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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?

Deuteronomy
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Yoreinu
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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 '21 at 14:14
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    I found significant shaatnez in high-quality Italian suits bought in Europe – mbloch Oct 20 '21 at 14:23
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    Possible duplicate https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/2597/759 – Double AA Oct 20 '21 at 14:29
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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 '21 at 14:30
  • https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/2597/what-do-you-have-to-check-for-shatnez/11570#11570 – Loewian Oct 20 '21 at 14:57
  • @doubleAA - many stores in orthodox areas (e.g. Marcy's in Brooklyn and Hamakom hanacon in Kfar Chabad) either offer to have it checked for you or have a hechsher in the garment. If they feel the need to offer this service there is obviously a need among their clinetele – Yoreinu Oct 20 '21 at 15:36
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    @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 '21 at 16:22
  • related: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/27862/shiur-of-miut-hamatzui – Loewian Oct 20 '21 at 18:26
  • My experience is the same as the questioner - with one addition. I was once offered a woolen overcoat made privately by an accomplished tailor. As I prepared to try it on for size, I predicted that it would be serious shatnez - and so it turned out to be. – Avrohom Yitzchok Oct 20 '21 at 21:55
  • @mbloch I find it weird, because linen used to be much cheaper in Europe than wool, so they used it often, but now they have the same price (and Italy is practically the only significant producer left). So it's simply not worth putting there. Where did they find linen in your suites? (Disclaimer: I have some experience in the textile industry.) – Kazi bácsi Oct 21 '21 at 18:51
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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 '21 at 03:02
  • @mbloch It is still cheaper to stiffen cotton or use other synthetic materials, but it's good to know and watch out! – Kazi bácsi Oct 22 '21 at 09:04
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    https://hozir.org/internet-parsha-sheet-v2.html?page=4 He maintains that miyut sheaino motzui does not apply by shatnez. No source though. – Chatzkel May 18 '22 at 03:08
  • I've heard a number of times from R' Michel Shurkin that if you pay for sha'atnez checking it's a violation of bal tashchis and there's no chiyuv to check at all. He said that R' Yoshe Ber Soloveitchik (The Rav) was of the same opinion. – Shmuel Koppel Oct 15 '22 at 19:46

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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

Chatzkel
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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 '22 at 03:23
  • 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 '22 at 18:38