You pull a favorite T-shirt out of the drawer and there they are again: two or three tiny holes, just above the hem, right around the belly button. The first reaction is almost always the same. Moths. Out come the cedar blocks and the mothballs, the closet gets emptied, and a week later a new shirt has the same pinholes in exactly the same place. The culprit was never in the closet. It was standing in your kitchen.
Those holes have puzzled people for years, and the answer is far less dramatic than an insect infestation. It’s friction, repeated hundreds of times a day, at one very specific height.
Why moths are almost never to blame
Clothes moth larvae feed on keratin, the protein found in animal fibers like wool, cashmere and silk. A plain cotton or synthetic T-shirt holds very little interest for them. Textile conservator Tracey Wedge points out that holes in cotton or synthetic garments are unlikely to be caused by insects, which only chew through them occasionally to reach wool underneath.
There is also a quick way to tell the difference. Moth damage tends to appear in clusters, anywhere on the garment, often near the collar or shoulders where the shirt hangs. The pinholes on the lower front of a T-shirt follow a pattern no moth would: they always show up in the same band, a few inches above the hem.
What is actually making the holes
That band sits exactly where the shirt meets three things. The first is the hardware on your waist: the metal button of your jeans, the rivets, the zipper and the prong of a belt buckle, which rub against the knit every time you move. Bayard Winthrop, founder of the American clothing brand American Giant, described it as fabric rubbing against the hardware at all the points of wear, until repeated friction wears it through.
The second is the kitchen counter. Anyone who leans against a countertop while chopping, washing up or scrolling a recipe presses the shirt into its edge at precisely that height. Stone counters, granite especially, are the worst offenders: their edges have microscopic rough spots that act like fine sandpaper.
The third, for many people, is the car seatbelt or the strap of a crossbody bag, both of which ride across the same area.
Why it happens more than it used to
If your old T-shirts never had the problem and your new ones do, you’re not imagining it. Many recent tees use thinner, lighter knits, and cheaper short-staple cotton makes a weaker yarn that gives way to abrasion much sooner. Wedge’s advice is to look for long-staple or pima cotton when buying, which holds up far better.
How to stop it
- Wear a thin cami or undershirt tucked in, so it takes the contact with the button and belt instead of your shirt.
- Try a front tuck or a half-tuck, which moves the fabric away from the hardware.
- Check your counter edge. If it feels rough, a pass with fine sandpaper, or an apron while you cook, protects your clothes.
- Fix holes early. A few stitches or a small iron-on patch inside the shirt stops a pinhole from growing in the wash.
Laundry habits help too: gentler cycles are kinder to thin knits, and the washing machine setting you almost never use makes clothes last noticeably longer.
Put the mothballs away. Check your belt, your jeans and the edge of your counter instead. That’s the trick.
