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A Guide to Cleaning Stains on Vintage T-Shirts
In the past several years we have sold over 20,000 unique vintage t-shirts. Perhaps 750-1500 have required some degree of touching up or cleaning to restore them to tip-top condition. Here we will share some of the hard-earned cleaning secrets that we have learned through actual experience.
PRODUCTS
We bought and tested virtually every single stain-fighting product on the market, from nationally known brands to old style mom-and-pop brands. Results were judged by effectiveness on different fabric types, effectiveness on different types of stains, and cleaning speed/efficiency.
Today our main arsenal consists of a) Greased Lightning for mild spots and stains that only require a little scrubbing to get out; b) Oxiclean for set stains in colored shirts that require time to soak; c) regular Bleach for white shirts with all kinds of stains and spots; d) Carbona Rust Remover in combination with bleach for little tan dots or yellow spots on items that either cannot be bleached entirely (i.e., jersey tees with colored sleeves) or just need to be spot cleaned rather than go through a full wash cycle. And an old toothbrush for scrubbin'!
MATERIAL
Most of the items we sell are a 50/50 blend of cotton and polyester, but we also have plenty of experience with 100% cotton shirts as well as nylon and polyester sports jerseys. The color of the item often determines which product/cleaning method we choose.
STAINS
Our experience cleaning hundreds of spots and stains has taught us when to hold'em and when to fold'em—meaning, some stains just will not come out or take too much effort to be worth the time. Here's the breakdown of what stains we usually deal with successfully: lighter colored shirts like tan or sky blue which have faint yellow or tan stains; dark shirts like navy blue or red which have slightly darker spots of the same color; white shirts with any variety of tan, yellow, or brown spots and marks.
Stains that are long-embedded in the fabric versus something crusty on the top deserve different treatment—often a little water and Greased Lightning will get stuff off the top. Also, any sort of dark surface scuff comes out easily, it's just dirt.
PROCESS & RESULTS
-Light Colored Shirts (Tan, Sky Blue, Yellow, Cream, etc)
Due to their light color, these vintage tees tend to accumulate their share of yellow and tan spots and stains that won't come out in a normal wash cycle or by scrubbing. Our experience has proven that the most effective and efficient way to remove these stains is soaking them in Oxiclean for between 60-90 minutes. Any less and it's not enough, and any longer probably won't have much more of an effect. We throw a big batch of shirts into the bathtub with hot water and a generous portion of Oxiclean, then drain the tub and throw the whole lot soaking wet (don't squeeze them, leave the Oxi-goodness inside) for a normal wash cycle.
-Dark Colored Shirts (Navy Blue, Red, Black, Forest Green, etc)
The benefit of dark colors is that by nature they often mask what would show up in the other shirts. You'll rarely see a tan spot on a navy blue shirt. Instead grease stains appear as just a darker version of the shirt itself—if they don't come out in the regular wash the best method to use is a few squirts of Greased Lightning, let sit for a couple minutes, then scrub with an old toothbrush and hot water. Rinse the area and hang dry.
Also, sometimes dark shirts have little white bleach dots—all you gotta do is take a permanent marker of the same color (the older the better) and dab little dots on there. Use the side of the tip if possible and rub with your finger to blend—don't just color it in, otherwise your touch-up will be too rich and appear too dark!
-Medium Colored Shirts (Gold, Royal Blue, Kelly Green, Olive, etc)
Usually we use the same process as with the lighter colored shirts, as described above. We soak like groups separately to reduce the chance of darker shirts bleeding into the lighter ones.
-Whites
For efficiency’s sake almost all white shirts we just throw in together for a wash cycle in hot water with bleach. We have read that drying whites in direct sunlight after a wash with bleach works great but this has not been logistically possible for us. Some white shirts may just have a tan dot here or there, in which case we put a couple drops of Carbona Rust Remover on there, let it sit for a couple minutes, then work some bleach in there with a toothbrush and hot water. Watch those pesky little spots disappear!
-Ringers & Jersey Tees
Probably the hardest to deal with because they have a white body and a colored collar and/or sleeves which have a tendency to bleed (especially red). From past experience we now ALWAYS deal with these separately—if you simply must soak them in Oxiclean because there's more stains than would make it worth spot cleaning, do the white/reds with each other only; white/blues and white/greens are okay together. The older and more faded the shirt the less likely you'll have any bleeding problems.
Now, if you are spot cleaning the best way to avoid bleeding is to keep the other areas dry. Tuck the sleeve under your arm while you treat and rinse the white area, for example. If you own a dryer toss it in, but we still recommend hang drying simply because strange and unfortunate things have been known to go on in the dryer! For work close to a seam, squeezing the wet area with a paper towel can prevent moisture from making its way into the forbidden zone.
THE REST
From experience we simply avoid shirts that have stains that appear uncleanable. We also haven’t found the perfect solution to pit stains, though admittedly we haven’t given that challenge the old college try. (We’ve heard vinegar helps.) Carbona makes a whole variety of products tailored to ink, milk, coffee…even blood stains for all you serial killers out there!
If you’ve got any questions or personal cleaning tips, feel free to get in touch!
