How to Get the Smell Out of a Vintage Coat: Smoke, Must and Mothballs

Start with the cause. Most smells in a vintage coat are smoke, mustiness or mothballs, and all three begin to fade with time and moving air: hang the coat somewhere dry, shaded and well ventilated for several days, not a few hours. What comes next depends on the cloth: a dry cleaner for wool and cashmere, a leather specialist for leather and suede, a furrier for fur. Skip perfume, heat and ozone machines.

The steps below are the ones we would follow for any of the coats in the Vestiaire, whether wool, leather, fur or shearling. One rule runs through all of them: a smell that comes back after airing is usually a sign that its source is still in the coat.

What is causing the smell?

• Musty. A damp, cellar smell often means mould. The Canadian Conservation Institute notes that mould on textiles is often accompanied by a musty odour, and that it grows when relative humidity sits between 65 and 100%, with warmth and still air.
• Mothballs. A sharp chemical smell. Mothballs are pesticides, usually naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene, that slowly turn from solid to vapour. As the US National Pesticide Information Center puts it, when you smell mothballs you are inhaling the insecticide.
• Smoke. Tobacco or wood smoke settles into the cloth and, often more stubbornly, into the lining and padding.

Step one: air it properly

Empty the pockets, put the coat on a broad hanger that holds the shoulders, and hang it outdoors on a dry day, out of direct sun, or in a cool room with a window open. Give it several days. The Canadian Conservation Institute recommends drying affected textiles outside on a clear, dry day. Airing is slow, but it is the one method that cannot harm the coat.

Do not seal a coat that still smells damp in a plastic bag or garment cover. Mould needs moisture and still air; the Canadian Conservation Institute says growth is unlikely below 60% relative humidity with good air circulation, so keep it dry and give it space.

If it smells musty, check for mould first

Look closely at the lining, the underarms, the hem and inside the pockets. Early mould shows as small spots or a white or coloured velvety growth. If you find it, take the coat outside before you touch it. The Canadian Conservation Institute advises cleaning mouldy textiles outdoors, brushing loose growth gently towards a vacuum nozzle, and wearing at least an N95 mask, gloves and goggles; people with asthma or allergies should leave it to someone else. Mould can stain and weaken fibres, so on a good coat, a professional cleaner is the safer route once the surface is dry and brushed.

How to get the mothball smell out

Air is the main cure here, and it takes longer than for smoke: plan on days, outdoors where possible, because the vapour is the insecticide itself. After that, a wool coat can go to a dry cleaner. Then store it without mothballs, or at least never loose in a room: NPIC notes that they are meant for enclosed storage such as garment bags and airtight containers, used as the label directs. Our guide to storing winter coats covers other ways to keep moths away.

How to get smoke out of a coat

Air it first. If the smell lingers, close the coat in a large bag with an open bowl of activated charcoal, fresh coffee beans or baking soda for about a week; keep the powder off the cloth, where it settles into seams and is hard to brush out. Conservators use canisters of charcoal and baking soda to absorb smells in display cases because both are relatively harmless. In a test of home methods on a smelly leather jacket, the menswear site Put This On found that a professional odour treatment worked far better than any of them, so for a strong smell on a good coat, go straight to a specialist cleaner.

Does the vodka trick work?

It is a real theatre method. The Melbourne Theatre Company sprays costumes it cannot launder often with vodka, saying the alcohol kills germs and removes smells without leaving its own odour, and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts gives the same advice: plain, unflavoured vodka in a spray bottle, on the underarms and other problem areas. It suits light staleness best; in Put This On’s test on a smelly jacket it helped only a little. Spray lightly, let the coat dry completely, and test a hidden seam first. Keep it off fur.

What works for each material

Material	What to do
Wool, cashmere, camel hair	Air for several days, then dry clean. See how to clean a cashmere coat.
Leather and suede	Never soak. Air, then a sealed bag with charcoal; a leather specialist for anything stubborn. See cleaning a vintage leather jacket.
Fur	Air in the shade, then a furrier, who cleans fur in a slow tumbling drum with a cleaning agent. See smells and shedding in old fur.
Shearling	Air, then a specialist cleaner. See how to clean a shearling coat.

What not to do

• Don’t rely on ozone. Ozone machines are sold for odours, but the US Environmental Protection Agency states that ozone is not effective at removing many odour-causing chemicals, that it can damage rubber and fabrics, and that it can harm the lungs. Many cleaners use it by default, so ask before you hand over a coat.
• Don’t cover it up. Perfume and fabric sprays mask a smell for a day and add their own.
• Don’t expect the freezer to help. Museums freeze textiles to kill moth eggs and larvae, which is useful if you suspect moths. It is a pest treatment, not a deodoriser.
• Don’t add heat. Keep the coat away from radiators, hair dryers and tumble dryers; heat does nothing for the smell and puts the cloth and skins at risk.

When you are buying, it is fair to ask how a coat smells before it ships; a good seller will tell you plainly. And if a coat has been well aired and still smells, the source is in the coat, usually the lining, padding or skins, and that is a job for a specialist rather than another week on the balcony.