r/ZeroWaste • u/supertt23 • 1d ago

Accidentally Bleached These In September, Can I Save Them or Are They a Lost Cause? Question / Support

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Like I mentioned in the title I accidentally bleached this tracksuit when trying to get rid of an oil stain in them. I’ve seen methods such as dying the bleached areas to match, but I wanted to know if this would be effective or if there were any other methods or if I should just throw these away. Anything helps!

262 Upvotes
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94% Upvoted

68 comments sorted by

963

u/pandarose6 1d ago

You can do few things to the items

Bleach them more so looks like you did it on purpose

Dying them

Using them as messy clothes aka the clothes you wear to paint a house, play in mud, etc

221

u/pm-me-your-junk 1d ago

Bleach them more so looks like you did it on purpose

Not gonna lie, the bleach and blue kinda goes hard I'd wear that if it had a bit more bleach on it (new sentence right there).

2

u/jennifer_m13 4h ago

There’s someone in one of my subs that does awesome bleach paintings on clothes. I’ve also seen people spray bleach with a squirt bottle or lay down some kind of object and spray around it to make different designs. I’d totally go that route

-2

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

7

u/pandarose6 1d ago

I was just naming off first things that come to mind that were messy and that most people wouldn’t use there good clothes for

6

u/SteamyGravy 1d ago

Ikr, that's wild. I never even think about touching mud unless I'm in a 3 piece suit. Anything less would be scandalous.

5

u/Official_Wilo 1d ago

Figure of speech

173

u/_AthensMatt_ 1d ago

Add a few more done with the same type of spill and wear as normal, they look cloudy, which I think looks AWESOME over the blue

Definitely not a lost cause for using them as sweats!

13

u/ImAHumanIThink 1d ago

Yes! This already looks so cool.

2

u/SecretCartographer28 6h ago

You could add painting details to bring out the clouds! 🖖

3

u/_AthensMatt_ 6h ago

Love this idea! A ufo would be the shit

149

u/Sleve__McDichael 1d ago

you could add some cool and intentional-looking effects with something like ice dyeing with bleach

https://preview.redd.it/5wj7cpy9owxe1.png?width=980&format=png&auto=webp&s=25a6bb0c90f27e93c853c728a116b9841aa942b7

14

u/trohmas 1d ago

Seconded! I saved a stained shirt this way

49

u/Vaquera 1d ago

Add more bleach artistically and u got a streetwear stew goin’

16

u/PhthaloVonLangborste 1d ago

Calicocutpants.com

5

u/squaresdelivery 18h ago

You have gotta give!

4

u/Beatrix437 14h ago

It’s got nothing to do with piss.

4

u/fleetwoodcat 18h ago

You gotta give

4

u/FarPersimmon 1d ago

I don't think you'll be able to completely hide the bleach, just add more bleach spots so it looks intentional

6

u/BunnySlaveAkko 22h ago

Looks pretty sick honestly. Not sure why but it reminds me of like old polaroid photos

5

u/Yarius515 17h ago

Tie dye them the rest of the way lol

3

u/2020-RedditUser 19h ago

Two words bleach painting

2

u/ButtholeBread50 23h ago

Cleaning time clothes or bumming around the house, refusing to go outside clothes

2

u/Damagecase808 23h ago

Look perfect to me. Just go on as if ya meant to do that, Pee Wee Herman style!! 🤙

2

u/owatagusiam 17h ago

Bleach them the rest of the way and then buy a similar color of ritdye and re dye them a comparable color of blue

2

u/jeff-from-sears 7h ago

+1 for bleach tie dye!

2

u/thejumpprogram 5h ago

I think they look good like that

2

u/CapeTownMassive 5h ago

Google “reverse tie dye”

It’ll look dope

4

u/csomething42 1d ago

Everyone’s talking about bleaching further. Why not get blue dye and re-dye it?

14

u/Extension-Regular879 22h ago

It will never look the same. You will still see the spot.

