Quick answer
If mildew is on washable clothes, wash it out hot and dry it fully, then pretreat any mark that stays with a color-safe spray such as the OxiClean Max Force Laundry Stain Treater Spray, rated 4.7 stars across 15,853 Amazon ratings. Brush loose growth off outdoors first and use the hottest water the care label allows. The OxiClean listing covers all machine-washable fabrics and rules out chlorine bleach, though it does not name mildew. Use chlorine bleach only when the label's triangle allows it, and keep bleach-based outdoor cleaners for cushions and awnings.
Buyer's Guide
What to know before you buy.
Clothes and Outdoor Fabric Need Different Products
Most products sold as mildew removers are built for patios, boats and showers, and many of them contain bleach. That is fine on a solution-dyed acrylic cushion and ruinous on a cotton T-shirt, a pair of leggings or a wool sweater. For clothes, the remover is mostly the washing machine: hot water within the care label, a laundry additive such as oxygen bleach or white vinegar, and a full dry. A color-safe pretreater like OxiClean Max Force handles the mark that is left. Outdoor fabric goes the other way. Cushions, awnings and boat seats cannot go in a washer, so a spray-and-rinse product such as Star brite does the work in place. Check which group your item belongs to before you buy, and never move a patio cleaner into the laundry room.
Read the Care Label, Then Test a Hidden Spot
The triangle on a care label tells you what bleach the fabric takes. An empty triangle allows any bleach. A triangle with diagonal lines allows only non-chlorine, color-safe bleach. A crossed-out triangle means no bleach of any kind. Wool, silk, mohair, leather and spandex should not get chlorine bleach whatever their color, and a blend with spandex counts. Even with a label that allows it, test the product first. Choose an inside seam or the hem allowance, dab a little on, wait the time on the product label, then blot with a white cloth. Color on the cloth, or a change in the fabric, means stop. Outdoor products ask for the same check: Star brite's listing says to test for colorfastness before use.
How to Get Mildew Out of Clothes, Step by Step
Take the item outside and brush off loose growth with a soft brush, so spores land outdoors and not in your closet. If you have asthma or a mold allergy, let someone else do this step. Pretreat any mark with a color-safe spray, then presoak for about an hour in hot water with oxygen bleach powder or a cup of white vinegar, using one or the other. Never mix vinegar and chlorine bleach, which releases chlorine gas. Wash on the hottest setting the label allows. Before drying, look at the stain in daylight. If it is still there, repeat the soak and wash, because dryer heat can set it. Then dry completely, in direct sun if you can. A garment put away even slightly damp starts the problem over.
Musty Towels Usually Start in the Washer
Towels that smell sour a day after washing are often picking up mildew from the machine, not growing it themselves. Front-load washers are the usual culprit. The rubber door gasket holds a ring of water, lint and detergent film, and a closed door keeps it wet between loads. Wet laundry left in the drum overnight adds to it. Fix the machine first: clean every fold of the gasket and the detergent drawer, and run an empty hot cleaning cycle. Then rewash the towels hot with a cup of white vinegar, run a second normal wash, and dry them fully. Use the detergent dose your machine calls for, since extra soap leaves the film mildew feeds on. Leave the door and drawer open between loads.
Closets, Storage Bins and the Humidity Behind Mildew
Mildew on clothes in a closet means the air in that closet stays damp. The EPA's guidance is to keep indoor humidity below 60%, ideally between 30% and 50%, and a closet on an exterior wall or under a cold roof can run well above the room around it. Put a hygrometer on the shelf for a week. If it reads high, add moisture absorbers for a small reach-in closet or a small dehumidifier for a walk-in, and leave the door open when you can. Store only clothes that are clean and fully dry, and avoid sealing them in plastic bins in a basement or garage. Clothes molding again within weeks of a good wash point to the room, not the laundry.
Who Should Not Bother With a Mildew Remover
Some items are past what any remover can do. Leather, suede, silk, wool and dry-clean-only pieces belong with a professional cleaner, not a spray bottle. Pillows, stuffed toys and cushion foam that still smell musty after two hot washes have growth inside the filling, and those are usually thrown away. Clothes soaked by sewage are a contaminated-water problem, not a mildew one, and anything that cannot be washed hot is usually discarded. If you find mildew on clothes in several rooms, or on the closet wall itself, the fabric is a symptom. Mold on a wall covering more than about 10 square feet is past the EPA's homeowner range, and a leak or a humidity problem in the house needs an inspector, not a better detergent.
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