Name: Irene
Message: Hi,
I bought a pair of dark navy blue jeans and have washed them several times and the colour still runs. It makes my white runners blue. After washing them for the 3rd time I carried them up to my appartment with a pair of white capris and pink capris that were all to be hung dry. I noticed after them being on the white capris for the short trip up the elevator the dye had gone on to the white pants. I was able to use stain remover to get it out. However the pink pants dried and then I noticed it was on them too. Stain remover will not get it out.
A) How do I stop the blue jeans from running?
B) How do I either get the stain out of the pink pants or dye them a darker colour?
All the pants are 98% cotton and 2% spandex.

When dye rubs off of fabric when it is dry, as your jeans have been doing on your shoes, it is called crocking. Crocking is caused by improper dye application. It is seen most often when indigo is applied with too much dye at a time, instead of with repeated dippings with weaker dye.

The best thing to do with your pants that have been crocking is to return them where you bought them. They were improperly manufactured and should be replaced free of charge.

To remove the excess dye that transferred to your pink capris, soak them in hot water and then wash in hot water. You should not use chlorine bleach to try to remove the dye, because bleach damages spandex. You might find sodium hydrosulfite (Rit Color Remover or Carbona Color Run Remover) to be helpful, but it may also remove the original pink color.