How to remove mildew stains from son’s favorite hoodie?

[VillainV]

My son left his soccer hoodie in his bag last weekend after a tournament, and forgot about it. Somehow it ended up soaking wet, and when he pulled it out of the bag last night it was covered in mildew spots. It’s made out of a technical fabric….So far I’ve tried a soak and a normal wash with Gain, and Shout spray, but it didn’t help.

What are your go-to remedies for mildew stains? It’s bright yellow technical fabric so I don’t think I can do bleach. I’m trying an OxyClean soak right now.

[meanie]

Oxiclean was going to be my suggestion, and laying it out in the sun to dry

[ssmjlm]

May 4, 2024 5:57:32 GMT -5 meanie said:

Oxiclean was going to be my suggestion, and laying it out in the sun to dry

Same.

Maybe a powdered tide soak if that doesn’t work.

You could try laundry stripping.

[fernweh]

I have yet to try it on mildew but we us De-Solv-It Laundry Saver. It gets grease/oil stains after they have already been dried. And it works in whatever mystery stains H always gets on his shirt.

[nicolewi]

Maybe a vinegar solution?

[oregonpachey]

I started using Dawn Platinum Power wash on grease and tough stains. Maybe try that?

[VillainV]

May 4, 2024 14:47:07 GMT -5 oregonpachey said:

I started using Dawn Platinum Power wash on grease and tough stains. Maybe try that?

Oooohhh, good idea.

So far I did an OxyClean soak, and a vinegar soak, with no improvement. I have some De-Solv-It coming tomorrow. I’ll try the Dawn PowerWash tonight.

[rubytue]

I did this recently on some fabric where I was super concerned with potential fabric damage. It took me multiple attempts. The first attempt didn’t kill the mildew and it came back. Final mildew killing was a thick paste of borax, scrubbed on, let it sit for half an hour or so, and then the whole thing was soaked (in the laundry sink lol), before being washed on a temp higher than I should have for the fabric. And I use borax every time I was to keep it from coming back. (She says at she remembers this stuff is in the washer right now, with out borax. Guess I’m running it a second time)

Borax will kill the mildew, but not the stains. I did spot treat the spots with some oxiclean to help the stains. They are like 90% gone, though the fabric is white and I can still see them. But, we care more about them not coming back, than the couple little stains.

[1confused1]

I get all the stains out of my son’s baseball uniforms with Murphys Oil Soap (yes the floor cleaner). I pour the soap directly on the stain, dip a scrub brush in hot water and scrub the stain, spray with Dawn Power Wash then launder as normal.

[VillainV]

May 4, 2024 15:28:32 GMT -5 rubytue said:

I did this recently on some fabric where I was super concerned with potential fabric damage. It took me multiple attempts. The first attempt didn’t kill the mildew and it came back. Final mildew killing was a thick paste of borax, scrubbed on, let it sit for half an hour or so, and then the whole thing was soaked (in the laundry sink lol), before being washed on a temp higher than I should have for the fabric. And I use borax every time I was to keep it from coming back. (She says at she remembers this stuff is in the washer right now, with out borax. Guess I’m running it a second time)

Borax will kill the mildew, but not the stains. I did spot treat the spots with some oxiclean to help the stains. They are like 90% gone, though the fabric is white and I can still see them. But, we care more about them not coming back, than the couple little stains.

Yeah, favorite hoodie or not, I’m not expending that much effort! We’ve told him multiple times that wet clothes go straight in the wash when we get home. If it’s not salvageable, then maybe he’ll remember to put his wet stuff in the wash instead of letting them sit in his sports bag all week!

[rubytue]

VillainV, totally get that. It worked, but my thing also wasn’t easily replaceable or cheap. So it was worth a couple hours of work spread out over a couple days. Borax does kill mildew, which was my take away from the whole thing.

[VillainV]

May 4, 2024 17:47:23 GMT -5 rubytue said:

VillainV, totally get that. It worked, but my thing also wasn’t easily replaceable or cheap. So it was worth a couple hours of work spread out over a couple days. Borax does kill mildew, which was my take away from the whole thing.

I added some borax to our grocery order, so we’ll give it a try. It sounds like there are two problems here: 1) actually killing the mildew (not sure if what I’ve already done has worked, but sounds like borax for sure will), then 2) removing the stains.