Figs scrubs smell bad after washing primarily because of what they are made of. Figs uses polyester-spandex blends and similar synthetic fabrics for most of their product lines, and synthetic textiles are significantly more prone to retaining body odor than natural fibers like cotton. Research has consistently shown that polyester harbors odor-causing bacteria in ways that cotton simply does not, and standard home laundering often fails to fully remove those bacteria or the oily residues they feed on. The problem is not unique to Figs as a brand; it is a consequence of wearing any polyester-heavy garment in a physically demanding, sweat-producing environment like a hospital.
Why Polyester Holds Onto Smell
The core issue comes down to how synthetic fibers interact with your skin’s bacteria and sweat. Polyester is hydrophobic, meaning it repels water but readily absorbs oils. When you sweat, the watery component of your perspiration sits on the surface of polyester rather than being absorbed into the fiber the way cotton would absorb it. But the oily component of sweat, particularly sebum, gets pulled into the polyester fibers and sticks there. Sebum is the primary food source for the bacteria living on your skin and clothing. So polyester essentially creates a buffet: it traps the nutrients bacteria need while providing a surface those bacteria can cling to more easily than cotton.
A study examining how fiber type governs bacterial behavior found that polyester adhered more bacteria and absorbed more sebum than cotton, and bacteria were more metabolically active in polyester textiles as a result.1PubMed Central. The Bacterial Life Cycle in Textiles is Governed by Fiber Hydrophobicity This is not a marginal difference. The oily residues that drive bacterial growth bond to polyester at a molecular level, and a single wash cycle frequently does not break those bonds.
The Specific Bacteria Behind the Stink
Not all bacteria produce the same level of odor, and polyester seems to attract the worst offenders. A well-known study had volunteers wear either polyester or cotton T-shirts during a workout, then had a trained odor panel evaluate the shirts afterward. The polyester shirts smelled significantly less pleasant and more intense than the cotton ones.2PubMed Central. Microbial odor profile of polyester and cotton clothes after a fitness session When the researchers investigated why, they found that a group of bacteria called Micrococci were present in almost all the synthetic shirts but were nearly absent from the cotton ones. A follow-up growth experiment confirmed that polyester selectively enriches these Micrococci, which are particularly effective at converting odorless sweat compounds into the volatile molecules your nose recognizes as stink.
The researchers concluded that the composition of clothing fibers promotes differential growth of textile microbes and, as a result, determines how much malodor a garment generates.2PubMed Central. Microbial odor profile of polyester and cotton clothes after a fitness session In other words, the smell is not just about sweat soaking in. Polyester actively cultivates a microbial community that is worse at producing odor than what you would find on cotton. Healthcare workers wearing polyester-blend scrubs for 12-hour shifts in warm environments are essentially running a longer, more intense version of the same experiment those researchers conducted in the gym.
Why Your Washing Machine Is Not Fixing It
If the bacteria and their food source survive the wash, your scrubs will come out of the machine looking clean but still harboring the microbial colonies responsible for the odor. Several factors conspire to let this happen.
Temperature is the biggest one. Most people wash scrubs on a normal or cold cycle, either to save energy or because the care labels on Figs scrubs recommend cold or warm water to protect the fabric and its stretch. But research on laundry microbiology has found that temperatures need to exceed 40°C to 60°C (roughly 104°F to 140°F) for proper inactivation of many microorganisms.3PubMed Central. Laundry Hygiene and Odor Control: State of the Science A cold-water cycle, which typically runs around 15°C to 20°C, is nowhere near that range. The mechanical agitation of the drum and the detergent do remove some bacteria, but they leave plenty behind, especially the ones embedded in the oily sebum layer that polyester clings to.
Detergent performance also matters more than people realize. Standard detergents are designed to handle water-soluble soils fairly well, but the sebum trapped in synthetic fibers is oily and stubborn. If the surfactants in your detergent cannot fully lift those oils out of the polyester matrix, the bacteria’s food source stays put. And when lifted soil is not kept properly suspended in the wash water, it can redeposit onto the fabric surface during the cycle.4American Chemical Society. Evaluating the Role of Hydrophobic and Cationic Appendages on the Laundry Performance of Modified Hydroxyethyl Celluloses Essentially, you can wash oily residue off the fabric and then have it settle right back down before the rinse cycle finishes. This is one reason scrubs can sometimes smell worse after multiple wash cycles rather than better; each incomplete wash adds a thin additional layer of poorly rinsed residue.
