Monday, April 9, 2012

Holey Shirts!

I've recently made a discovery. And this is quite a big one that I'm happy to say made me feel a little better, but unfortunately didn't solved the problem. What's the discovery? I'm not alone when it comes to holes in my shirts. I'm not talking about a hole from a shirt that has been worn down over many, many years, I'm talking about these annoying, tiny holes that appear in the front of just about every shirt I own. The holes are right in the front, above my belly button. It's at least one hole but I have shirts that have five or six. The holes are really small and all centralized in the same area. It's really quite strange.

I came across the fact that I'm not the only woman suffering from this mystery by my Google search. I had finally had enough. I looked down at my shirt a few hours ago - my new Chicago Bears shirt that I had only worn once before - and saw a tiny little hole. I was livid. Why does this keep happening? And does it have to happen to my favorite shirts? Can't it just happen to the old ones that I don't care about?



The only thing I've been able to do for the past few years is get mad at my husband because he does the laundry. I really didn't know what else to do or what else to blame! The strange part about this whole ordeal is that it only happens to my shirts. Not my husband's shirts. Not my son's shirts. Just mine! Why me? I would always wonder why the washing machine or the dryer had it out for me. That was the only explanation, right? Well, logically, this couldn't be the case because not only does it only happen to my clothes, but it's always in the same exact spot. The dryer isn't that smart, right?

Well, after I saw this new hole I decided to hit the web to do a little research. I honestly can't believe how many other women this happens to! Yes, women. There are a couple men out there that this has happened to, but it's around 95% women. It makes no sense. I searched around many different sites and blogs and, from what I can tell, no one has the right answer. There are many theories, but not many of them are probable.

One theory is bugs. Well, I can tell you this isn't at all true because my clothes are washed in the same loads as the boys and I don't think bugs would have a preference for my clothes or be able to hit the same spot on every shirt. Another theory is the copper buttons on jeans emitting acid that deteriorates the fabric of the shirts. This one is a bit of a stretch, too, because some of the posts and comments out there are from people who don't even wear jeans! I don't wear belts either so that isn't the cause and I highly doubt that every women out there is wearing jeans that have a pointy zipper sticking out. Another theory is seatbelts in a car as the culprit. There are some that say seatbelts have a few rough spots if there's a tag or plastic. That tag/plastic will rub against the shirt causing the fabric to tear. This one is a little more believable because it's something that almost everyone is under at some point, but my husband drives my car and his shirts are just fine. So...let's try something else. Kitchen counters? Possibly. There's the theory that countertops are rough and may put the holes in shirts when we push or rub against them reaching for a glass or doing dishes. This one is a little more believable but I'm still not buying it. It happens to shirts I sleep in that don't even come in contact with the countertop so it can't be that. Shoddy fabric? Definite possibility there. They sure don't make clothes (or anything for that matter) like they used to so thin, not closely woven fabric could be more susceptible to the holes. But again, I don't fully buy it. My husband's shirts are thicker than mine, but I started seeing some of these holes in my sweatshirts, too. And those are for sure thicker than his t-shirts!

I'm just baffled by this whole thing. It's nice to know I'm not alone in this and that I'm not crazy, but I'm still tired of having at least one hole in just about every shirt I own. I pretty much need an entirely new shirt wardrobe because of this. I'm embarrassed to wear them out of the house!

Since the shirt I'm currently wearing has a hole and it's only the second time I'm wearing it, I'm going to explore the seatbelt theory. I drove today and didn't notice the hole until I got back home this afternoon. That's not to say it wasn't there in the morning, but I figure I'll have to narrow it down somehow, right? I'll also see about the countertops, but they've been here for the seven years we've been in this house and the holes didn't start until about 4 years ago. Which is about the time I bought my car...hmmm.

I think I'll just have to pay more attention to what I do and keep obsessing over this in order to figure it out. I just can't keep losing shirts over some annoying, little holes! I obviously can't go to new client meetings with holes in my shirts, right? It's expensive to have to buy new shirts all the time but I'll just have to bite the bullet and get some new clothes. The most upsetting thing is that I love some of these shirts and you just can't find ones like them anymore. I can't really replace that shirt I bought from Old Navy six years ago or have my dad start playing softball again just so I can get his team's shirt or go back four years to that awesome concert and get the shirt with the tour dates on the back. You just can't replace some things.

Has this ever happened to you or anyone you know? Do you have any ideas of what causes them?

2 comments:

  1. Very odd indeed. My mom thought I was making it up so I sent her a link to one of the threads I found yesterday. I'm seriously glad I'm not alone. The shirt I'm wearing right now is hole free at the moment so I'm tracing my steps all day!

    ReplyDelete