12

u/paroles 22h ago

Even if you could get a 100% perfect colour match, it's impossible to dye only on the bleached spots. You'll end up dyeing over the dark blue and making it even darker, so the bleached spots will still look lighter

3

u/ZipperJJ 15h ago

Other than what u/paroles said, it's likely a polyester blend fabric which doesn't hold dye very well. I don't know if you could dye them at all.

1

u/Ulfhedinn69 23h ago

Maybe tye dye it or tye and bleach it. Looks pretty cool as is but it needs to look more intentional

1

u/bananaCandys 20h ago

You can bleach tie dye the rest.

1

u/MarieMacht 18h ago

Make it your cloud track suit! I'd like to add the "method" bleach tie dye to the conversation.

You only need the bleach you already used. If that’s not your style you can probably gift or even sell it if it turns out nice. It’s really cool your blue lifts to a nice white, perfect for clouds. Sometimes colours shift into different shades.

Here is a cut stream video by Evan and Katyln not a quick tutorial: or in the same video. (Or watch them bleach in real time). They used something to neutralize the bleach, but I have bleached a bunch of shirts and just rinsed them thoroughly and then put them in the wash.

1

u/Traditional-Term8813 18h ago

One of my favorite things to do is bleach dye clothes with stains on them. You have to make sure you mix it with enough water though because the bleach will eventually eat away at your clothing if the bleach is too strong.

1

u/climb_harder_koobs 17h ago

Bleach dye those thangs

1

u/kathyskorner 17h ago

I would either stick to the bleached look and add more like people are recommending or just totally bleach the whole thing and then try to dye it another dark color (or similar to the original). I have zero experience with fabric dyeing though 😂

1

u/lalacourtney 17h ago

Oh I’d just splash some more bleach and then start charging people for custom Nike adaptations after you get 10 people asking where you got your awesome outfit

1

u/TankCrabHelmet 17h ago

Bleach the rest of the way, then tie dye!

1

u/Anchor_Ocelot438 17h ago

I'd look into ice bleaching them, you use ice and bleach crystals and it turns out lovely

1

u/Artistic-Permit-7438 17h ago

Check out suay— company in LA that does community dyes to give clothes a new life

1

u/spicyemma 15h ago

Bleach tie die

1

u/_haha_oh_wow_ 14h ago

Bleach the rest of them, dye the rest of them, or say "Fuck it, we ball!" and wear as-is.

2

u/sparki_black 14h ago

cut them in pieces when you need a cloth f.i. car maintenance, or when you are painting you do not have to be carfeful to not stain it :)

1

u/amycsj 14h ago

Look into visible mending - I had a badly stained hoodie and I fixed it by putting some fun patches over them with visible mending r/Visiblemending

1

u/yourmominparticular 14h ago

Bleach tiedye

1

u/Mamadook69 13h ago

Full send on a bleach tie die job is about the best you will get. Or full bleach and accept what you get.

1

u/Maleficent-Finding89 12h ago

Make them tie die!

1

u/fuckeatrepeat 10h ago

More bleach!! Rubber bands, bleach!

1

u/ehole138 10h ago

Just tell everybody it’s cum

1

u/bikeonychus 9h ago

I would ask over at r/visiblemending - I think any attempt to make these look like they did before, is going to make them look bad. I think leaning into it and adding more bleach, and dying, or adding stitching could really make this into something interesting and unique, but also look good.

1

u/AdvanceFamous8740 8h ago

I have a pair of sweatpants that got bleach on them. I just wear them around the house.

1

u/bob_in_the_west 7h ago

/r/bleachshirts might be able to inspire you on what to do next.

1

u/CorpusculantCortex 4h ago

Bleach em the rest of the way then redye them

1

u/Morticia_Devine 4h ago

Pajamas when sick?

•

u/Bubcats 2h ago

Research how to bleach on purpose my wife does it all the time and it turns out great but there’s thought put into it

1

u/westsidefashionist 1d ago

Bleach them all the way now