Have you ever encountered white flakes on a lining?

[otacon]

This...is a little weird. Time to grab your detective hats and choice of tobacco.

Via a private seller, I received a truly beautiful top coat made by Blank Label. It was actually a little more than I wanted to spend while looking, but I got it for a steal all things considered, and it still has that feeling of not yet being broken in about it. According to the seller in fact, he never really wore it but to try it on/get fit pictures. The exterior pockets are even still sealed. And the craftsmanship is...well, beyond any of my other winter coats, I think I can safely say.

As I was looking it over though, I noticed something a little strange: one of the two interior pocket button flaps (you know, the triangular kind made of the lining material,) has a bunch of white/translucent flecks or flakes on in. In fact, they're rather stuck to it; I wiped it with some rubbing alcohol and then later with cotton pads & vinegar, and hardly had any luck removing any of it.

It's a bemberg lining. So, it's organic. And that made me wonder if it might be mildew, somehow, even though it really does not look like a mildew pattern. Truthfully it looks more like dandruff.

But it's also worth noting that it's only on one side of the triangle (as well as underneath the folds of that side). Pretty sure the flap was inside of the pocket when I opened the box... Were it mildew, I'd expect it to be inside of the pocket as well. And it's not.

One other thing: the flap is below the original owner's sewn-in initial tag (Blank Label's pieces are somewhat custom made, is my understanding). I would expect that a tailor, to sew on the tag, would likely iron that part of the coat. Is it possible the bemberg reacted with the iron, and perhaps with starch, creating these small, stuck, white flakes?

Has anyone ever encountered anything like this before? I came across another listing somewhere for an old coat that also had similar looking spots. The seller of that coat had ruled out mold and mildew and suggested it was a mishap from the dry cleaner.

 

[Steepleman]

I have no idea what these “flakes” you are talking about look like. Could you provide a photograph?

 

[otacon]

I have no idea what these “flakes” you are talking about look like. Could you provide a photograph?

 

[Despos]

Can’t say this with 100% certainty but I have seen something like this when there is fusing applied to the lining. During the fusing process the glue seeps through and makes these spots. When I’ve seen this happen, it looked exactly like this.
If you can determine if there is fusing on the interior of the lining flap, will bet that’s the cause. There is no need to fuse any other area of the lining. Would be common practice to fuse the flap.

 

[otacon]

Can’t say this with 100% certainty but I have seen something like this when there is fusing applied to the lining. During the fusing process the glue seeps through and makes these spots. When I’ve seen this happen, it looked exactly like this.
If you can determine if there is fusing on the interior of the lining flap, will bet that’s the cause. There is no need to fuse any other area of the lining. Would be common practice to fuse the flap.

Ah. Thanks Despos. I think you may be correct. Wouldn't have occurred to me that that's how these stay so flat.

I tried pulling both triangles a part a little and heard what sounded like the fabric and glue separating.

It might be worth mentioning that the spots in the photograph seem even more noticeable and opaque than they were originally, as if some of the cotton I'd attempted to rub them off with got stuck to it.

I also just noticed on the other flap a thin white line against where it meets the wool. Could be the same phenomenon.


Now I need to decide whether to dry clean it. It really was kept in such immaculate condition by the original owner that I hate to think about that little bit of wearing-out that happens when you dry clean anything, happening to it.

 

[Despos]

Don’t bother dry cleaning this unless there are other issues or reasons to clean the coat. If you know of a cleaner who excels at spot removal, stop by and explain it might be glue spots and see if they have something that would work on it. Maybe google “removing glue stains from fabric” and see if anything comes up you could try yourself.
If it can’t be cleaned up you might ask a tailor to make new flaps and replace these. The new lining flap may not be a perfect color match but what the heck, they wouldn’t have white flakey spots.
If you don’t use the flaps, meaning you never button them, just remove them if those spots annoy you. You may never need the flaps or use them.

 

[FlyingHorker]

The flap removal sounds like a good idea.

 

[FlyingHorker]

@stubloom