Getting rid of that whiff of sweat from your clothes and wardrobe

There's nothing quite like slipping into clean clothes after a shower, is there? But then comes that unwelcome surprise: your clothes are freshly laundered – and yet they still have that lingering whiff of sweat. How can this be? And what can you do about stubborn sweat smells in your clothing?

Where does that sweaty smell in clothes come from?

Fresh sweat itself doesn't actually smell. However, your skin is home to bacteria that break down sweat. These bacteria use your body's perspiration (the moisture) as food. It's this bacterial breakdown process that creates that unpleasant sweaty odour. The bacteria essentially decompose the long-chain fatty acids in sweat into smaller molecules like butyric acid and formic acid. Butyric acid is a fatty acid with a very strong and unpleasant smell, often likened to rancid butter.

Now, when your skin comes into contact with your clothes, these bacteria also take up residence in the fabric. The by-products of sweat decomposition then make their way into the textile fibres, which is how that nasty sweaty smell gets ingrained there too.

Synthetic fabrics are often the worst culprits, as these artificial fibres provide a great environment for bacteria to cling to.

What's more, most garments can't be washed at high enough temperatures to kill off these bacteria during the washing cycle, so instead, they merrily continue to multiply.

But what can we do to get rid of that sweaty smell from our clothes? Ideally, we'd prevent it from happening in the first place. But even if the horse has already bolted, there are ways to give your clothes a new lease of fresh-smelling life.

4 tips to stop sweat smells from developing in your clothes

Do you struggle with excessive sweating? Are your clothes often plagued by yellow sweat stains and that overpowering smell of perspiration? Do you find yourself constantly having to buy new clothes because you're embarrassed by the marks and the odour?

Then the best approach is prevention – stop those sweat smells and stains from appearing in the first place.

Discover 4 top tips to prevent sweat smells from setting into your clothes. Don't let your favourite garments be ruined!

1. Antiperspirants – the solution to excessive sweating

Do you generally have issues with heavy sweating and feel uncomfortable in your own skin because of it? Are you looking to tackle the problem at its root and generally get your excessive perspiration under control?

Then you're probably an "antiperspirant person". Regular use of antiperspirants helps to narrow your sweat pores, thus reducing heavy sweating. Antiperspirants are effective at reducing significant to very significant sweating all over your body.

Great side effect: they also inhibit the growth of bacteria, reliably preventing unpleasant odour formation. No nasty sweat smell develops – you won't smell, and neither will your clothes!

2. Anti-sweat undershirts with built-in underarm protection

Believe it or not, there are special undershirts designed to be worn under your regular top clothing that have super absorbent underarm pads made from special textile fibres sewn directly into the armpit area. The advantage? These undershirts usually have a very good, non-slip fit.

Who are these undershirts with integrated underarm protection suitable for? Anyone who struggles with heavy sweating, sweat stains, and sweat smells in the underarm area, who urgently wants to get this problem under control but prefers to avoid antiperspirants.

These undershirts are particularly high-quality, with a generous, highly absorbent protective area in the underarms. They are comfortable and virtually invisible to wear, and they reliably protect your favourite clothes from sweat stains and smells.

3. Underarm pads from MANJANA®

If you don't need underarm protection all the time, replaceable adhesive or sew-in underarm pads with an anti-odour effect could be the right alternative for you.

These are simply attached to the clothing in the underarm area and thus protect against sweat stains. These underarm pads are small and handy, so you can discreetly store a spare pair in your handbag. Simply replace the sweat pads as needed. You can dispose of the used pads easily and environmentally friendly with your household waste or wash them in the washing machine.

4. Wear performance clothing with an anti-odour effect

Of course, even performance clothing can't prevent you from sweating eventually, and the clothes from getting damp. But it's particularly important here that you don't start to smell of sweat even then. We recommend performance clothing that has been additionally treated with silver chloride. These garments have a permanent antibacterial effect, so your clothes still smell fresh and pleasant even after being worn multiple times.

4 tips to remove sweat smells from clothing

Once sweat stains and smells have taken hold in your clothes, even the washing machine can only do so much. It's even trickier with non-washable fabrics.

But thankfully, there are a few household tips to safely remove sweat smells and stains from your clothes.

This way, that unpleasant odour and those unsightly marks in your textiles don't stand a chance, and no one will see or smell the consequences of heavy sweating.

1. Pre-treat clothes with soap for sweat stains & smells

If you're dealing with a very mild sweat smell, you should try pre-treating your laundry with soap:

• Before the actual wash cycle, treat the garments with proper bar soap or liquid soap.
• To do this, put some soap on a small hand brush and then rub it into the affected areas of the clothing.
• Afterwards, put the clothes in the washing machine and wash according to the manufacturer's instructions.

2. Special detergents or laundry boosters for sweat smells in textiles

As a preventative measure or for particularly stubborn cases, use environmentally friendly special detergents designed for performance and synthetic clothing. These special detergents simply combat odours during the normal wash cycle. Pay attention to the usage recommendations on the packaging to achieve the best results.

3. Remove sweat smells from textiles with vinegar

Vinegar is a well-known household remedy said to remove sweat smells from clothing. But be careful: Light and white garments may not always tolerate vinegar well, and it can lead to discolouration. In that case, it's better to use citric acid (see tip 4).

How to treat your clothes with vinegar:

• Soak your garments in vinegar before the actual wash cycle.
• To do this, add water and vinegar to a bowl in a ratio of approximately 3:1.
• Then place your clothes in the bowl, ensuring they are fully submerged.
• Let it soak for about 1 hour.
• Afterwards, put the clothes in the washing machine and wash according to the manufacturer's instructions.
• For stubborn stains and odours, you can also generously spray the garment with the vinegar mixture before washing.

