Help! mystery holes in tops/t-shirts

[arfur]

Have noticed for a while small holes in my tops/t-shirts around the area of the belt buckle and assumed it was catching but have ruled that out. Have inspected areas around home that I could possibly be catching this area on like worktop in front of sink etc but can find nothing. Yesterday I wore brand new top for first time and have just taken it out of the washing machine to find about 10 small holes in the bottom centre of it!!! Definitely not the belt/jeans I wore with it yesterday. Could my washing machine in some scary way be targeting only this area of my clothes. Driving me insane and am v about new top! Any help/ideas please??? PS no one else in family's clothes affected?!?!

I wondered about splashes when opening the dishwasher to add extra things.

I am so thrilled to find this thread!!! This has been driving me crazy for months but I think Laurataboo you have hit the nail on the head! We moved into a new house a year ago - granite work tops in the kitchen - and these holes started appearing almost straight away! Never had them before in our old kitchen with laminate worktops..... Strangely my friend used to report a similar issue and I never understood what she meant - am now going to email her to see if her worktops could also be to blame!!! Thanks everyone - I honestly thought I was going mad!

Came on to say granite work tops. Took me at least 20 tops, google and the same back to front experiment as a previous poster to find out. It is astonishing how quickly a hole appears. Even though I know this I forget to wear an apron and still ruin the odd top though!

The holes are caused by cheap cotton. The cotton has seeds or other minute particles that are washed out creating pin holes. Most of the US retailers are selling T shirts that they source cheaply from the Far East. By the time you wear and was a T shirt a couple of times, they know you are not going to go through the hassle of returning it, so they don really care. I have T Shirts I bought in Europe, made from Egyptian cotton, had them for years and no holes. Most of the stuff we buy in the USA has been supplied on a cost basis from the Far East and it is very poor quality. But then it doesnt cost much. It isnt even getting what you pay for, as any additional money you pay goes into the pockets of the manufacturers, not the quality of the product. Pity, but we dont see much made in America any more.

Hi all. I am from the U.S. and I was googling and found this topic!! I am having the same problem with my shirtsnot necessarily t-shirts but knitted or cotton. I thought it was moths in my closet because I have two closetsone with mostly work clothes and pantsthe other with more tops and casual clothes (2 small closets) and I thought that I had moths that were somehow digging through the middle fronts of some shirts in just the casual closetthinking maybe I didn't wash them often enough!! Then I read through this thread and went out to check my seatbelt which does have a plastic button on the inside of lower belt, so that is a possiblity. But have been driving for many years and this seems to be a somewhat recentin last several yearsproblem. I think the most likely culprit, as a few here have thought, is the granite countertop which I put in my kitchen about 7 years ago. That combined with longer and looser tops and as some have said, cheaper from the fareast, have combined to cause this problem!! Can't figure out, though for those who don't often work at countertops. I thought I was the only one having this problem. It's so annoying!! Wow. This is a worldwide phenomenon!!

Have just googled this after 4-5 years of problems with holes in the lower front of tops and amazed to find it's more widespread than I thought; yes, this thing crosses borders! I live in Sweden and it happens only to my clothes from the dearest to the cheapest…Gant, Esprit, Next, H&M etc and only to t-shirt material and not to cotton blouses. Never drive in a t-shirt! Washing machine is a Siemens….started happening when moved to a new house and got this washing machine. Don't use chemicals to clean….use micro-fibre clothes instead so not that. At my wits end….just found a brand new top only worn once with holes in it. Had professionals around about 3 years ago who gave us sticky moth catchers….found nothing! Took every item of clothes out of every cupboard to brush down or wash….but nothing has changed. My neighbour has the same problem.

Divegirl77; that's a very good point as I do this all the time and am the only one who does it in our house. Could it really be the chemicals in the dishwasher-tablets? I don't have granite work-tops so it's not that.

Might be little bugs from the wardrobe. They feed on fabric. they are harmless tho so not much of a worry.

Oh I always thought my holes were moths even though I never saw any. Now I'm not so sure. Mmmm. Kitchen work tops and jeans make sense.

Woah, I remember this thread! I still think about it. I posted back in 2010 under a different name. :D

As it happens, I've not had this for a while! Maybe because I no longer carry my children about?

I have stopped shopping at next. My tops are mostly DP atm, and thick cotton.

