Dear Ms. Miller,
A friend showed me his jacket which is 55% nylon and 45% cotton in a dark brown. There are several small areas on the left arm and left side of the jacket. Some are small round places and some look like drip marks. In these areas, the color is almost a pink. He thinks it looks like bleach damage but has never exposed this jacket to bleach or any product resembling bleach. BTW, the tag says to wash on cold and never use bleach. It looks to me like something splashed him.
If he walked down the street on a day that rock salt had been spread to melt ice and the roads were slushy and if he had been splashed by this watery rock salt solution, would this type of damage be likely? I cannot think of anything else that might have splashed him.
If this is what it is (or you feel you know what the cause is), can anything be done about it? Your help will be greatly appreciated!
Janis

Hi Saylor,
I don’t know what caused this fabric damage. I don’t live in a salting-area (not enough winter here), and my partner, who moved here from Denver, reports that ordinary road salt would not have this effect. I once experienced the loss of a suit skirt because of a chemical spot – it appeared the day after the copier had been serviced. I don’t know how I got into any chemical, but that’s the only cause I could imagine. This is going to be very difficult to repair, given that the jacket is half polyester (which can’t be dyed) and also two-toned. Time to go shopping.
best,
Jennifer