You may think your job is exciting, but you probably haven’t ever had to get the stench of cat pee out of a velvet tuxedo that one half of a famous French pop duo was meant to wear on camera in less than an hour. How the cat pee got there in the first place is not the purpose of this story, but the way I got it out is.
First I panicked, then I drenched the tux with Murchison-Hume’s Garment Groom, a fancy-pants odor-eliminating product that bills itself as a combination stain remover and fabric freshener. Reader, they are not lying: Garment Groom dissolved the pee stain, killed the stench, and left behind nothing but a fresh, inviting grapefruit scent. Nobody was the wiser, and the shoot went as planned.
This stuff isn’t only good for cat pee: If you’re looking to remove a stain, spray a bit of Garment Groom directly onto the stain, blotting it from behind with a clean, dry washcloth. Once you’ve removed the bulk of it, spritz the stain a bit more and blot it carefully from the front. I managed to get a ton of red wine out of a faux-fur jacket at Christmas with this exact technique, so I can guarantee you that it works — if the stain in question is oily or greasy, your best bet is to use a good spritzing of Garment Groom as a pre-laundry treatment, as it will start to break down the proteins in the stain immediately.
If you just want to skip the dry cleaner and buy yourself one more wear out of a jacket or blouse, give it a light misting of Garment Groom (paying close attention to the collar, cuff, and armpits), then hit it with a hair dryer to speed the whole process along. Garment Groom uses a plant-based formula to make a stench disappear, and it’s ultrasafe for even the most delicate fabrics — it contains no ammonia, bleach, dye, formaldehyde, parabens, or phthalates. It also works like a charm to “freshen up” a garment that’s been sitting unworn in your closet for a while, giving it a light, fresh scent that kills dead any musty smells. I even use it to freshen up my bedsheets in between weekly washings, giving my bed the feeling of slipping into cool, crisp, hotel bedding.
Writer Brennan Kilbane tipped us off to the Laundress Home Spray: It’s essentially dry shampoo for upholstery, bedding, curtains, basically any fabric tainted by your filthy life — and wool and cashmere.
We spoke to natural cleaning expert Micaela Preston of mindfulmomma.com about her favorites, and she loves this one called Eco Breeze.
In our guide to how to dry-clean without dry-cleaning, we learned that Amodex is the stain remover that Sharpie recommends to people who need to get ink stains out of clothes.
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