Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic L&C T-Shirt Mystery

Many years ago I got one of those Lois & Clark "Love in Metropolis" T-shirts from the WB studio store catalog. (Actually two, one I wore a lot and one I never wore.)

Yesterday I went to get my oft-worn one out of the closet, and was shocked to find there are weird stains all over the front. They're rust-colored, small, mostly circular, and they appear to only be on the white parts of the shirt (coincidence? Not sure).

What's even worse, my never-worn L&C shirt has two similar spots on the collar, and another white WB-made shirt that was hanging in the closet with them, has some rust-colored streaks on it. No other shirts seem to have been affected, including my L&C sweatshirt, which was hanging right next to them.

I inspected the hangers, they were plastic coated. No nearby hangers had rust on them. The closet is all wooden, including the shelf above, and the bar. I inspected that for some kind of liquid weirdness, but couldn't find anything.

The stains refuse to come out, so a Bleach Stick is next. I'm very sad, though, and I was wondering if this could be some sort of weird chemical reaction having to do with the fabric?

Has anyone else out there with WB shirts had a similar experience? Or does anyone recognize the rust-colored spots thing as something they've had to deal with?

Thanks

I'm not certain, but I have heard about something sort of like this happening with clothes. Basically, your skin naturally makes some oils. You don't really notice them much day to day, but they do leave a residue behind when you touch things. That means that if you, for example, put on a shirt, you'll leave a residue on it when you take it off. If you then hang it in a closet for a while, that residue will set in, and you'll find a mysteriously appearing and rather stubborn reddish-brown stain where you touched it. I'm told it's a problem that happens a lot with wedding gowns.

I think there is a way to get it back out, but I'm not sure. I'm working off a vague memory here.

A quick web search did turn up this site, which may be of use. Good luck. Sorry I can't help more.

Paul

Thank you for linking me to that very helpful site. I am happy to say I was able to get the stains out with bleach, and the shirts are fine. Close call there, though.