I have a different car. (To weigh into the seatbelt theory.)

it is your belt. Tops get squeezed between edge of desk/bench/work top etc. I had this prob for years until I wised up & changed my belts.

if it were bugs why would the holes always be where your belt is? It it was bugs/moths the holes would be random

actually it doesn't have to be a belt buckle - if you have a metal button that can pinch soft fabrics against another surface too.

I know this is a zombie thread but I've solved this mystery, for me at least. Nothing to do with moths, washing machines, belts, worktops (although they probably exacerbate it), cheap tops, etc. - for me it was the corner of the waistband of my jeans jutting out and poking holes in every single nice top I had! After years of grumbling about it, I went cold turkey on wearing jeans, switched to jeggings (i.e. with a flat-fronted waist) and lo and behold, problem solved. Now I can't wear any of my nice jeans unless it's with thick winter jumpers but it's going to save me a fortune as I won't be putting as many clothes in the textile-recycling bins!

I knew there had been a thread about this ... I never used to have this but last year I started getting the holes. I'm pretty sure it's jeans related, but it must either be something specific to the new ones during this time or change to my shape making them sit differently ... So thats why it's called the Shred!

Not any kind of criticism of the thread at all, but if you search on mn there have been millions (may be a tiny exaggeration) of threads on this subject over the years, seems to be an eternal problem for which there is no answer.....

Lol, didn't realize it was a dead thread, maybe there has just been this one, over and over

Thanks to the person who suggested laptops as a cause (even though they may be long gone from mumsnet by now). I get this all the time and thought it was from my belt rubbing against my t-shirt when washing up (not that I even do that much washing up...) or wearing a seatbelt. Anyway, someone suggested that sitting with a laptop pressing through your top against your belt/buttons was a cause and suddenly it all made sense, particularly as to why this problem has only arisen since I got rid of a desktop computer a few years ago. I have been tucking in my t-shirt while on the laptop and it seems to have stopped the problem.

I have also rescued a few old tops by ironing on those lightweight patches to the back to stop the tiny holes growing.

Ok ok... Zombie thread and all that but i am so annoyed and getting crazier by the day about these flipping holes i just want to vent. These are the holes. I've circled them. Angrily. Three good quality cotton work shirts all with holes in EXACTLY the same place. Can't be the counter or a jeans button on belt. Seatbelt theory? Maybe but why only the work shirts? I was about to call the drycleaner as i usually send them out. Found this thread and it's made me doubt it's the drycleaner. But what is it? Driving me INSANE. If anyone has any ideas please for my fragile sanity, enlighten me before i go mental.

Ever since I bought a Miele washing machine I have had this problem. I don't have young children or wear belts. I now put my washing in those net bags but it still happens (a lovely per una top ruined). Miele say nothing is wrong and cannot guarantee unless you use their soap powder, I use Fairy Snow so not a cheap product. Miele have not been helpful at all. I did find this with Bosch too but after a few years of trying to repair my fridge freezer they eventually replaced it. Never had problems with my Hotpoint.

I too had this problem with a Miele machine I bought last year. Their customer service team was terrible with any help trying to return the machine, will not be buying anything from them again! Replaced it with a Bosch which now seems to fade and shrink my clothes

Byrdie Do you wear a bag across your shirt? Work badge? Or was it from the shop tag?

If they're in the same place it can't be a washing machine. Could it be something under the shirt, eg, a bra strap ring or similar, perhaps rubbing against something placed on top, eg, bag strap or similar? Or if bought from the same place it could be a manufacturing fault - a pack of socks I bought all had the same hole in the same place on one sock in each pair.

Or dry-cleaner is putting a pin or something through them as part of their process? Try a difference dry cleaner?

I am a bit reluctant to go in and start accusing the dry cleaners... These are husbands work shirts. They are different brands and he obviously doesn't wear a bra... A thought maybe a bag strap had a snag or something that could rub in the same spot but we've checked all the bags... And jackets. The seat belt is flat there so it would be odd if it was that. I think it might be time to ask the drycleaner. I'd rather iron them myself than buy new ones each time a new hole appears. I have to say, it's a very frustrating mystery. I've started googling "upcycling old work shirts" hoping there's some amazing craft to make with them that will make me less angry about these pesky holes. So far i've come up with pencil rolls and kids summer dresses.