Did we ever work out where those little holes come from?

[WellPlaced]

The small ones in the front of t-shirts around belly button height.

Another t-shirt mysteriously developed them today. It’s only a month or so old.

Drives me mad!

I thought this was one of the Great Unsolved Mysteries of the Modern World?

No-one knows.........

<creepy music>

It is definitely the button or waistband on my jeans. And the fact that tops are so rubbish and thin these days. It doesn't happen if I wear my tshirts with leggings.

Does anyone's else's DP's teeshirts NOT have them? Only seems to happen to mine.

Same here! He wears belts and I don’t.

Not to be found anywhere now it seems.

i have them all over clothes (more so in lightweight man made fibre knitwear) not just around belt areas.

i assumed it was the weight of wet clothes being dragged and spun at speed in a machine with a metal drum with holes for draining water.

snags from belts and standing at a kitchen worktop would need a bit of force to snag fabric

it doesn't happen all the time but fairly frequently and it is SO EFFING ANNOYING.

Weirdly, I don’t seem to get them anymore, I certainly did. My T-shirts now almost all Arket or Boden

If it was washing machines then you'd be just as likely to get them at the back as the front.

If the holes are about 3-4mm in cotton t-shirts, it will be moths. They like slightly damp, dark places and in the absence of wool, will enjoy munching on cotton items sitting in your laundry basket.
The holes are identical in size and always in cotton t shirts. I find them when I'm ironing. No other clothes get the holes.
My wool jumpers are fine because they don't go out on the line or sit in a laundry basket for any time.
I regularly check wardrobes and kill any of the small brown moths if I see them indoors.

Moths that bite holes in the exact same place on every T-shirt?
Not the chest, back, arms? Just on the waist

@stepfordwifey I also thought moths but I bought some of those moth repellent things you hang in your wardrobe and still getting them.

It also seems to only happen to me not DH or the kids clothes.... I wash everyone's clothes together - darks or lights wash and usually 30* and use non bio due to sensitive skin. Line dry or clothes airer - never tumble dry. If it was bra clips surely everyone's clothes would get the holes, my bras wouldn't single me out?! I do wear s belt but it's not one with an individual spike so it's not that. I don't catch my top in my zips lol. I don't often carry a handbag. I guess it could be Jean button leaning against quartz but surely that wouldn't make tiny holes??

It's not the button on my jeans it's the top but that sticks out. (Made worse by my fat tum!) If I wore jeggings it wouldn't happen!!

My cat pads on my belly and constantly creates little holes in all my tops

@HateTheView interesting. I'm wearing a dress today - no little holes in that so maybe it is to do with the jeans as I mostly live in jeans!

As I understand it, friction against quartz worktops doesn't make holes, but it rubs weak spots in the threads which then give way when they get spun.

@DanceWithTheBigBoysAgain so does it only work if you are wearing jeans and the belt/button bit is one side of the top and the quartz the other? As dresses don't have holes in that area even tho I still lean there in the same way but there is no jeans rubbing from the other side.

I suspect that the difference between T shirts and dresses is due to the difference in friction between jeans-fabric-counter and flesh-fabric-counter and also the different fabrics.

Are your dresses the same lightweight knitted fabric as your T shirts? Most of mine are woven - or if they're knitted then they're thicker thread. The only dress I have that's made of lightweight T shirt material is also full of holes.

I've decided it's from Jean top button and too much time leant against the sink washing up

Dresses are a mixture of materials to be honest and none have holes! Nor do my jumpers which are thicker but I usually have a t shirt or vest tucked into my jeans under the jumper!!

No chance, cos DS has some in his t shirts and, to the best of my knowledge, he has never picked up any form of bathroom cleaning product ....

Pretty sure it's jeans - stopped wearing them so much at start of lockdown and the holes are nowhere to be seen now I wear them only once a fortnight or so!

Same here! He wears belts and I don’t.

and there's the definitive answer. His button on his jeans is covered up, yours isn't.

It’s the jeans button.

It stopped on mine after I bought some of these https://holebuttoncover.com/

Although I now tuck most tops in, so it doesn’t happen because of that.

Moths!

They bloody do! I only use cotton and have had moth holes in many items