The Dryer Can Make It Worse Too
An interesting wrinkle involves what happens after the wash. Polyester dries quickly because it does not hold water well, which sounds like an advantage until you consider the bacterial implications. Research comparing polyester and cotton found that while cotton’s higher water retention allowed some bacterial species to remain active after drying, the bacteria on polyester were generally more active before drying because of the sebum-rich environment.1PubMed Central. The Bacterial Life Cycle in Textiles is Governed by Fiber Hydrophobicity The practical upshot is that if your wash did not kill the bacteria, polyester’s quick-drying nature means the surviving colonies get back to business faster once you pull the scrubs out of the dryer or off the line.
There is also the common mistake of leaving wet scrubs sitting in the washing machine for hours after a cycle finishes. That warm, damp environment is ideal for bacterial regrowth, and polyester’s tendency to hold sebum means the bacteria have food available the moment conditions become favorable again. If you have ever noticed that scrubs smell fine right out of the wash but develop an odor after sitting in the drum for half a day, this is why.
What Actually Reduces the Smell
Solving the problem requires attacking both the bacteria and the oily residues they feed on. Several strategies work, and combining them is more effective than relying on any single fix.
- Wash warmer: Bumping the water temperature to at least 40°C (104°F) significantly improves microbial kill. Hot water also helps dissolve sebum more effectively than cold. Yes, this may shorten the lifespan of the spandex fibers in your Figs scrubs over time, but if the alternative is scrubs that smell bad enough to replace anyway, the tradeoff usually makes sense.
- Use bleach or oxygen-based additives: Research on laundry hygiene found that bleach, whether chlorine-based or activated-oxygen products like sodium percarbonate, becomes essential for microbial control in washes below 20°C and remains highly effective at moderate temperatures.3PubMed Central. Laundry Hygiene and Odor Control: State of the Science Oxygen bleach (like OxiClean) is generally safer for colored fabrics than chlorine bleach and still does a good job disrupting bacterial colonies.
- Pre-soak in white vinegar: A 30-minute soak in a solution of one part white vinegar to four parts water before washing can help break down alkaline residue buildup and create an environment that is less hospitable to odor-producing bacteria. Vinegar is mildly acidic and helps dissolve the mineral deposits and detergent buildup that can trap odors in fabric.
- Avoid fabric softener: Liquid fabric softener coats fibers with a waxy, lubricating layer. On polyester, which is already prone to trapping oils, this adds another hydrophobic coating that makes it even harder for detergent to reach and remove sebum in subsequent washes. Many people reporting persistent scrub odor find that eliminating fabric softener alone makes a noticeable difference.
- Do not let scrubs sit wet: Move them to the dryer or a drying rack as soon as the wash cycle ends. Every hour they sit in the drum is an hour of bacterial regrowth in a warm, moist, nutrient-rich environment.
Enzyme-based detergents, particularly those marketed for athletic wear, are also worth trying. The enzymes (proteases and lipases) are specifically designed to break down protein and fat-based soils, which is exactly what sebum is. Standard detergents may not contain enough of these enzymes to handle the oil load that builds up in polyester scrubs worn for long shifts.
Why Antimicrobial Fabrics Do Not Solve the Problem Long-Term
Some scrub brands, including certain Figs product lines, advertise antimicrobial treatments. These typically involve silver-based coatings applied to the fabric during manufacturing. Silver ions can kill bacteria on contact and theoretically should prevent the microbial colonization that causes odor. In practice, the protection fades.
