referee shirt
 

I hope someone else ran into this problem and figured a solution.

One of my referee shirt, the primary one I wear, had lost its bright whiteness. I washed it with colors since I don't have many white articles of clothing, and because I needed it same day I was ref'ing, I put it in the dryer. When it came out, the white is now an off-white, but not quite gray. Has anyone come into this problem and/or know of a solution? I'm considering taking it to a dry cleaner to see if they could do anything, but would like to see if there is an easy at-home solution. I even tried just washing it again by itself and letting it air-dry, but that didn't work.

I don't know what to tell you about that shirt. But I wash mine in cold, and I always include a color catcher. I dry hanging up. Never had a problem.

That's what I've always done, cold water and mix colors and whites. I've even used the dryer on this same referee shirt before many times (when I would need it same day for games) and never had a problem. I guess I'll take it to a dry cleaner later this week. I'll have to find one of my other shirts for the rest of this week. Thanks.

I always wash mine in cold water and wash them in things that do not bleed. Seems to work for me and never had a problem.

Peace

Vinegar is the do-it-all in my house these days. Add some white vinegar to your next load and see if that helps. I've been using vinegar for my color and odor problems (works for Under Armour very well).

The problem is you did the laundry. I let my wife handle all my delicates. LOL

I use this stuff on all my underarmor or dri-fit type stuff...undershirts, compression shorts, referee shirts, etc....anything that is performance/wicking fabric.

Amazon.com: Atsko Sport Laundry Detergent 34 Oz: Sports & Outdoors

I used to use

Amazon.com: Penguin Brands Penguin Sport Wash: Sports & Outdoors

until I found out that it was the exact same stuff and the Atsko stuff was a lot cheaper.

From one Amazon comment: The Penguin Sport Wash is identical to the Atsko Sport Wash and is actually filled by Atsko. Penguin is just their brand that markets to runners. They also have a version that they market to hunters/outdoorsmen. Every version is IDENTICAL.

I wash my under layers with the referee stripes and any other similar type of performance clothing....golf shirts, my wife's exercise clothes, etc. They're all the same basic type of fabric...none of them bleed and they all benefit from special treatment. Sometimes, it makes only a small load...but that is fine. No need to ruin the clothing to save a nickel. It also helps to have 5-7 of everything so you don't have to do the laundry often.

They ALL go in the dryer together on medium heat and NO dryer sheet. (Dryer sheets actually ruin the wicking behavior of the fabric...but, supposedly, that can be reversed with a few washings with no dryer sheet).

My pants and socks just go in the regular wash with other darks...but not with towels since towels are lint generators.

Huh? Me laundry?
 

+1

I have herd of stuff called "laundry bluing" it is a dye for getting yellow/gray out of your whites and turn them white again. It is only a few bucks and might be worth looking into.

Jasper

PS This is they same type of thing your dry cleaner would try first it you take it to them.

Did you recently buy new undershirts?
I had a similar problem last season. I bought some cheap undershirts & they bled onto my stripes once I began to sweat. Ruined 3 shirts before I figured out the cause of my new greys -errrr- grey stripes :(

Vinegar is an excellent, cheap replacement for fabric softener. That blue stuff (I mean fabric softener like Downy) seems harmless enough, but it will ruin wicking material and it also will eventually clog the line out from the washer. We've used nothing but vinegar for the past few years after a washer repairman swore by it. We buy gallons of it at a time at Costco.

Cameron, I'll try the sport detergent, though, as I feel maybe the wicking material isn't wicking as well as I'd like. Do you foresee any problems using it for the entire uniform? I tend to wash my entire uniform (shirt, pants, undershirt, tights, socks) in one load and usually was no more than 2 uniforms at a time (I work at home and laundry is easy to do in the background).

Should work fine.

Thank you for all of the advices given. I'll look at all of them and start with the cheaper options first and work my way up until I can find a solution (if I do find one). I do appreciate all of the comments. Thanks again.

Laundry Service
 

Each week I invest in my laundry services by handing over a game fee to my wife. She gets some walking around money, I don't have to deal with laundry, Works well for me.

I let your wife handle all my delicates, too. :D

Does she contract out? My wife gets the mail and, well, there go virtually all the game fees.

For those comments regarding their significant other doing the laundry. LUCKY YOU haha. I live with my dad right now. I should be moving out within the next 6 months and getting an apartment with my girlfriend who will do my laundry (she has offered to do so already). I'll fork her some spending money like Mark. Good idea Mark!

... good idea until she pops up at the first game when you're checking out the hot moms in the third row.

You're bound to wind up with pink-and-black stripes ... and there's only so many cancer-awareness charity games you can work to use all of those. :rolleyes:

Sounds Like A Wash To Me ...
 

You could claim this on your income tax as a business expense, but then your wife would have to claim this as income.

I would not trust anyone to do my laundry. I would be to afraid they would screw it up. It is not like it takes a long time. And if you have one of those new washer and dryers, man that is like stealing. Some of you are getting hustled. ;)

Peace

Not in the rule book
 

The quandary I always have as I stand before the washer with my ref shirt.....is it a white or a dark?? Some of you more domesticated types please help:

This really about the kind of shirt it is. But I wash the all my shirts in darks and in cold water. And I only wash my shirts and undergarments which are all UnderArmor stuff other than socks, so those clothes do not bleed. I never throw my stuff in with other clothes that are not officiating stuff.

Peace

I am lucky to have someone to do my laundry, usually before I'm done with my first cup of coffee in the morning. I have two uniforms and had no need to drag the second one out until I worked two games in a day.

She who does the laundry (my live-in MIL) does my uniforms separately and washes everything together. No fabric softener, quick wash, minimal detergent. I mean, it's not like we're rolling around in the mud in these uniforms.

When Do We Exchange Recipes ???
 

