Where's the Rit?

I concluded yesterday that most people don’t bother to try to reclaim ruined clothing, preferring instead to toss it out just like a broken toaster. When did they quit selling Rit fabric dye in every grocery store?

I luckily managed to escape the first load of wash in Italy where it became apparent that there was bleach in the Italian laundry detergent we had bought at Tutti per Tutti. I looked sadly at the splotchy clothes that came out of that load.

Instead I waited until I got back to do the same thing with Clorox! After bleaching some stains out of a white shirt, I rinsed it out (or so I thought) and tossed it in with a load of light-colored clothes. Most of them survived just fine, but a favorite cotton shirt must have gotten a little too close to the white shirt in the washer and the result was devastating.

It was a soft teal shirt I really liked so I decided to try to fix it with fabric dye. I soaked it in Clorox water to remove the remaining color. Then I drove to the super-sized Giant and went to the aisle that carries things like thread and safety pins. That’s where the Rit dye should have been. No sign of any sort of fabric dye. A seasoned employee told me they hadn’t carried it for years.

So I drove across the street to the CVS. By this time the storm had moved in with buckets of rain and 60 mph wind. I managed to make it into the CVS and asked an employee where I might find fabric dye. I knew I was in trouble when he responded “What you use that for?”

I made it back to the car without getting completely drenched and called Pearl Art Supplies (back across the street). Yes, they had Rit in multiple colors at $2 a box. So then I concluded it had been relegated to the craft of tie tying.
I purchased the Rit in teal, an approximate color of the shirt. I subsequently noticed another shirt in bright green also somewhat affected by the original problem. Taking a shortcut I decided to just throw it into the washer of teal dye in hot water.

The first shirt looks better than ever. The second one isn’t so great because I got lazy and didn’t remove all the color first, but it will be fine for yoga and just knocking around.

I can imagine that anyone under 35 reading this will never have heard of Rit. Most people over 35 probably haven’t bought a box of Rit in the last 20 years.

I’ve also been known to fix a broken toaster instead of tossing it out. This is my father’s legacy to me.