Mold on Clothes: How to Get It Out, by Fibre and Wash Temp

Which situation are you in

Stop at the first line that matches.

1. Soaked by floodwater, sewage or a backed-up drain? Keep it apart from clean laundry and use the flood section.
2. Fabric tears, thins or feels brittle where the growth was? Let it go: NPS and UGA both say mold weakens fibres.
3. Label says dry clean only, or the item is wool, silk, fur or leather? Brush it outdoors, bag it, and take it to a professional cleaner, noting mildew on the ticket. Leather: mold on leather.
4. Washable cotton, linen or synthetic with surface spots and a musty smell? Use the method below.
5. Smell came back within a week, or several garments in the same place are affected? Fix the storage space or the washer first.

What you are looking at on fabric

Not every spot on a damp garment is growth, and one look-alike is made worse by the usual mold fix.

What you see	Most likely	How to tell	Why it matters	Source
Grey or white powdery film, musty smell	Mildew	Brushes off as dust once dry; smell stays	Washable if the fibre is sound	UGA; NPS COG 3/4
Black, green or brown fuzzy spots in clusters	Mold growth	Raised, fuzzy texture	Stain may outlast the growth	NPS COG 3/4
Orange or rust-brown spots after a flood	Iron from soil deposits or iron-rich water	Flat, no texture, no musty smell	Chlorine bleach can cause rust stains; remove rust first	NC State
Tide line, colour change, dye bleeding	Water migration	Hard edge where the wet front stopped	Not growth; may be permanent	University of Kentucky
Thin, weak or torn patch under old spots	Fibre damage by mold	Fabric gives under a gentle tug	Discard; cleaning cannot restore strength	NPS COG 3/4; UGA

Colour is a poor guide on fabric; texture, smell and fibre strength tell you more. National Park Service Conserve O Gram 3/4 notes that mold stains textiles and reduces their strength, and that cellulose fibres such as cotton and linen and protein materials such as leather are particularly susceptible. Synthetics are not on its list.

Does washing kill mold on clothes?

Washing removes most growth; whether it kills the rest depends on water temperature. The clearest published test is small: Amichai and colleagues (2013) laundered 81 worn, fungus-contaminated socks at either 40 °C or 60 °C, dried them at room temperature and cultured samples from toe and heel.

Wash temperature	Positive fungal cultures	Share of samples	What survived
40 °C (104 °F)	29 of 81	36%	Aspergillus in 20 of the 29; yeasts did not survive
60 °C (140 °F)	5 of 81	6%	Aspergillus only

A 60 °C wash cut survival sharply but not to zero, and a warm wash is a cleaning step, not a kill step. The FTC Care Labeling Rule, 16 CFR Part 423 sets the bands printed on care labels: cold is up to 86 °F, warm 87 to 111 °F and hot 112 to 145 °F. Only the top of the hot band reaches the study’s 140 °F, and a machine’s hot setting depends on the water heater, so check the outflow with a kitchen thermometer.

What the dryer and the iron add

University of Kentucky Extension says machine drying kills more bacteria than a clothesline and steam pressing at 325 °F kills bacteria. Both claims are about bacteria, not mold, so treat heat drying as an extra, not a substitute, and only once the stain is gone.

What the laundry labels actually claim

Blogs treat bleach, oxygen bleach and laundry sanitizer as one job. We compared what each maker’s own page claims for laundry.

Product (maker’s page)	Laundry claim	Mold or fungus claim for laundry	Contact time printed	Fabrics it excludes
Clorox Disinfecting Bleach, EPA registration 5813-120	Whitening and sanitizing	None; mold claim is for hard, nonporous surfaces only	10 minutes in the wash	Wool, silk, spandex, leather
OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover	Stain removal, soak or in-wash	None; no germ or sanitizing claim either	Soak 1 to 6 hours	Water-washable items only; MaxForce spray: not wool or silk
Lysol Laundry Sanitizer	Kills 99.9% of bacteria detergents leave behind	None; fungi and mildew are not mentioned	16 minutes in the rinse; 15 minute soak to disinfect	None listed

The pattern matches NC State Extension: other than chlorine bleach, most disinfectants are effective only on hard surfaces, and colour-safe oxygen bleaches do not disinfect. Oxygen bleach still lifts the stain; it is not a kill step. Vinegar and borax are not among the products compared here; the chemistry is on does vinegar kill mold and does bleach kill mold.

