Agree, acids/tannins leach out from wood onto fibers. Sealing it should help stop that. Good suggestions already given above.

Plastic bags outgas petrochemicals and can stain fabrics. I ruined a very light color cashmere coat by storing it in the dry cleaner bag over the summer, in a cedar chest. Painfully expensive lesson.~sobs~

If painting the closet walls is not possible, get or make some type of full length cotton garment bag (not polyester or plastic!) in which to store the clothing if it is off-season clothing. Polyester is made from petroleum, too, and I do not trust it for long-haul storage. Good luck!

Thank you everyone! The closet is already painted so I guess the problem could be the wood or the paint. I am going to ask my landlady about getting it sealed with shellac, wish me luck!

Are the stains on the garments only appearing in places that touch the walls of the closet? Like side seams and edges of short sleeves? Basically, the parts that you can only see when you look inside the closet? If the stains are on the front or back, and not the sides, then it is just a matter of stains going undetected and not getting pretreated before washing.

I've used silk pillowcases for long term storage of cashmere with no problems. For antique drawers use fragrance-free drawer liners.

Ok so here are a just few photos which might help identify the cause, there are about 35 items affected, mostly cotton but also some synthetic fabrics. If it was in areas like the collars or armpits I could see how it could be deodorant/sweat/sunscreen residue. But it's totally random. Could it be some kind of mold or mildew? I live in Sydney where it's pretty humid but damp is not really an issue I've noticed in the apartment. (Excuse the creases, I do store them neatly folded but these had been thrown in a laundry pile before I took the photos!)

My landlady just came over with the decorator - he used Dulux Aquanamel paint on the closet, and says there’s no way this could be the cause of the stains. Could rust in my washing machine be doing this? The thing is, I don’t see the stains immediately after washing the clothes, it’s always when I take them out of the closet to wear.

id do an experiment. buy some cheap white shirts, wash, and put some in the closet, some elsewhere. Maybe you would need to do this a few times but hopefully you’d eventually see some pattern.

in the meantime you might want to temporarily store your clothes elsewhere.

Forgive me if you answered this already and I missed it. Let's discuss exactly how you are laundering the damaged items. What temperature water, what detergent and any boosters, stain sticks. additives were used? What setting, such as delicate, whites and length of wash. How were they dried? Lastly a strange question, but what activities do you do in those garments? For example do you run in them or cook in them. I'm looking for a common denominator.

It truly is unlikely that both your closet and drawers would cause the same reaction Exposure to wood that causes yellowing usually takes a sustained longer time and is more of a brown color.

roccouple thanks, I am doing exactly this at the moment to try and get to the bottom of it - clothes are not in the wardrobe and I am experimenting on some cheap white shirts.

hcbm, the wardrobe and drawers are one large built-in unit, hanging space one side and drawers and shelves on the other. I do have some clothes in a small chest of drawers which is a flat-pack (ie not real wood) and they seem fine so far. It just isn’t big enough for everything.

The detergent I use changes depending on what’s on special, mostly powder but sometimes liquid. I always use fabric conditioner but again I don’t stick to one brand. To get the yellow stains out I’ve used white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda as a treatment, then a soak with vanish oxi action, then a wash with detergent and vanish in the machine. Stains not totally gone from everything though. And I don’t tend to use hot water as I’ve read this can set stains.

They are my normal everyday clothes so I do everything in them except exercise - work, cooking, even some pyjamas are affected. I actually keep my active wear in a different room so I don’t wake my bf when I get up early to go to the gym - no stains on them!

Hi everyone, just today opened the wooden dresser drawer with my bras that I haven't touch in a while, most of them new and I was shocked to see them turned yellow. Just the part that was out and visible. They were nested into each other, so the part hidden stayed not stained. This is so weird. Any advice what can cause that and how I can get those yellow stains out of my bras? Regular soap doesn't do anything at all... Thank you

P.S.: the drawer bottom is lined with some sort of fuzzy material. Can be something leaking from it? Or it's the wood and what its coated with? The dresser is not even one year old.

it is the closets, more specifically the wood work in the closets I believe. I had some sneakers in the closets which I NEVER WASHED IN LAUNDRY and strings were turning yellow. All the closet in my apartment does this.

I am having this problem too! collars on white clothing turning yellow IN THE CLOSET. I recently moved to a new part of the country and a new house and am having this problem for the first time in my life, so it has to be the closet, not detergent (using same as always), not sweating in some different way, not laundering in any different way. It is the closet. There's no wood work in my closet except under the carpet, old wood flooring. I bought a Moso bag to hang in the closet (absorbs damp) but it didn't help. Once I've removed the yellow AGAIN which I've done before and it just comes back without my even having worn the clothing, i'll try storing them inside a garment bag or something. I'm DESPERATE. It's driving me nuts.

I store my jeans/pants in a built in cabinet, folded once and have noticed yellow spots in the same place on my lighter denim and white pants. All near the knee where the fold is.

Did a smoker live there before you?

No, new construction

I just found out that I have yellowed clothes in the closet as well. New, never worn clothing. But, my house was also new construction. We built the house in 1998...Hmmm. We do have unfinished wood trim inside the closet (a reach in closet). I hope oxy wash cleans them. It appears I need some primer and paint on that trim.

I just found some of my new clothes with this yellow stains.

Please how did you get rid of the

Crikes! this seems to be happening to lots of people and there’s no answers. I read things saying it’s possibly oxidisation, clothing needing extra rinsing due to optical brighteners used in detergents breaking down, etc… My wife blames it in the LED lights I installed, and I blame it on her washing at too low a temp :) - BUT the yellowing is happening on brand new clothes too!

When I installed LED lights in my closets I definitely noticed my clothes were yellowing. May be on to something