gildan oil marks

9264 Views 49 Replies 18 Participants Last post by wormil, Dec 19, 2008

rayschwab

Discussion Starter · Oct 27, 2008

Has anyone had a problem with oil type marks on Gildan shirts. We generally see them only after the shirt is run in the dryer. We have cleaned the inside of the dryer but it seems that when the shirt is heated is when the marks appear.

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Solmu

· #2 · Oct 27, 2008

It could be a problem at your end, but it also could be a problem in manufacture: sometimes the sewing machine will drip oil onto the garment. While I don't recall hearing about it with Gildan, it is a problem that all t-shirt blank companies potentially face (if it's not caught in quality control). I recall a while ago there was a brand of kid's blanks that someone was having a lot of trouble with.

Is it possible that the oil becomes more noticeable after the dryer, but is there before? I'd check over incoming stock to make sure it's not happening before they get to you.

rayschwab

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 27, 2008

Thanks for your quick response. I'll have the staff keep an eye on the
shirts prior to printing.
Thanks,
Ray

VickiRob

· #4 · Oct 28, 2008

I have noticed these "oil" type marks on the green Gildan sweatshirts. Thank goodness most of the sweaters are useable and with the print on them the oil mark is not very noticeable.

rayschwab

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 28, 2008

The shirts that we just had the problem with were also (forest) green.

cuush.com

· #6 · Nov 19, 2008

We see these oil marks on all light colored Gildans...
they're definitely coming from the manufacturer.

You can use an aerosol stain remover to get rid of them quite quickly...spray > dry > dust off > done.
It's a pita, but hey...you get what you pay for.

I'm not sure what you're talking about with the dryer tho..
the oil usually washes out, so by the time the shirt is going in the dryer...it should already be gone.

Anyway, gotta love third world manufacturing...
it may be cheap, but someone has to pay the price.

Reactions: 1

pwapparel

· #7 · Nov 19, 2008

cuush.com said:
I'm not sure what you're talking about with the dryer tho..
the oil usually washes out, so by the time the shirt is going in the dryer...it should already be gone.

I think the dryer he's referring to is the dryer that is used to cure the plastisol ink

rayschwab

Discussion Starter · #8 · Nov 19, 2008

That is correct. We are not seeing the marks prior to going into the conveyor dryer.
We have cleaned the dryer and are not sure if the heat is activating something in the dye.

select1

· #9 · Nov 19, 2008

we are having the same issue thanks for the tip on the aerosol stain remover

cuush.com

· #10 · Nov 20, 2008

pwapparel said:
I think the dryer he's referring to is the dryer that is used to cure the plastisol ink

LOL, duh...
we did wash tests to see if the spots wash out,
so that's where my head was at....washer/dryer.

VickiRob

· #11 · Nov 26, 2008

I use heat press and also screen print. I see the oil marks prior to printing, so they are coming from the manufacturer this way. The dry cleaning gun may take them out, but we shouldn't have to do this. Maybe we should contact a Gildan rep regarding this issue.

sunnydayz

· #12 · Nov 26, 2008

I myself had one order a while back on the natural color ultra cottons that had black oil marks on them. There was about 8 to 10 of them that had it out of about 80 shirts. So probably about 10% of the order.

OperationSackTap

· #13 · Nov 26, 2008

I brought this up as well a week back. My pink Tees from Gilden seem to have the same stain after i dried it.

So the stain remover should fix the problem?

cuush.com

· #14 · Nov 26, 2008

OperationSackTap said:
I brought this up as well a week back. My pink Tees from Gilden seem to have the same stain after i dried it.

So the stain remover should fix the problem?

Aerosol stain remover will lift the "transparent" oil marks...
if you're seeing "black" oil marks on your shirts, I don't think so.

The oil looks like a drop of WD40 or something...
probably from the heavily-worked sewing machines in the free zone.

If you have Black oil on any of your shirts, that's worth a return to your wholesaler...
but I wouldn't bother complaining to Gildan, that's the equivalent of complaining to Ford about your truck.

Gildan made like 1/2 billion dollars last year...
good luck on talking to anyone that could actually change anything (read: call center in India).

The oil is just something that comes with the "cheap shirt" territory...
buy a can of stain lifter and chalk-it-up to the "deal" you got on your t-shirts.

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suzette70

· #15 · Nov 26, 2008

I had the same problem with lime from Gildan a while back. Stain didn't show up until the shirt came off the heat press. Called the distributor, nothing I could do since they were already decorated and no way of proving it was not my fault.

Suzette70

cuush.com

· #16 · Nov 27, 2008

suzette70 said:
I had the same problem with lime from Gildan a while back. Stain didn't show up until the shirt came off the heat press. Called the distributor, nothing I could do since they were already decorated and no way of proving it was not my fault.

Suzette70

AlphaShirt/BroderBros has completely admitted to us that some Gildan shirts come with oil stains (it's only 10 out of 72, maybe)...
they don't know the reason for it, but they've had complaints and they recognize the problem.

My point is, even George Bush may agree with you...
but that still doesn't stop the $200/month laborers from over-oiling their sewing machines.

Unless you can get the ear of Gildan's CEO...
there's no point trying to fight a battle you can't win.
It's a deaf ear.

Try buying Fruit of The Loom instead...
we've never had any oil problems with them,
just mis-shaped collars and poor craftsmanship.

Hehe, you get what you pay for...
and then you pass it off to your customers as a "quality" product.

I think it's an eternal karma thing.

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wormil

· #17 · Nov 28, 2008

I thought the oil stains were my own fault until I started reading comments here. Well I stopped buying Gildans anyway and buy the Port shirts from Sanmar instead. They aren't the best shirts either but they're cheap and better than Gildan.

cuush.com

· #18 · Nov 28, 2008

wormil said:
I thought the oil stains were my own fault until I started reading comments here. Well I stopped buying Gildans anyway and buy the Port shirts from Sanmar instead. They aren't the best shirts either but they're cheap and better than Gildan.

For us (pre-printers), it's not as easy to walk away from a known brand name...
there's enough people out there that recognize Gildan, if we switched to a less-known brand...it could hurt sales.

I know, it's a joke...Gildan is cheap crap anyway.
But the customer defines the rules, not us. We get requests for Gildan over FOL, regularly.

Personally, I only wear American Apparel...
they just get softer and softer as you wash them, well worth the money.
The problem is, they have unusual sizing which results in lots of exchanges and returns.

Too bad (for the customer).

wormil

· #19 · Nov 29, 2008

cuush.com said:
For us (pre-printers)...

I'm probably just being dense but what is a pre-printer?

cuush.com

· #20 · Nov 29, 2008

wormil said:
I'm probably just being dense but what is a pre-printer?

A printer that has pre-determined designs...ie) BustedTees.com

There's a major confusion on these boards between the t-shirt industry and the printing industry.

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