the store for a refund since they left the tags on it.

[Johnny Slick]

I'm wearing a new pair of jeans pre-washing. They turned my socks blue but other than that is it normal to constantly taste iron?

[Ana Ng]

This is why I stick to unwashed *old* jeans.

[BamaRainbow]

As others have noted, there's not really much to this. Most jeans manufacturers (especially for dark-colored jeans--dark blue/indigo or black) do recommend washing before wearing primarily to reduce the potential of having the dyes transfer to the skin, even though the dyes should already be "set" before the jeans reach consumers.
As for me, I normally wash nearly everything before wearing it*, even if it's in the original packaging (such as underwear and socks) and shows no sign of having ever been opened, simply to avoid that frequent "brand-new" stiffness. It may just be me, but any new article of clothing just has this "rough" feel that I don't mind when first putting it on, but after a couple of hours, it starts irritating my skin. The last time I wore new, unwashed jeans, my legs started itching so bad and when I scratched the itch, I noticed my fingertips had starting turning blue from the dye. When I finally got home and took off the jeans, the areas I'd scratched had also blued. (The blue came off pretty easily in the shower but I learned my lesson. Try on the jeans first but wash before wearing them full-time.)

[Menolly]

There's also the potential that you can transfer this dye to anything you sit on as well. Not that dye can make furniture sick, I'm just sayin'.

[Scout]

Doesn't make me sick, but sometimes it can give me eczema on my legs, I suppose that could be the sort of thing they're talking about? I presume from some of the dyes leeching out, but then I do have a sensitivity to washing powders and there's only about 2 brands that I can use without it causing really itchy eczema, so that's probably not that surprising. That said I usually risk it and very rarely wash new jeans before wearing them.

Scout.

[lynnejanet]

I sometimes worry about the clothes we buy from Mark's Work Wearhouse, because a lot of their fabrics are treated with teflon and other chemicals. As a result, they have clothes that look great, fit great, don't wrinkle, and repel stains, but I wonder how much of those chemicals we are absorbing through our skin.

[TripleAAA]

Wasn't there a House episode along these lines? I think the jeans had pesticides on them or something. I wash all clothes, you never know where they've been or who touched them.

[mags]

Originally Posted by TripleAAA

Wasn't there a House episode along these lines? I think the jeans had pesticides on them or something. I wash all clothes, you never know where they've been or who touched them.

Yes, the episode was called "Poison" (season 1, episode 8). Two boys come in with similar symptoms, and they try to figure out the link between the two to figure out what's causing it. They both bought jeans from the back of a truck from a guy who also works in a cornfield, the jeans were saturated with a pesticide that had gotten into the truck from the farm.

The whole thing really reminds me of the story of the prom dress rental from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. It's called The White Satin Evening Gown. Specifically I'm reminded of the image that accompanied the story:
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tUzRAhpJFjc/Rf...ening-gown.jpg The pictures in those books always creeped me out more than the stories, that one in particular because it isn't overtly horrific, until you start to examine it further. As a kid, I often took those books out of the library. As an adult, I bought myself an anthology of the books, and I eventually had to get rid of it because just knowing those images were lurking on my bookshelf disturbed me. This from someone who watched horror movies since before I had started school, and very few things can get me creeped out for very long.

[Lainie]

My mother always washed new clothes before they were worn, and I got into the habit. I'm not as diligent as she was, though, and I make some exceptions. Anything dark-colored or that smellls of chemicals is washed.

[Roadie]

I once didn't wash a new pair of jeans enough. I then participated in the Olympic sport of Butt Skiing. For those of you unfamiliar with this sport, it is where you repeatedly go to the top of a hill and slide down to the bottom on your butt. It started accidentally with a slip and fall on a hike in the snowy wilderness, and turned into an afternoon of great frolicking. And an evening (plus additional days!) of blue underwear and thighs.

[Tarquin Farquart]

I don't think I've ever washed clothing before wearing it, even second-hand.

[musicgeek]

Death by poisoned clothing is an old fear, to be sure.

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by Roadie

I once didn't wash a new pair of jeans enough. I then participated in the Olympic sport of Butt Skiing.

Don't know if they still do, but LL Bean sells a pair of snowpants with a plastic bottom for this type of skiing.

[jw]

Originally Posted by Tarquin Farquart

I don't think I've ever washed clothing before wearing it, even second-hand.

You should.

Having worked in fashion houses, I would wash any new clothes before wearing them. Seriously, I've seen fabric stored in places where there are lots of rodents, not to mention many other human miscreants who touch the fabrics!

So, back to the OP, I suppose it's possible to get sick from contaminated fabric, although I've never heard of anyone getting sick from the dyes used.

[Judecat]

Could this date back to when Jean's were invented? What was in the die that was used back then?

[Don Enrico]

Just to add another aspect, clothing not produced locally (and what clothing isn't imported nowadays?) could be treated with fungizides and/or pestizides for transport.

Don Enrico

[Roadie]

Originally Posted by DawnStorm

Don't know if they still do, but LL Bean sells a pair of snowpants with a plastic bottom for this type of skiing.

*laughs* If I had intended to participate in the sport in the first place, I would have prepared myself better. This was one of those "Oh, sh!!!!!t..." slides down the hill. Which looked so fun that my companion (unintentionally) followed me. And it turned out to actually be silly fun, so we kept doing it over & over.