I wash my official's jersey with my dress shirts that I wear at my day job. Just a little bit of liquid detergent. Tumble for a few minutes in the dryer, and then hang it up on the indoor line to dry. Never had a problem.

Sheesh...just buy a new shirt, dude. Officialschoice has them, cheap.

Yes, it is. :)

Purchase Officials has them 2 for $33 if you don't want to use OC.

Time to retire your lucky shirt. Maybe frame it and hang it over the mantle.

$12.50 ea. at OC. Just need to call so they don't rip you off on shipping.

No thanks. I'd rather deal with Purchase and pay an extra $4 a shirt.

C'mon Man!
If I ever considered this, ever, it would have to be one of my Sat Rec Ball games. :o

Ah, young love....... I think! :rolleyes:

It was never suggested that YOU call to begin with! :D

Throwing money away on the dry cleaner. Dry cleaner is only for clothes that aren't supposed to be laundered. It's not a "super clean" and won't fix the greyish white. Buy a new shirt and don't wash it with colors that can bleed. Maybe your cotton sox?

I became a big boy years ago...I was leaving for college and mom made sure I knew had to wash the range of clothing.

There are two refs in this house. But I would not entrust the intregrity of my uniform to that of the other sports ref. Besides, he has a tendency of losing (dont know how in this small house)/misplacing clothes that aren't his. Seeing that pants and the shirt are a bit vital, I'll do it myself.

But I have no tips, my shirt is a year old and not being worn this season, so it looks brand spankin new.:(

Really?
 

You're kidding right? Buy a new shirt and while you're at it buy a couple. Why wouldn't you have more then one shirt?

You only wear one at a time so there is actually no need to have more than one.

There's no need, I agree. But, for me, the benefits of doing the laundry once a week as opposed to every day make up for the cost of the extra uniforms.

Exactly....I have several for that reason. I don't have the time to mess with laundry several times per week.

Plus, that is horribly inefficient to do all those small loads....it will waste a LOT of money in utilities. You'd probably break even or even come out ahead after a couple of years by purchasing more uniforms.

I probably have about 12 high school shirts and about 6 or 7 college shirts. I own about 8 or 9 pairs of pants. It takes a while for me to have to do laundry. Then again this is a business and all these are part of the business to help me not have to do laundry all the time. I sometimes go over a week without having to do laundry.

Peace

You're kidding, right? What if your one is defective and splits at the side seam (I had one do that this year)?

Sew it back together or buy another one.

Here are my laundry "rules":

-- whites with whites, blacks with blacks, stripes with stripes (all ONLY); no exceptions
-- stripes on cold, everything else on warm unless there's a stain on the knickers
-- everything hang dries except under garments like tights, briefs, under-socks, etc. which go through an air dry cycle in the dryer

If a striped shirt is fading, either black or white, get a new one. They're cheap. I rotate a minimum of 4 shirts in every season and they last about 2-3 years, depending on the number of games I do. Even starting out, you should never have fewer than 2 shirts in any sport.

Neither of which can be done during a pregame conference in the locker room.

Then you can pin it together or just wear it with a hole in it.

Sewing Circle ...
 

I carry a small sewing kit in my bag, just in case. Only had to use it once in thirty years, but I'm glad that I had it.

There may not be a "need" for more than one shirt (unless there are different requirements for patches that are mutually exclusive), but it sure is a pretty good idea to have a spare.

Wait....you guys wash your shirts?! During the season? Does this help? Is there a rule or case play you can cite?!?!

Actually, I am in JRut's land: 5 pairs of slacks 4 HS 5 College shirts. Although the HS shirts are the old Poly type and 2 "used" College shirts that you could say have been put out to "Patcher"?

Of course it is nice to have a backup. But there is no reason to ask someone "why wouldn't you have more than one shirt?" because no one actually needs to have more than one.

:rolleyes: :confused:

"No reason to ask?" Sure there is. A great reason to ask is because it's a really good idea to have more than 1. In fact, it's a really bad idea to have just one.

Why have one more reason to have someone say, "You stink."?

You've got an answer for everything, dontcha? OK, answer this one: how do you get off my ignore list?

Because, for most officials, the benefits of the second shirt are so far above the cost of the shirt, the incredulidity (word?) of the question makes perfect sense.

Now, if the OP said, "I have 11 shirts." and the response was "Why would you not have 12?", I'd agree with you.

Actually, it's real stoopid to just have one and it's a real, real stoopid comment. If had a kid get blood on my shirt. I've had them get picked and run like a pair of women's hose. I've worked so many games in a day that to wear one would require me to wring out the sweat after each game.

He's becoming a permanent fixture on more and more Ignore lists everyday. But even after you put him on Ignore, you faced with others quoting him. :(

There is your answer, mbyron. Go re-read that thread yet again.

I can tell you I won't be committing that crime again.

Oh, I understood the content of your post. I was merely being my cheery self and correcting your Latin. :D

Since I never took Latin, and have no intention of taking it in the future, there is no way I would even know you were trying to make a correction. At least I left bread crumbs for you to follow. Now, shut up.:D

Can I quote you on that? Oh. I guess I did.

And I'm sure you just angered those who have me on ignore. :D

Is that like when Steve Martin's cat used to cash his checks?

But I probably have them on ignore. So, how would I know, unless.....

BktBallRef, Cut that out!!!

What's going on here?
 

Is this a discussion board or Fox News? :confused:

As that great philosopher, Attila the Hun said, "Can't we all just get along?"

It makes me nervous only having 2 shirts, even though mine get washed the next morning 100% of the time. But that's what happened after my other shirts got ruined at a camp last year by the pins I had to stick through them.

Having one shirt is just idiotic unless you only work 10 games a year. My ignore list is empty, but I know how to use the technology if possible.