JoAnn's fleece and formaldehyde

CrunchOoEezyMama

A saleswoman at JoAnn's let me know that all of their fleece on the bolt has formaldehyde in it as a preservative in the warehouse.  She tells everyone using it for kids to wash it well before use. Thought you'd all want to know since many ppl get fleece for liners at JoAnn's.

purplepuggles

ew :-( it was good she told you!

suzymarie

I don't think it is just fleece.  I am pretty sure all fabric is treated like that.  You should pretty much always prewash for that reason even if you aren't worried about shrinkage.

CrunchOoEezyMama

suzymarie:

I don't think it is just fleece.  I am pretty sure all fabric is treated like that.  You should pretty much always prewash for that reason even if you aren't worried about shrinkage.

I asked her about other fabrics (I was buying some minkee too) and she said, no just the fleece. I usually prewash to shrink anyway, but I'm going to do some extra washes with this fleece.  

Tonya_G

suzymarie:

I don't think it is just fleece.  I am pretty sure all fabric is treated like that.  You should pretty much always prewash for that reason even if you aren't worried about shrinkage.

I don't know that other fabrics have formaldahyde on them, but most do have chemicals of some form- I used to work at Hancocks, and when we'd rip the plastic off bolts of new fabric, the smell on some of them could be overwhelming. And it's probably safe to say if JoAnne's fleece has it on theirs, so does fleece you buy in any mainstream store.