I figured I should wash a secondhand dress that I bought recently, so I was trying to find a care tag somewhere in the skirt/lining. And that's how I found out that I am a fool.
The dress is stained. I failed to check it thoroughly when I received it, accepted the order then, and now I can't report or return it. This is completely my fault, I am aware that I did this to myself, and I am sorry and I promise I will be less of an idiot in the future.
But this stain...baffles me. It is light brown and was probably liquid, so my best guess is that it was tea. The thing is...it's not like someone wearing the dress splashed her drink on it. No, this stain is mostly inside the righthand pocket. Not like a spill on top of the dress over the pocket. It looks a lot like...I don't know, someone filled the pocket directly with tea. The stain covers most of the pocket, not reaching all the way to the top, and is quite pronounced, as if it were well-soaked in the tea. The part of the lining that comes in contact with the pocket has a lighter but still pronounced degree of staining, and there's a small, light stain on the exterior part of the dress near the pocket.
I sprayed it with stain remover. Soaked it in cold water in the bathtub for a while (no other large enough soaking locations in this apartment), and the water went a little brown at the start. Sprayed it again and washed it. No significant difference in the stained locations. I'm going to have find more intense methods, but I don't know if I'll be able to remove it at all. I don't know how long ago it was stained, or even if it's really tea at all.
I am going to charitably assume that the seller, like me, just managed to overlook it (comments from buyers don't seem to indicate a history of unreported problems with sold items). The stains in the pocket and on the lining are not visible from the outside, and the small stain in the front near the right pocket is small and light enough that it's not noticeable if you're not looking for it, and the print of the fabric and style of the skirt (lots of pleats) help hide it too. It certainly isn't visible in the pictures from the listing, and of course the damaged condition wasn't in the description. One might be able to wear it as is, but...I'd still know.
Anyway, I've got a lot to figure out. The answer I likely won't be able to get is how on earth does anyone stain a garment in that particular way.
