This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
What's the best way to deal with stains you get while at work — should you remove the stain, hide it, or leave it be entirely? Reader L wonders about a stain she got on a sheath dress:
Yesterday I was wearing my absolute favorite dress, a black and white colorblock Theory sheath, and at lunch I got a tiny spot of balsamic vinegar on it. Out came the Tide pen, but then that left a large light brown blotch. So I headed to the bathroom and tried to rinse that out…what turned out as a little spot ended in a huge off-white wet spot over my boob, right before I had to give a presentation. Help! What's the best way to get rid of stains during the day?
Interesting! We've talked about how to remove deodorant marks from suiting (as well as our general suit cleaning guide), but not this. I have a few thoughts here:
First: if this was RIGHT before your presentation… it's maybe best to just leave it be, and try to hide it with a blazer, sweater, scarf, or even a necklace. Even if you got the stain out, you'd still be left with a big wet spot… and you don't want the situation to snowball (there's a great scene from Silicon Valley on point here).
{related: here's everything you need to know about drycleaning your suits}
Second: if you do try to get a stain out at the office, you may want to Google a bit — what the stain was, what type of fabric you were wearing… it all depends on how to get it out. Some stains (and some fabrics) are best left to the professionals.
Finally: if you have a bit of time (and you're at your office), this is exactly why you should keep a backup suit at the office. It's handy in case you have a last minute interview or a surprise big day — but it's also handy if you spill balsamic vinegar and end up with an off-white wet spot on your boob.
Some of our favorite mid-range suits for women (which sometimes have such frequent sales that they come down to the same range as our “budget” suits) include Ann Taylor, J.Crew, Talbots, Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers, and Antonio Melani. (Talbots and J.Crew usually have plus sizes, and the others offer petites.)
A few notes about the suit at the office:
- Make sure you have everything you need to wear the suit. If it's a skirt suit, do you have the right color of tights or pantyhose? Do you have an appropriate shirt to wear UNDER the blazer? Will you need a camisole or specific color of bra under the shirt? I still remember one day when, dressed way too casually, a VIP partner called to see if the team wanted to grab lunch at Cipriani's. Yes please! My backup suit at the time was one that I'd bought on deep discount and hadn't liked that much once the thrill of the sale wore off — but I was never happier to don it. The only problem: the shirt I had brought to wear with the suit was a thin, white t-shirt… and of course I was wearing a colorful bra. Fortunately a friend stepped in with a backup shirt (I think I literally took the shirt off her back), but I learned my lesson.
- Is your suit your current size? If you're losing or gaining weight, keep an eye on your emergency suit.
- Keep your suit out of direct sunlight. The color can fade.
- Check to see whether your suit is getting dusty. I don't ever recommend that people keep their clothes in the plastic dry cleaning bags, but you may want to get a nice garment bag to keep your suit dust-free and out of the sun.
Ladies, have you had good luck spot cleaning clothes at the office — or do you immediately revert to a backup outfit and leave the stain removal to the professionals? Do you have any particular tips for getting stains out of suiting clothing?
Photo credit: Shutterstock / JPC-PROD.
LondonLeisureYear
I am a wizard with stain removal. Its one of my secret super powers. I have never ever had luck with tide pens. They are worthless in my mind. The best thing you can do is flood a stain with room temperature water. Just flushing it out usually helps a lot. My favorite stain removal spray is Folex. It says its for carpet. Use it on everything, clothing, sofas etc. Its amazing. Red wine stains out of a white carpet amazing. However let’s say you don’t have Folex… you know what usually works? Contact solution! I use it on all my clothes when we are traveling and it gets out 90% of stains. Another magic item is Hydrogen Peroxide. It will get blood out of anything. Last stain tip – If you get sharpie market on something you don’t want it to be on, just cover all the sharpie market with a dry erase marker and then erase both, and the sharpie will come off!
AIMS
Any advice for black pen on suede coat?
LondonLeisureYear
I would try Folex first. http://www.amazon.com/Folex-Co-Instant-Carpet-Remover/dp/B000ILA3YY
My fiance often forgets he has pens in his pockets and they are faced out of his pockets with the tips up and sits on our couch and by sitting “draws” ink all over our couch. Folex gets it out.
Mpls
The key to blood removal is saliva. Spit on the blood stain, rub it in, and the rinse/wipe with water.
Diana Barry
I like the Shout wipes, they work pretty well.
For Flo stains, COLD WATER works best.
I agree with LLL above that room temp water works well for most things – I just used water this am to get my mocha stain out of my off-white coat.
Permanent marker – I use nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol for those (thanks, kids, for scribbling on my MARBLE SINK TOP). Comes right off! (Less effective on ballpoint pens – those are the devil.)
tesyaa
+1 to wipes; I don’t buy Shout wipes but I do use baby wipes on clothing.
Meg Murry
One trick I learned if you have spare clothes to change into is to take off the stained item and rinse from the back – so you are not just wetting the stain down and spreading in INTO the weave of the clothing, but rather trying to wash it out of the fibers.
A clean white washcloth or hand towel is also useful to help absorb some of the water you are using to wash out the stain. My latest pet peeve is that our bathroom paper towels are switched over to be pick for October b-cancer awareness month – and if you get the damp pink paper towels on light colored clothing they actually stain it pink.
S in Chicago
Magic Eraser takes off shoe scuffs. I live in beige pumps in warmer months and has become a godsend. (I must not walk properly or something–I’m constantly scuffing.)
anon
This is why god invented black pashminas.
Anonymous
Any tips for the insidious drop of toothpaste water – on dark cloth?
Anon
I find baby wipes to get rid of that pretty easily.
LNC
You’re going to think I’m crazy, but for something like this, an oil based stain, put translucent powder on it (I use Make For Ever’s HD Powder because I already have it in my desk at work) and it lifts the oil right out. I did it the other day when I dropped Italian dressing on my pants and you cannot see where the stain was before.