New clothes shipped from far-flung factories across the world aren't the only products you need to wash before wearing. Store-bought items are equally as essential to disinfect, since it's impossible to know who handled the clothes before you. Although it's a rare occurrence, certain microbes, like pubic lice, can survive on clothing and be transferred to your skin upon contact. Scabies can also spread through unsanitized apparel and can lead to severe skin infections like impetigo.

Luckily, these infections become noticeable quickly, so if you contract one from your clothing items, you could treat your skin and clothes in good time. The CDC details how to effectively decontaminate clothing infected with these unwanted visitors in its official health reports for the public's convenience. Save yourself the headache, and make a habit of disinfecting your new clothes with natural detergent or chemical sanitizers in a hot rinse cycle, before you wear them out.