Why are my T-shirts getting holes in them?

July 16, 2016 6:09 AM

Help me solve a mystery that has been annoying me for a long time. For the past three or four years now, my t-shirts seem to be getting small holes in them, a couple of mms across, in the lower half of the front section.

There always seem to four or five tiny holes in my t-shirts. It happens to new and old t-shirts, and it doesn't happen to Mr Nilehorses t-shirts. After buying five or six new t-shirts the other week, and finding holes in them already I need to work out what is going on! Thoughts I already had - could be some sort of insect? (although I have moved four or five times in the last four years) or could it be some sort of cleaning fluid I use? I use Mr Muscle kitchen spray to clean this kitchen - is this landing on my t-shirt and disintegrating it? Has anyone else had this problem before!

posted by Nilehorse to Home & Garden (44 answers total)

Do you have a cat?
posted by zadcat at 6:11 AM on July 16, 2016 [5 favorites]

Sliced by a belt buckle, perhaps? Caught in/rubbed against one pair of pants' sharp-edged zipper?
posted by easily confused at 6:14 AM on July 16, 2016 [16 favorites]

Are the holes where you peg the shirts and/or fold them over the line?

Do you wear a lanyard with a bunch of keys/security card etc attached?
posted by pianissimo at 6:16 AM on July 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Not sure about Mr. Muscle spray, but I think I got holes in a shirt from a bleach spray (as well as too much bleach in my laundry for a white load). This is why I now have a cleaning outfit that consists of an old t-shirt and old sweat pants.
posted by bluecore at 6:17 AM on July 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have the same problem. I think it's from the button on my jeans.
posted by eeek at 6:17 AM on July 16, 2016 [9 favorites]

Moths may be an option, eggs can move with your clothes.
posted by nims at 6:18 AM on July 16, 2016

When I had this problem, it was the closure on my jeans. If I kept my shirt up and away from the zipper, especially when I sat down, I wouldn't get any holes.
posted by topoisomerase at 6:19 AM on July 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

This person found that it was as eeek suggests: "The small holes at the bottom of shirts are caused by the shirt repeatedly rubbing between a pants’ button and a hard surface all day (in my case, the kitchen counter). "
posted by taz at 6:19 AM on July 16, 2016 [12 favorites]

It's your trousers. The corner near the top button is rubbing a hole.
posted by taff at 6:19 AM on July 16, 2016

This happens to me too!! I've even considered posting an AskMe about it.

I have a chubby tummy and a short torso so my tshirts do tend to rub against the fly of my pants - but I don't honestly often wear pants with buttons and zippers, in fact, a couple years ago I made a psuedo new year's resolution to wear less pants. I noticed lots of these little holes in my aging geeky tshirt collection so I decided to get some fresh ones from lookhuman, which sells slightly more upscale shirts in softer, seemingly more robust fabric. Not even two wears in, I noticed the teeny holes in one of them, in the same lower-gut spot.

I don't use any bleach when cleaning, just Simple Green usually. I might get some face wash with acne-killing stuff on my shirts, but if that ate holes through tshirts then they would all be around my collar.

If it were my shirts rubbing against the corner of a counter or desk, the holes would be higher because I'm short enough that my kitchen counters reach above my waist, and I don't ever press up against my desk like that.
posted by Mizu at 6:21 AM on July 16, 2016

Mr. Muscle Oven and Grill Cleaner contains sodium hydroxide, which will eat holes in cotton. Other Mr. Muscle cleaners seem to be mostly surfactants and quats, which shouldn't harm fabric.
posted by ryanrs at 6:22 AM on July 16, 2016

Seat belt? Purse or bag?

If it was bugs, I would think you would find holes in random places, not in the same area.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:23 AM on July 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Some people say it's the combination of the pants-edge and a lap seat belt in a car (with minor assists from desks and counters). It happens to me CONSTANTLY. I can safely say it's not chemical- or insect-related.
posted by nkknkk at 6:27 AM on July 16, 2016 [5 favorites]

I have researched this phenomenon extensively and it appears to be an unsolved mystery. However, one thing most victims of these holey shirts have in common is that they are women, and usually parents of small children.

This happens to me and drives me absolutely nuts. Brand new shirts have holes after one wear sometimes!
posted by amro at 6:28 AM on July 16, 2016 [3 favorites]

Ha I almost asked the same thing last week after asking my son if he was eating the middle of his shirts.

The same thing happens to my son who has a bit of a belly. He does no cleaning, we don't have moths. He wears his shirts untucked and doesn't wear a belt. It does not happen to anyone else in the family who all have flatter stomachs.

