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Is it really necessary to check clothing for Shaatnez (the biblically forbidden admixture of wool and linen)?

In all my years of shopping (in Jewish and non-Jewish stores, US and worldwide) I have never found Shaatnez in the clothing.

Should this then mean that this is a מיעוט שאינו מצוי (insignificant minority), and as such is not to be worried about?

Maybe my personal experience isn't comprehensive enough. If this is the case, is there data suggesting otherwise?

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    A shaatnez expert once told me if it doesn't say it contains wool or linen, you can rely on rov and not check. If it says wool or linen, there's a miut hamatzui it has the other, so you have to check. Perhaps you buy from brands that aren't shaatnez, but apparently Hugo boss suits 80% of the time are shaatnez.
    – robev
    Oct 20, 2021 at 14:14
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    I found significant shaatnez in high-quality Italian suits bought in Europe
    – mbloch
    Oct 20, 2021 at 14:23
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    Who's "we" that checks clothing for shaatnez when there's no reason to expect it to have shaatnez?
    – Double AA ♦
    Oct 20, 2021 at 14:30
  • 5
    @Shlomo that's not quite how capitalism works. If there's a service someone will buy then it will be offered, need or not.
    – Double AA ♦
    Oct 20, 2021 at 16:22
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    @Kazibácsi my understanding is that linen is stiffer than wool so it is used to strengthen collars in suit jackets. That is where they found it, in the back of the entire collar falling on both sides of the jacket. Wasn't cheap to replace multplied by X suits !
    – mbloch
    Oct 22, 2021 at 3:02

1 Answer 1

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Reb Moshe in Igros Moshe YD 1:72 at the end of the Teshuva says that although Midina it would be permitted not to check, since it’s possible to check it out conclusively, we try not to rely on miyut, l’chumra.

https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14674&st=&pgnum=126

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  • It is not clear if r' moshe states that the reason we check all clothing is just because we are machmir, or if he means that if that is the case that this article if checked, would only be checked because the owner wants to be machmir, then it can be sold to someone who doesn't check his clothing for shatnez. The latter is what it seems like to me
    – Yoreinu
    May 18, 2022 at 3:23
  • He says that in a case where it’s a miyut sheano motzui, we only check as a chumra because it’s efshar livrurei.
    – Chatzkel
    May 18, 2022 at 18:38

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