4. Remove sweat smells from textiles with citric acid

Citric acid is also a very well-known and popular household remedy for sweat smells and is particularly suitable for light and white clothing. But be careful: Citric acid can bleach the colour out of coloured and dark clothing. In that case, it's better to use vinegar (see tip 3).

Here's how washing with citric acid works:

• Boil 1 litre of hot water.
• Mix a maximum of 4 teaspoons of citric acid into the hot water. Powder works best for this.
• Place the laundry in the solution. The clothes should soak for about 1 hour.
• Then wash the clothes as usual in the washing machine.

Easily get rid of sweat smells in your wardrobe

It's that time of year again for a spring clean. Your wardrobe probably needs one too. When it finally gets warmer outside, we can pack away those warm wool jumpers and winter coats and make room for spring dresses, short blouses & shirts, and tops & t-shirts. This brings a breath of fresh air into your wardrobe and creates order. But make sure your clothes don't have any unpleasant sweat smells when you want to store them in the wardrobe for a longer period. This will only lead to your entire wardrobe smelling unpleasant when you open it, and all the clothes being affected by the sweat smell.

Perhaps you know this too? The washing machine has just finished a load of coloured laundry, and yet the clothes still smell unpleasant? This happens more often, especially with dark or black laundry. Or you have the feeling that you immediately smell of sweat in your favourite shirt, which you've just taken freshly washed from the wardrobe, even though you haven't even broken a sweat yet?
We've collected tips for you on how to freshen up your spring clothes, remove sweat smells from your clothes and wardrobe, and at the same time create space for new things.

Sweat-odour-free clothing for pleasant freshness in the wardrobe

The culprits behind this "sweat smell" phenomenon are bacteria that settle in our clothes. If we then wash coloured or dark clothes at low temperatures, such as 30 degrees, the bacteria are not completely removed and can happily multiply again after the wash cycle. When the clothes are then neatly packed into the wardrobe with the other freshly washed items, the bacteria also attack these – even if they didn't smell unpleasant beforehand. This is how the unpleasant sweat smell can spread throughout the entire wardrobe. When we then take the clothes out of the wardrobe and want to wear them, we also smell of sweat more quickly or even have a musty odour. Synthetic materials are particularly affected. Bacteria can "cling" to these very well.
If your favourite shirt or blouse is particularly affected now, you don't have to throw it away immediately, but you can try to gently remove the sweat smell from the clothing with the following trick before you want to put it in the wardrobe:

Fight sweat smells with vinegar

Before washing, you can soak your unpleasant-smelling garments in a vinegar solution in a ratio of three parts water to one part vinegar for an hour. The vinegar combats the bacteria responsible for the bad odour. Afterwards, wring out the clothes and wash as usual.
However, some clothes are too delicate for this treatment. In this case, you can resort to special laundry boosters. For particularly sensitive garments such as performance or synthetic clothing, environmentally friendly special detergents or a hygiene laundry booster based on silver chloride with a permanent antibacterial effect are suitable.

You can find more tips in our guide on removing sweat smells from clothing.

Preventing sweat smells in the wardrobe

To prevent sweat smells or musty odours from developing in your laundry in the first place and then spreading in your wardrobe, there are two possibilities:

• Use of antiperspirants

As is well known, the cause of sweat smell is bacteria, which feel particularly comfortable in the moist, warm climate of our armpits. Antiperspirants help to reduce sweat exactly where it originates. The special ingredients temporarily narrow the sweat glands, so that less sweat can escape. This means there is also no breeding ground for bacteria. everdry offers two antiperspirant variants: the everdry Body Roll-On with aluminium salts for heavy to very heavy sweating and the everdry Body Roll-On Free without aluminium salts for light to moderate sweating.

• Regularly clean the washing machine

Unpleasant odours in clothes and in the wardrobe can also be caused by our washing machine. Freshly washed clothes then smell like sweaty feet. Modern clothing made of different materials can often only be washed at low temperatures with colour detergent. This leads to bacteria being able to settle in the machine and nest in our clothes during the wash cycle. For this reason, the washing machine should be cleaned at regular intervals. Either with a washing machine cleaner or by running it with a full-power detergent at high temperatures of 90-95 degrees without any laundry. Remember to also clean the detergent drawer properly. Bacteria also like to settle here.

If the coloured laundry still smells musty afterwards, it can help to wash it occasionally at 40 degrees with a full-power detergent (please always check beforehand whether the garments can withstand the higher temperature). Full-power detergent contains bleach, which bacteria cannot tolerate and thus effectively combats them, unlike colour detergent.

Spring clean your wardrobe for a fresh scent

Take the opportunity to create space and a fresh scent in your wardrobe with a spring clean. When sorting out your clothes, you can carefully consider whether you even want to wear certain items anymore. When did you wear it last? Will you ever wear it again? Or is it time to make room for new things? Clothes that are too small, tight, or possibly even have small holes can be sorted out directly. Musty-smelling clothes go straight into the wash so that they can be freed from the winter mustiness and later don't cause the whole wardrobe to be affected by the bad sweat smell.

You can divide sorted-out clothes into two categories:

1. No longer usable
2. Good but no longer fits

The first category goes in the bin or can possibly be recycled as cleaning cloths. For the second category, you can consider whether you might be able to give friends and acquaintances pleasure with the clothes. You might also be able to sell the clothes at a flea market or donate them to a non-profit organisation or institution.

With small special fragrance bags made of lavender, you create a pleasant scent in your freshly organised wardrobe and protect your clothes from unpleasant sweat smells and also from moth infestation at the same time.

First published: 12.05.2011

Updated: 27.05.2025