The ONLY thing that makes sense to us is it's the seat belt rubbing.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 6:30 AM on July 16, 2016

Probably something obvious you've considered but do you use your tshirt as grip to open jars or such? (friend wondered why this was happening - he opened beer bottles with his shirt for grip)
posted by platypus of the universe at 6:33 AM on July 16, 2016 [6 favorites]

Two things have caused this for me: my shirt getting caught in the zipper of my jacket and a rough protuberance on my desk at work snagging my shirt.
posted by Mitheral at 6:33 AM on July 16, 2016

However, one thing most victims of these holey shirts have in common is that they are women, and usually parents of small children.

are you sure that's not just the people you know? childless male reporting in with holes. always assumed it was from getting trapped in the belt buckle.
posted by andrewcooke at 6:35 AM on July 16, 2016

Happens to me, too. I like the theory that the shirts are getting rubbed by the pants button/corner where the button is. My waist hits below counter height, so I'm always leaning against cabinets and the washing machine.
posted by Baethan at 6:35 AM on July 16, 2016

Happens to me too, I thought it might be from opening beer bottles but this thread is making me feel better about it.
posted by tatiana wishbone at 6:47 AM on July 16, 2016

I almost posted this EXACT question recently. Female, short torso, small tummy (2 kids, you know), no moths, don't use cleaning fluids.

The seatbelt theory is super intriguing. It seems most likely in my case, but I'd never considered it before this thread.
posted by devinemissk at 6:49 AM on July 16, 2016

Data point: I have been wearing tshirts from all places all of my life and this has never once happened to me. I find this fascinating and it's not the first time this has been asked. I wear a seat belt every time I get into a vehicle, too. I personally doubt it's seat belt-related. I no longer have small kids but did at one time, no tshirt holes.

The one difference I'm noting is that I very rarely wear jeans or belts. Actually never have worn a belt with a tshirt. I only wear belts with dresses. And as for jeans with the buttons and snaps and stuff....super rarely wear those, and when I do it's usually with oxford or button down type shirts. So if I were a betting woman I would say the holes are related to wearing belts and jeans/pants.
posted by the webmistress at 6:55 AM on July 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

It would have to be something that you are rubbing against, as it isn't happening to anyone else in your house. Wear a belt made out of crepe paper for a day, or something else fragile, to find the culprit.
posted by myselfasme at 7:02 AM on July 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

I got the same holes for a while, turned out to be the car seat belt pushing the shirt against the metal zip of a favourite pair of jears.
posted by wwax at 7:17 AM on July 16, 2016

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I can rule out cats and seatbelts - No cat, and very rarely ( 5 times a year max) am I in a car due to living in the Netherlands and biking everywhere. But I am a 5'4 (163cm) and three to four years ago I started wearing a particular brand of jeans with buttons and quite a stiff top corner on the zip. Just checked and the height of the counter in my kitchen is exactly level with the button on my jeans. So yep I think am leaning against the counter/rubbing on the top of my jeans may be the culprit.
posted by Nilehorse at 7:34 AM on July 16, 2016 [4 favorites]

I took great interest when this question was asked before. It happens to all of my knit shirts (wovens seem OK). I don't drive, so it's not a seatbelt issue. The only answer that makes sense to me is that the fabric gets pinched between the fastener on my waistband (jeans button, belt buckle) and the kitchen countertop. I'm short-ish (5'3") and the counter height is exactly where my belt buckle falls. It's the only possible explanation. It happens with all cotton jersey shirts, new or old.
posted by amusebuche at 7:37 AM on July 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

That is exactly what happened to a shirt I took to a festival. After a day being pushed against the barrier, I woke up the next morning after leaving outside to dry thinking it would be moths or anything, but it was right on top of the buckle.

If you have an occupation where you're regularly grinding something at the same level as the buckle/button with the shirt between (such as cooking, working a counter or workbench), that slowly makes small tears until they're noticeable. Being against a stage barrier for 5 hours is just a very fast way of doing a few weeks worth of wear.
posted by lmfsilva at 7:42 AM on July 16, 2016

Are you using them to open bottles with twist-off caps?
posted by TheCavorter at 7:55 AM on July 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Just to add another possibility -- if you use a desk with a pull-out keyboard tray, some of those are absolutely murder on knits.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:08 AM on July 16, 2016

When I was in Auto Shop I got a number of small holes in my shirts, at places where I couldn't have been rubbing on anything. It turned out that I had regularly handled a cloth with small traces of battery acid on it, and that was the culprit.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 8:08 AM on July 16, 2016

When you sit, do your shirts kind of fold in, in line with your belly? My shirts do and I get little holes where the fabric is repeatedly bent into my jeans. Jeans corners/hems are sharper than jersey.
posted by kapers at 9:06 AM on July 16, 2016