Research on antimicrobial textiles found that most silver-containing products lost their antimicrobial activity rapidly after laundering, with damaged silver coatings of variable degree visible under microscope examination in most materials after washing.5PubMed. Evaluation of antimicrobial textiles for atopic dermatitis The combination of agitation and detergent chemicals physically strips the silver from the fibers. Bleach makes it even worse: research on silver-treated fabrics found that the combination of ultrasonic agitation and bleach not only mechanically removes silver from the textile but also chemically reacts with it, and silver-treated fabrics need additional surface treatment to survive bleach-washing procedures.6PLoS ONE. Reactive silver inks for antiviral, repellent medical textiles with ultrasonic bleach washing durability compared to silver nanoparticles
This creates an unfortunate catch-22 for healthcare workers. Bleach is one of the most effective tools for eliminating odor-causing bacteria from synthetic fabrics, but it also destroys the antimicrobial coating that was supposed to prevent bacterial colonization in the first place. After a handful of washes, any antimicrobial treatment is functionally gone, and you are back to dealing with plain polyester and its odor-retention tendencies.
The Fabric Blend Question
If polyester is the root of the problem, the obvious question is whether different fabric blends would help. The answer is yes, and the threshold is lower than you might expect. A study testing wool-polyester blends against pure polyester found that fabrics containing just 20% wool had substantially reduced odor intensity compared to 100% polyester, both in controlled lab conditions and in real-world wear trials.7Textile Research Journal. Quantitative and sensory evaluation of odor retention on polyester/wool blends Wool fibers absorb moisture differently and appear to disrupt the conditions that allow odor-causing bacteria to thrive on synthetic surfaces.
Cotton-polyester blends are the more common and affordable option in scrubs, and they do perform better than pure polyester for odor, though the evidence on cotton blends is less precisely quantified than the wool data. Traditional cotton scrubs largely avoid the synthetic odor problem altogether, though they wrinkle more, feel heavier when wet, and do not have the tailored stretch that made Figs popular in the first place. For many healthcare workers, the decision comes down to whether they value fit and style enough to manage the odor issue, or whether persistent stink pushes them back toward cotton-heavy options.
When the Smell Is Coming from the Machine, Not the Scrubs
Sometimes the odor is not embedded in the scrubs themselves but is being transferred to them during washing. Front-loading washing machines are particularly prone to developing bacterial biofilms in the rubber door gasket, the detergent drawer, and the drum itself. If you notice that everything coming out of the machine has a musty or sour smell, the scrubs may be picking up bacteria from the washer rather than failing to shed their own.
Running an empty hot cycle with bleach or a washing machine cleaner once a month can help prevent biofilm buildup. Leaving the door open between loads allows the interior to dry out, which discourages bacterial growth. If you share a laundry facility and cannot control these factors, it may be worth running a quick rinse cycle before your scrub load to flush out any residual contamination.
How Healthcare Environments Compound the Issue
Sportswear worn next to the skin during exercise is easily soaked by sweat and can become a breeding ground for the skin microbiome, turning into a source of malodor.8PubMed Central. Sweat and odor in sportswear – A review Medical scrubs face an identical dynamic, often amplified. Healthcare workers frequently wear the same pair of scrubs for 12 or more hours, often in climate-controlled environments warm enough to promote sweating. The physical demands of nursing, surgery, and patient care mean that sweat generation is continuous, not just during a discrete workout period.
On top of the sweat-and-bacteria cycle, hospital environments expose scrubs to a wider range of biological contaminants than typical activewear encounters. Body fluids, antiseptic solutions, and cleaning chemicals can all interact with the fabric and its microbial residents in ways that create complex odor profiles. Some healthcare workers report that scrubs develop a distinct “hospital smell” that is different from ordinary body odor and harder to wash out. This likely reflects the combination of standard sweat-based odor with volatile compounds from clinical products that also bind to polyester fibers.
If you are a healthcare worker dealing with this, you are not imagining things, and the problem is not that you are doing laundry wrong. The combination of extended wear, a physically active job, a synthetic fabric engineered for stretch and wrinkle resistance rather than odor control, and the inherent tendency of polyester to cultivate stinky bacteria is working against you. The strategies outlined above can help substantially, but as long as the garment is primarily polyester, some degree of odor management will remain part of the routine.