Enough to make a grown FLer cry. Tell us your worst finds or ruined clothing stories

[Gene]

My worst experience was in a store that came to be known as Land 'o Moths in Crawfordsville, IN. The store was clearly the life's work and passion of the owner. She has racks and racks of menswear from the 30s and 40s. And literally thousands of ties. Absolutely amazing collection of stuff. But almost everything in the whole store is completely eaten away by moths. When you move a box, or a suitcase (typically full of ties), the cloud of moths is scary to behold.

I went through every tie in the place - must be 10,000 of them, and only came away with 20 good ones. They were a buck a piece. She is very cheap, but her stuff is wrecked. she told me she has a whole warehouse full of other stuff. I can't imagine the damage and the fauna living in there.

bk

You should PM me the name of the place, I'm only a couple hours away and it may make for a good trip sometime.

 

[dakotanorth]

My worst experience was in a store that came to be known as Land 'o Moths in Crawfordsville, IN. The store was clearly the life's work and passion of the owner. She has racks and racks of menswear from the 30s and 40s. And literally thousands of ties. Absolutely amazing collection of stuff. But almost everything in the whole store is completely eaten away by moths. When you move a box, or a suitcase (typically full of ties), the cloud of moths is scary to behold.

I went through every tie in the place - must be 10,000 of them, and only came away with 20 good ones. They were a buck a piece. She is very cheap, but her stuff is wrecked. she told me she has a whole warehouse full of other stuff. I can't imagine the damage and the fauna living in there.

bk

Crawfordsville you say?
Is that La Rose Antique Mall by chance? Someone told me I should visit the place- I wasn't able to the last time I went home.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Yes, I just checked street view and La Rose is the one. 124 W. Main St. There might be some salvageable stuff in there, you should check it out Gene. When you go upstairs, be sure to check the closed door at the front left of the shop. the floor on the other side is a bit rickety but there was a wonderful suit behind it!

bk

 

[Two Types]

Moths or no moths, think 'patterns' ......

 

[music321]

well, this is more like a ruined accessory. A friend of my father's attended an officers function in a Navy uniform. He used his sword for the first cut in a cake, and then resheathed it. When next he tried to remove the sword (one year later) from the scabbard, he found that the cake had caused corrosion which made it impossible to draw the sword.

 

[reetpleat]

Had a similar situation with an old hoarder myself...received a call one day from a friend who was clearing out her great-uncle's house. The guy was a doctor from a very old money family, and there were lots of examples of trashed gems: stained and eaten gab shirts, wool fedoras nipped and stained, suits that had been in a damp basement for years, but the icing on the sad cake was a belt-back Palm Beach suit with holes the size of golf balls.

I was able to get some ties and some other trinkets, but the bulk of the closet was trash. Kicking myself now for not grabbing the stuff for patterns (didn'te ven occur to me)

Heck, you could have put a little ketchup around the holes and sold the suit as having belonged to a gangster who was shot in it. Do you guys remember the white suit on ebay that a guy was posting over and over again for too much money, with holes he hinted were gun shot wounds?

 

[reetpleat]

I just stumbled across this story: eleven vintage dresses cut up and made into one dress to be worn to the Oscars. What a waste!

http://theredvelvetshoe.typepad.com...2011-oscars-green-dress-vintage-massacre.html

Well, Americans are getting much bigger around the waist these days, so it may have been necessary.

 

[Shangas]

Well, Americans are getting much bigger around the waist these days, so it may have been necessary.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

well, this is more like a ruined accessory. A friend of my father's attended an officers function in a Navy uniform. He used his sword for the first cut in a cake, and then resheathed it. When next he tried to remove the sword (one year later) from the scabbard, he found that the cake had caused corrosion which made it impossible to draw the sword.

I know it's a sort of military tradition at weddings to cut the cake with a sword, but surely he had the presence of mind to CLEAN the sword before he put it back!?

Apparently not...

