Yesterday I purchased a new Dritz cutting mat, when I took it out of the plastic it stunk so bad, I have tried washing it with mild soap and water to no avail, Any suggestions to get rid of this awful stink? Thanks

Lay it in the tub and put baking soda in a water bath?

Lay it outside, sprinkle baking soda on it and cover it with a wet sheet?

Go to 'search' here on the board and type in stinky cutting mats or something like that! They have been around a while apparently!!

It's the adhesive process that is used on the mat layers that causes the smell. It will never disappear completely but it will get less noticeable. I would take it back if possible and find one that has no bad smell. Something to do with the mats made at the start of the process that has the strong odor. At least that is what an industrial gasket rep told me.

I purchased an Olfa mat about two months ago. It has finally stopped smelling like a skunk!

The quilt shop I purchased my last board from, had all mats out of wrapping and hanging or slid into a display. The reason given customers and posted in their shop says that the boards arrive to them with a scent, and that is why they remove them from wrapping they might come in

airing and time are about it---some have stronger odors than others- it disappates with time. it is just the materials/manufacturing process.
i do wonder if some are wrapped (faster) than others- so some air out before getting the smell sealed in...
anyhow- air-and time---nice that it's summer time- you can open your windows when using it and help air it out faster.
and i have no idea if it would work- but i'd be willing to give it a try if i needed to---what about trying a spritz of Fabreeze? it 's supposed to eliminate odors.

Take it back and get a olfa you won't be sorry.

I tried taking it back to Joanns but I had no receipt so they wouldn't do anything about it :( I dont usually shop at Joanns but I needed a new mat and I had a coupon. Guess I'm stuck with it. I did try soaking it in baking soda in the tub but I'm afraid to put it out in the sun in case of warping. I also tried fabreeze but it didn't help, my whole apartment stinks with skunky smell :(

I would try a direct contact to customer service dept.

I also bought a Dritz mat, there was one in the shrink wrap and another one without..of course I purchased the one that was wrapped!!! Wrong move there! It still stinks, it has been two months now. It has cuts in it now from me using it, nothing like an Olfa mat. Here I thought I was getting a bargain and saving 5 bucks!!!!!!

I left my mat in the garage for about 2 months .. It finally did not stink quite so much. ..but during that time every time I went in the garage .. I thought a skunk had gone off.
I have found the amount of time it needs it how "fresh" it is or how little airing out time it had at the store.

Take back to store you purchased it from.

I threw away my recietpt, I got it at Jo Ann's on sale.

It's offgassing VOCs. It's the same thing as "new car smell" and "new shoe smell." It's from being shrinkwrapped immediately after manufacture; the gasses haven't had a chance to evaporate.

The smell will dissipate, but no amount of washing or deodorizing will speed up the process. If it's at all possible, store it outdoors until the smell abates. You mentioned you live in an apartment; do you have a balcony or porch of some kind? I would worry less about the sun warping the mat than the bombardment of VOCs in your home.

In the future, buy unwrapped mats. :)

Try placing it into a paper/plastic bag and add a good helping of Bi-carb. Leave for a couple of weeks. This worked
for me on books that had been stored for years.

DON'T put the mat in the sun. It WILL warp.

Previous posts about this indicated you just need to give it a few days to air out