[BretMan]

Maybe someone else can fill us in better, but it was my understanding that not all buttons on ASA shirts are prone to fading/discoloration, just buttons from certain production batches. So you might have some shirts with the funky looking pink-ish buttons and some that look perfect, regardless of what kind of washing or drying methods you use.

I know that I have shirts I bought a couple years apart, which all get the same laundering and drying treatment, and some have faded buttons, some do not. That would tend to support the "bad production batch" theory.

A strange story about blue shirts and faded buttons...

Last winter I bought a brand new powder blue shirt from a seller on eBay. They had a photo in their auction of a Cliff Keen shirt- you could clearly see the label on the shirt tail. I thought that I was getting a good deal when I bought one for about $15.

I was disappointed when the shirt finally arrived. The seller had sent a new shirt, but it was a "Official's Choice" brand shirt. Now, these aren't necessarily bad shirts- very lightweight with an open mesh that is cool in warm weather and a nice roomy fit. But these shirts are nowhere near as durable and well-made as the Cliff Keen shirts.

To make matters worse, at the time the Official's Choice web site was selling these exact same shirts for LESS than what I paid through the eBay auction.

I tried to give the seller a chance to make things right, but they were steadfast in their stance that I had bid on one new shirt and received one new shirt. After politely explaining several times that a buyer has a reasonable expectation to receive the item pictured in the auction, the seller became abusive and I left her a much-deserved negative feedback.

Anyhow, while I do generally like the shirt- just not at the price I paid while expecting a shirt of better quality- after just two washings the buttons faded to a washed-out light blue. Not the pink-ish hue of the defective ASA shirts, but a noticably lighter color on the face of the buttons, while the underside stitched against the shirt is still the darker blue.