 

[Mr Vim]

Once while vintage hunting in Seattle I stumbled across a beautiful overcoat... charcoal gray with a blue windowpane pattern. It was bold look, union tag put it around 1939, and a perfect fit. I was so excited that I nearly grabbed the coat and rush it to the counter but I decided to really give it a once over and glad I did, I lifted the sleeve and the entire left arm starting at the arm pit was moth eaten, just holes barely held together by thread... I wanted to cry.

 

[reetpleat]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!



I know it's a sort of military tradition at weddings to cut the cake with a sword, but surely he had the presence of mind to CLEAN the sword before he put it back!?

Apparently not...

Indeed, a gentleman should always be in the habit of wiping off his blade when done using it, if to remove evidence, if nothing else.

 

[Peregrine]

Indeed, a gentleman should always be in the habit of wiping off his blade when done using it, if to remove evidence, if nothing else.

It's sad that it remained sheathed for a whole year...

 

[Mario]

I usually hand-wash my PB suit very carefully here at home but once or twice a year I have to take it to the dry cleaners. This time they went and managed to bleach a spot into the jacket. Seems they tried to spot-clean something and left the jacket with a 2" x 1/2" patch that's slightly - and visibly - lighter than the rest of the fabric. I'm in a state of shock...

I only discovered the desaster when I got home and called them up immediately. Tomorrow early at 09:00 I'll be there with the bill and no kind words...

 

[herringbonekid]

that's bad. good luck trying to get a dry cleaner to admit they goofed.
a dry cleaner once lost a belt loop off the belt of a vintage overcoat of mine. they basically said it was my fault for not tying it to the belt.

 

[Mario]

I'll definitely take a few photos with me. And I'll threaten them with my lawyer.

:kick:

Here's a photo of the spot:

​

 

[Red Leader]

Mario,

I'm so sorry to hear about that. It takes so much energy and care to preserve these clothes...and then in an instant have them damaged. I hope for the best possible outcome for you. Is it possible to repair bleach stains like that? Can one very firmly request the least invasive procedures done to clothes or does it not really matter because those places may not really even care/remember anyway? As being brand new to the vintage clothing scene, I have yet to take my stuff in to a dry cleaners, but stories like this (and others) make me leery.

I don't know if it serves as a slight comic relief, but one time when I moved out of an apartment I was cleaning a stain on the carpet (no bleach or anything). I got it clean...so clean, in fact, that it didn't match the rest of the carpet anymore because the entire rest of the carpet had changed a few shades from the dirt over the years. I slowly and...very carefully...'re-aged' it by slightly soiling it again, thereby blending it in. It worked:eusa_doh:

 

[Mario]

I don't know about any method that could repair bleached spots. Can't be done.

I'm usually trying to dodge the dry cleaners as long and often as somehow possible but sometimes it just seems necessary. Trouble is that there are not many (even less and less) reliable dry cleaners who really know what they're doing. Some time ago one shop returned my pants neatly pressed - with the pleats at the side. That could easily be remedied but still: what were they thinking? Where they thinking anything at all? I bet it was the butcher's daughter acting as a stand-in for a friend or something.

 

[Red Leader]

I only hope that I can find a good, reliable place if/when I need to take things. There is a vintage clothing store in town and they usually get all of their clothing (suits at least) dry cleaned and they use a specific cleaner, so there is at least one place in town that is used to seeing a lot of vintage clothes.

 

[Mario]

Yesterday the cleaners returned the jacket again. Seems that most of the effect was caused by some kind of residue left by the chemicals they used on the jacket. They tried their best to get those out and it really does look a lot better now when compared to the initial catastrophe but it's still obvious that something is slightly off with the color so I'm demanding a substantial compensation for the damage done to the jacket.

​

 

[Two Types]

I suppose it could have been worse ....

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Yes, better...Ugh. But what a shock. It's a Holy Grail suit for some of us. (Yes, even without 100 pleats and belts) Destroying it is a sacrilege. The clouds shall open and a lightning shall strike the sinners of this dry cleaning business.
:boink:

No really...They should call up Ralph Lauren...Maybe they can do some pre distressing to his workwear repros. But not with a #*%$ Palm Beach suit.:censored: