Can You Get Bedbugs From Trying On Clothes in Lambeth?

Where Bedbugs Actually Live

Bedbugs settle where people rest for hours at a time: beds first, then sofas, armchairs and the seats people sleep in on long journeys. They hide by day and come out to feed on someone who stays still. A rail of new clothes that people handle for a minute each is a poor home by comparison.

That does not make a shop impossible, just unlikely. A single bug can hitch a ride on a garment someone else tried on, or in a bag put down on an upholstered bench. It is the same small risk you run on a bus seat or in a cinema, and it is not a reason to stop shopping.

Changing Rooms

If anything in a shop is going to give shelter, it is the changing room: an upholstered stool, a curtain with a deep hem, carpet edges and a corner where coats and bags are piled. Keep your own bag off the soft seating and on a hook or a hard floor, and do not leave your coat bundled on a padded bench while you try things on.

There is no need to inspect the cubicle. If you do see a small reddish-brown insect on the seat, tell the staff and change somewhere else.

Second-Hand Clothes

Second-hand clothes carry a little more risk, not because charity shops or markets are dirty but because the clothes came out of someone’s bedroom. Anything that sat in a wardrobe next to an infested bed may have company. Most sellers sort and hang stock quickly, but they cannot check every seam.

The fix is simple. Wash every second-hand garment on the hottest setting the label allows, or put it through a hot tumble-dryer cycle, before it goes near your wardrobe or bed. It is the heat that matters, not the detergent. If you volunteer sorting donations yourself, the Brixton page is written for you.

A Sensible Routine for New Purchases

1. Carry purchases home in the shop bag and keep it off the bed and the sofa.
2. Open bags on a hard floor in the kitchen or hallway rather than the bedroom.
3. Put second-hand clothes straight into the wash or dryer, hot.
4. Wash new clothes as you normally would; nothing extra is needed for most shops.
5. Wipe or vacuum second-hand bags, shoes and belts, looking in seams and pockets.
6. Bin the carrier bags once they are empty.

The same thinking applies to online returns and parcels, though again the risk is low. What makes a real difference is keeping the bedroom as the last stop for anything that has been somewhere else.

Second-Hand Furniture Is a Different Matter

Clothes wash easily. A second-hand sofa, headboard or bed frame does not, and it offers exactly the joints and seams bedbugs like. Check furniture closely before it comes home, and think twice about anything collected from a pavement. The London guide to early signs of bedbugs shows what to look for.

If You Think Something Came Home With You

Catch it if you can, and keep it in a sealed jar. Wash what came with it, hot. Keep sleeping in your own bed, and watch for spotting on the mattress seams over the next couple of weeks. If you are not sure what you have caught, an inspection from £120 settles it before any money goes on treatment; the Lambeth inspections page explains what it covers.

If bites appear but no bugs or spotting turn up, they may not be bedbugs at all. Our guide to bedbugs or dust mites covers one common mix-up.

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