I'm not sure what kind of smell you're dealing with but if its a strong chemical smell, its probably just the formaldehyde used when the fabric is manufactured. It used to be quite common for fabric to have formaldehyde smell. I used to get a headached every time I was in a fabric store for any length of time. It will become stronger if the the fabric is packaged up for any length of time. I would definitely wash and hang outside. That will probably get rid of the smell.