How to get mold out of clothes, by fibre

The care label sets the ceiling for heat and bleach; the fibre decides how much damage is already done. Label codes are decoded on mold in closet.

Fibre	Chlorine bleach	Water	Mold damage risk	Best first move
Cotton, linen	Yes unless the label says otherwise	Hottest the label allows	High: cellulose is a food source (NPS)	Brush, hot wash, chlorine soak for stain
Polyester, nylon, acrylic	Per label	Warm to hot per label	Not listed by NPS among the most susceptible	Brush, hot wash, oxygen bleach for stain
Wool	No (Clorox; NC State)	Lukewarm, mild detergent (NC State)	High: mold deteriorates wool (NPS 7/7)	Brush outdoors, dry cleaner or hand wash
Silk	No (Clorox)	Per label, often dry clean	High: mold deteriorates silk (NPS 7/7)	Brush outdoors, professional cleaner
Spandex blends, activewear	No (Clorox)	Per label	Depends on the blend fibre	Wash promptly, oxygen bleach for stain
Acetate, triacetate	Per label	Per label, often dry clean	Cellulose derived	No alcohol wipe: UGA warns it damages these
Rayon, viscose	Per label	Per label	Regenerated cellulose	Gentle wash per label

Where a label says ‘only non-chlorine bleach, when needed’, the FTC Care Labeling Rule, 16 CFR Part 423 means chlorine bleach may not be used; oxygen bleach takes the stain and heat, within the label, does the kill.

The method, step by step

For washable garments with surface growth.

1. Brush it off outdoors, dry. Let the garment dry first, then brush or shake it outside. Why this differs: NPS says to vacuum or brush mold only when it is dry and powdery; wet growth smears into the weave.
2. Read the label before choosing water and bleach. Why this differs: generic advice says ‘use hot water and bleach’, but chlorine on wool, silk or spandex trades a stain for a hole.
3. Wash it alone, loosely loaded. Why this differs: USU advises a looser load for heavily soiled clothes, and an overloaded drum rinses soil out poorly.
4. Use the hottest permitted water; aim for 60 °C (140 °F) where allowed. Why this differs: the sock test shows the kill comes from temperature, and a label’s ‘hot’ can be as low as 112 °F.
5. Treat the remaining stain, not the whole garment. A chlorine soak where allowed, otherwise oxygen bleach. Why this differs: NPS notes mold can stain textiles permanently, so the stain often outlasts the growth.
6. Air dry until the stain is gone, then machine dry. Why this differs: NC State warns the dryer can set stains, and Kentucky Extension says the dryer kills more bacteria than a line, so the order matters.
7. Smell-test the dry garment the next day. A musty smell that returns means growth survived; repeat once, then discard.

If the washer itself smells, clean it first or you will reintroduce growth on every load: mold in washing machine.

Mold on clothes after a flood

Floodwater turns the job into cleaning contaminated textiles before mold starts. Four public sources cover clothing, and they disagree on water temperature.

Publisher	First step	Wash	Disinfecting step	Fabrics that cannot be bleached
FEMA and Red Cross, L-198 (1992)	Do not use the washer until water is safe and the sewer works; run one empty cycle	Detergent, warm water if possible	Chlorine bleach removes most mildew and sanitizes	Pine oil cleaner; dry clean only to a professional
NC State Extension	Hose off mud; remove rust stains first	Enzyme detergent, warm	Second wash, hot, chlorine bleach; oxygen bleach does not disinfect	Wool: no chlorine, lukewarm, mild detergent
Utah State University Extension (2017)	Air dry fast, do not heap, brush off mud	Cold pre-soak, then hot water and detergent	Not specified beyond hot water	Wool and delicates: warm hand wash, 1 to 2 tbsp detergent
University of Kentucky Extension	Shake out, rinse several times in cool water, air dry	Hot water	2 tbsp chlorine bleach per load sanitizes	Dry clean only to a dry cleaner; steam press

The common ground: separate flood-soiled clothes, wear gloves, get the mud out first and use a disinfecting step. University of Kentucky Extension says normal detergent and water will not kill floodwater bacteria. On the first wash, NC State and the Red Cross start warm and USU goes hot; NC State’s two-wash sequence does both, an enzyme wash for the soil, then a hot chlorine wash to sanitize.

