Some of my previously loved dresses have inherited a few smells from their previous owners… luckily nothing too extreme (and my new costumes don’t escape my own body-odor smell). But that smell can be very difficult to wash out and even after several attempts, I was unable to remove the smell.
Finally I came across this fabulous life-hack (I think it was on a figure-skating forum) about using VODKA to clean costumes. Turns out this is a not-so-secret secret, as it is also found on THIS article over at dancecompreview.
Of course, a cheap brand of vodka is just fine (and it still tastes better than Woolite… *w*).
Anyway, I now keep vodka in a spray bottle in the laundry room since it works so great, I’ve used in with my workout clothes as well!