What’s Making Holes in Your Clothes? Causes and Easy Ways to Prevent Them

Engaging Introduction
One of the things I was wrong about initially was how damaging my washing machine was being to my wardrobe.

Every couple of weeks, I would pick up a T-shirt and find a hole in the bottom. Initially, I didn’t think anything of it and continued to put off fixing the problem. As more T-shirts began developing the same type of damage, I became increasingly frustrated each time I did laundry.

What was unique about the situation was that the problem was limited to specific types of clothing. My cotton T-shirts were developing holes, but my jeans, sweaters, and dress shirts were fine. It was maddening. I blamed the washing machine. I blamed the detergent. I blamed cheap fabric. I blamed everything except the actual culprit.

Then I did some research. I talked to a appliance repair technician. I read laundry forums. I learned that holes in clothing are generally caused by multiple events occurring together. While some reasons for damage were obvious once I noticed them, others genuinely surprised me.

The holes weren’t random. They weren’t moths (I checked). They weren’t just “cheap clothes falling apart.”

They were my fault. And once I understood why, I stopped them completely.