The clock on wet clothing

EPA's mold and moisture guide says to dry water-damaged items within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth, and NC State Extension gives the same window for linens sitting in water. If you cannot wash everything quickly, USU says air dry fast, shake out dried mud and hold dry, sorted clothes in plastic bags.

Sewage or a drain backup is the worst case, and the building side belongs to a restorer.

When the garment goes

EPA's mold cleanup page puts it plainly: mold can fill the empty spaces in porous materials, so it may be difficult or impossible to remove completely.

Situation	Decision	Reason	Basis
Fabric weak, thin or torn where growth was	Discard	Mold reduced fibre strength	NPS COG 3/4; UGA
Musty smell returns after two full cycles	Discard	Growth survived inside the weave or padding	EPA porous materials guidance
Pillows and padded items soaked by contaminated floodwater	Discard	Silt stays in the fill; almost impossible to disinfect	NC State; Kentucky Extension
Washable item, sound fibre, surface spots	Clean	Method above	UGA; NC State
Wool, silk, fur, leather, tailoring of value	Professional cleaner	Usually worth the cost, per the Red Cross booklet	FEMA and Red Cross L-198

Signs it is bigger than the shirt

Moldy clothes usually signal a moisture problem in the room, closet or machine. Look further when:

• Several garments in the same closet or drawer show spots at the same time. Start at mold in closet.
• The smell returns within days on clothes you just washed. Check the washer gasket and drawer first.
• A hygrometer in the storage space reads above the EPA ceiling of 60% relative humidity. EPA's mold and moisture guide advises below 60% (ideally 30 to 50%); National Park Service Conserve O Gram 3/4 targets 45 to 55% and never above 65%, because deactivated spores can reactivate.
• Spots appear on the closet’s back wall or baseboard, pointing to a leak or a cold exterior wall.
• Growth followed a leak you did not see dry out; the wall cavity may still be wet.

For contractors: textiles on a water loss

Clothing is contents, and a contents claim is only as good as its records: what the crew cleans, what goes to a textile cleaner and what is discarded.

Task	What to record	Why an adjuster asks
Photograph and list before anything is discarded	Item, brand, size, quantity, condition, photo	The Red Cross booklet tells owners to keep discarded items until the adjuster confirms losses and to list each item
Record water source and category	Clean, grey or black; time wet	Category and time drive the salvage decision
Separate by fibre and care label	Washable, dry clean, leather, fur	Different vendors and line items
Keep the textile cleaner’s ticket	Items, method, result	Supports cleaning costs and any later discard

Dry the room and its contents together. Claim paperwork is on proof of loss. This page does not say what any policy pays; owners should read their policy and ask their state insurance department or a licensed professional.

Questions people actually ask

Can you wash mold out of clothes?

Usually, for washable cotton, linen and synthetics with surface growth. Brush the dry growth off outdoors, wash the item alone in the hottest water its label allows, add chlorine bleach only where permitted, and air dry until any stain is gone. Thinned or torn fabric, or a smell that survives two washes, means it goes.

Does washing kill mold on clothes?

Temperature does most of the killing. According to a laundering test by Amichai and colleagues (2013), fungi survived on 36% of sock samples washed at 40 °C and 6% washed at 60 °C (140 °F). Detergent removes growth but is not a reliable kill step, and colour-safe oxygen bleach does not disinfect, per NC State.

How do you get mold out of clothes without bleach?

Use heat and oxygen bleach. Wash in the hottest water the label allows, then soak the stain in an oxygen bleach solution; OxiClean’s page prints a soak of 1 to 6 hours. UGA Extension also lists salt, lemon juice and sunlight for stains. None of these disinfects.

Should I throw away clothes with mold?

Not automatically. Clean washable items with sound fibre and surface spots. Discard fabric that has weakened or torn, items still musty after two washes, padded items soaked by contaminated floodwater and submerged electric blankets. Take valuable wool, silk, fur and leather to a professional cleaner first.

Is mildew on clothes the same as mold?

On fabric, mildew usually means a flat grey or white powdery growth with a musty smell, while mold is a broader term that includes fuzzy black, green or brown colonies. Both are fungi and both come out with the same method described on this page.

Are clothes safe to keep after a flood?

Most washable clothing with light to medium water damage can be salvaged, according to Utah State University Extension, provided it is dried fast and washed with a disinfecting step, such as NC State’s enzyme wash followed by a hot chlorine wash. Pillows soaked by contaminated water go.