In the past several years we have sold over 20,000 unique vintage t-shirts. Perhaps 750-1500 have required some degree of touching up or cleaning to restore them to tip-top condition. Here we will share some of the hard-earned cleaning secrets that we have learned through actual experience.
PRODUCTS
We bought and tested virtually every single stain-fighting product on the market, from nationally known brands to old style mom-and-pop brands. Results were judged by effectiveness on different fabric types, effectiveness on different types of stains, and cleaning speed/efficiency.
Today our main arsenal consists of a) Greased Lightning for mild spots and stains that only require a little scrubbing to get out; b) Oxiclean for set stains in colored shirts that require time to soak; c) regular Bleach for white shirts with all kinds of stains and spots; d) Carbona Rust Remover in combination with bleach for little tan dots or yellow spots on items that either cannot be bleached entirely (i.e., jersey tees with colored sleeves) or just need to be spot cleaned rather than go through a full wash cycle. And an old toothbrush for scrubbin'!
MATERIAL
Most of the items we sell are a 50/50 blend of cotton and polyester, but we also have plenty of experience with 100% cotton shirts as well as nylon and polyester sports jerseys. The color of the item often determines which product/cleaning method we choose.
These stains all will come out in an Oxiclean soak
STAINS
Our experience cleaning hundreds of spots and stains has taught us when to hold'em and when to fold'em—meaning, some stains just will not come out or take too much effort to be worth the time. Here's the breakdown of what stains we usually deal with successfully: lighter colored shirts like tan or sky blue which have faint yellow or tan stains; dark shirts like navy blue or red which have slightly darker spots of the same color; white shirts with any variety of tan, yellow, or brown spots and marks.
Stains that are long-embedded in the fabric versus something crusty on the top deserve different treatment—often a little water and Greased Lightning will get stuff off the top. Also, any sort of dark surface scuff comes out easily, it's just dirt.
That dirt scuff comes out easily. Oxiclean may help the pit stain.
PROCESS & RESULTS
-Light Colored Shirts (Tan, Sky Blue, Yellow, Cream, etc)
Due to their light color, these vintage tees tend to accumulate their share of yellow and tan spots and stains that won't come out in a normal wash cycle or by scrubbing. Our experience has proven that the most effective and efficient way to remove these stains is soaking them in Oxiclean for between 60-90 minutes. Any less and it's not enough, and any longer probably won't have much more of an effect. We throw a big batch of shirts into the bathtub with hot water and a generous portion of Oxiclean, then drain the tub and throw the whole lot soaking wet (don't squeeze them, leave the Oxi-goodness inside) for a normal wash cycle.
-Dark Colored Shirts (Navy Blue, Red, Black, Forest Green, etc)
The benefit of dark colors is that by nature they often mask what would show up in the other shirts. You'll rarely see a tan spot on a navy blue shirt. Instead grease stains appear as just a darker version of the shirt itself—if they don't come out in the regular wash the best method to use is a few squirts of Greased Lightning, let sit for a couple minutes, then scrub with an old toothbrush and hot water. Rinse the area and hang dry.
Also, sometimes dark shirts have little white bleach dots—all you gotta do is take a permanent marker of the same color (the older the better) and dab little dots on there. Use the side of the tip if possible and rub with your finger to blend—don't just color it in, otherwise your touch-up will be too rich and appear too dark!
-Medium Colored Shirts (Gold, Royal Blue, Kelly Green, Olive, etc)
Usually we use the same process as with the lighter colored shirts, as described above. We soak like groups separately to reduce the chance of darker shirts bleeding into the lighter ones.
-Whites
For efficiency’s sake almost all white shirts we just throw in together for a wash cycle in hot water with bleach. We have read that drying whites in direct sunlight after a wash with bleach works great but this has not been logistically possible for us. Some white shirts may just have a tan dot here or there, in which case we put a couple drops of Carbona Rust Remover on there, let it sit for a couple minutes, then work some bleach in there with a toothbrush and hot water. Watch those pesky little spots disappear!
You can't bleach the whole shirt, but a few drops of rust remover and bleach do the job!
-Ringers & Jersey Tees
Probably the hardest to deal with because they have a white body and a colored collar and/or sleeves which have a tendency to bleed (especially red). From past experience we now ALWAYS deal with these separately—if you simply must soak them in Oxiclean because there's more stains than would make it worth spot cleaning, do the white/reds with each other only; white/blues and white/greens are okay together. The older and more faded the shirt the less likely you'll have any bleeding problems.
Now, if you are spot cleaning the best way to avoid bleeding is to keep the other areas dry. Tuck the sleeve under your arm while you treat and rinse the white area, for example. If you own a dryer toss it in, but we still recommend hang drying simply because strange and unfortunate things have been known to go on in the dryer! For work close to a seam, squeezing the wet area with a paper towel can prevent moisture from making its way into the forbidden zone.
Red: the bane of our existence!
THE REST
From experience we simply avoid shirts that have stains that appear uncleanable. We also haven’t found the perfect solution to pit stains, though admittedly we haven’t given that challenge the old college try. (We’ve heard vinegar helps.) Carbona makes a whole variety of products tailored to ink, milk, coffee…even blood stains for all you serial killers out there!
If you’ve got any questions or personal cleaning tips, feel free to get in touch!
Guide created: 04/19/08 (updated 10/20/09)
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