I just returned from helping my BFF set up her studio, and unpack her totes and boxes. Almost everything seemed OK. Didn't seem to matter if it was in a tote or box. The big exception was the batting. Her batting was packed in both boxes and totes. While unpacking it, the batting all seemed to have a musty smell to it. Type of batting didn't matter. It all had the same musty smell. Everything was stored in the same storage units, under the same conditions, so not sure what caused the batting to pick up a musty odor. None of her other fabric, cottons, blends, decorator, costume fabrics seemed to have a smell to them. Also, she has several pillow forms, and bags of fill, and they did not pick up any odor!