Have you taken a look at the way you take shirts off? I've noticed this before too, and I find that I naturally stretch the bottom part of my t-shirts out far more, just to get the fabric up over my head. This stresses the fabric.
posted by naturalnumbers at 9:08 AM on July 16, 2016

Or when I walk, for that matter, the shirt repeatedly moves against the sharper jeans parts.
posted by kapers at 9:13 AM on July 16, 2016

Short, chubby, jean-wearing seatbelt user here. No holes (unless I've used the shirt to open beer bottles...)
posted by kate4914 at 10:11 AM on July 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is this occurring in all shirts or only some? The only shirts I've ever had this happen with were both thinner silk/cotton blends. I've never had this happen in thicker knits of any blend. I ended up deciding it was a material flaw and not buying any more ever though I loved them otherwise. And the issue has not recurred.
posted by beaning at 10:22 AM on July 16, 2016

This happens to me too. My theory is that a lot of tshirts now are super cheap and thin. That combined with belts/buttons rubbing tears holes very easily.
posted by killy willy at 11:04 AM on July 16, 2016

I absolutely have this problem. These are things I had ruled out to some extent:
-Not seatbelts (I am primarily a bike and sometimes transit commuter.)
-Not counters (the ones I spend the most time near at lab and home are the wrong height, plus this has persisted through moves, plus I don't just get it in the front center of my shirts, I get it from about 10:00 to 2:00?)
-Not a keyboard tray (I removed the one at work).
-Not bottle opening (I misuse my shirts only infrequently, and never on beer bottles with sharp metal caps).
-Not children (I never have cause to interact with any)
-Not moths I think (I should have holes in other areas of my clothing too then?)

Things I thought it could be:
-Chemicals/bleach/sparks from stuff in lab, since I do plenty of things at benchtop height (though most of you fellow sufferers aren't chemists or biologists...?)
-Belts (my shirts are not particularly tight/fitted, but I do wear reasonably chunky leather belts. Perhaps simply rubbing over a belt at all when the fabric is slightly taut in any situation (weird angles, sitting down, stretching) is enough?)
-Crappier fabric (I haven't seen this in button-downs, and I see it sooner/worse in lighter, thinner T-shirts.)

In summary, this is super-annoying. Grrrr.
posted by ubersturm at 11:51 AM on July 16, 2016

This really bothered me as well a few months ago, to the point that I did a lot of Google searching and came upon all kinds of theories with the top contenders being jean button/ tab, and kitchen counter or seat belt. I began to pay much closer attention and discovered that for me, it's absolutely 100% jean button/ stiff tab near the button interacting with the shirt. If I wear a thin cotton shirt over leggings, no holes no matter what activities I do. If I wear same type of shirt over jeans or chinos, I'll start the day fine and at some point I'll look down and there will be the tiny hole ( or holes). I'm glad to have finally figured out what was causing it for me because I lost So Many shirts this way. I'm pretty much living in leggings, yoga pants and maxi skirts lately when I don't want holes in my tops.
posted by Rapunzel1111 at 1:43 PM on July 16, 2016

Anecdata: I used to get these holes ALL THE TIME when I worked in an office and sat by a computer all day long. Now I no longer work in an office and I don't get the holes anymore. I reckon the holes were caused by the edge of my office desk (esp. because even dresses would get the damn holes).
posted by kariebookish at 3:36 PM on July 16, 2016

I am the author of one of the cited "previously" posts above, from 2006. I had to have that post anonymized because I got so sick of the daily emails asking if I'd ever figured it out.

I'll tell you what i refused to tell any of them: for me it was counters, for you it's probably counters plus pants, as you suspect.
posted by jessicapierce at 5:36 PM on July 16, 2016 [2 favorites]

Definitely leaning against a counter. Do you wash the dishes more than your husband or is he taller than you and his shirts don't hit the counter edge?
posted by greta simone at 6:36 PM on July 16, 2016

I read on a mom blog once that wearing an apron reduces the t shirt holes that come from rubbing against counters etc. Sadly, I haven't tested this, which is silly because I really really have this problem.
posted by purpletangerine at 8:28 PM on July 16, 2016

I had never heard of this problem and didn't think I had it.

But just now I looked down, and lo and behold, there's a hole in the front lower half of my t-shirt.

Aliens. Aliens coming up through the button/closure tab on my jeans.
posted by danceswithlight at 4:07 PM on July 17, 2016 [1 favorite]

Could it be sweat being corrosive and eating..away at cotton? + something rubbing the fabric?
posted by speakeasy at 2:39 AM on July 18, 2016