New wool blend coat. Color rubs off. ACK! Can I do anything about it?
October 23, 2013 4:26 PM   Subscribe

The label on the coat says dry clean only. Will dry cleaning do anything about the excess dye that keeps rubbing off? Can I do anything about this problem, or is it hopeless? If so, back to the store it goes.
posted by 2oh1 to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (6 answers total)
 
Unless it was a really REALLY massively discounted price, just take it back to the store: too much work & trouble to be worthwhile.
posted by easily confused at 5:09 PM on October 23, 2013


Return. Even if they ~ gave ~ it to you. Even if they ~ paid you ~ to take it. Return the coat.
posted by dancestoblue at 5:27 PM on October 23, 2013


The industry term for this is "crocking". Sometimes washing can set the dye.

Truthfully, though, I'd just return it.
posted by anastasiav at 5:41 PM on October 23, 2013 [1 favorite]


If it's doing this, it's not worth dry cleaning. Get rid of it before it ruins something.
posted by oceanjesse at 6:09 PM on October 23, 2013


Assuming you cannot, or are not willing to, return it:

Dry cleaning is not likely to help. But, it is entirely possible that the coat can hold up to soaking to eliminate and/or setthe dye. So long as there is no silk in the coat (if there is silk, don't get it wet... Or if you do, be very very careful how you handle it.

First, is the dye coming off of the outer material or the lining? If the former, I would assume that it is an acid based protein dye that isn't being fully taken up by whatever the "blend" is.

I would try soaking the coat in cold water overnight with a fair amount of vinegar. The vinegar will help set the dye in the wool. The many rinsings that it will take to get the vinegar out will wash the dye out whatever is not wool. Google things like "setting acid dye" to find out the concentration of vinegar that you need.

After rinsing, roll the coat up in a couple layers of towels and then step on them to get as much water out as possible, then dry flat.

If it's the lining that is bleeding and it's not silk, I assume it's some kind of polyester, and I would just go with multiple rinsings and skip the vinegar.

If it's the lining and the lining is silk, the vinegar method will work, but you need to be crazy careful about handling wet silk.
posted by sparklemotion at 9:16 PM on October 23, 2013


Response by poster: The dye is coming off the wool on the outside of the coat, not the lining.
posted by 2oh1 at 9:33 PM on October 23, 2013


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