The HabForum

I bought one of the Space Camp jackets online last week and just started wearing it yesterday. I was very shocked and disappointed when it started getting blotchy as if someone had hit it with bleach, just from it getting rain on it. I have exposed it to no chemicals whatsoever and have not tried to wash it treat it with anything at all. Once I saw what was going on, I watched a small bit of rain drop onto the jacket and watched it turn this awful outline around where the water was. It looked like it'd been bleached, just from the rain water.

I live near Seattle, and a jacket that reacts this way just to rain is totally useless to me. Having been wanting one since going to camp this year, it was a huge letdown to find that it was defective in some manner. I have a large collection of flight jackets and have never even heard of a problem like this before. So, I had to send a message to the gift shop people, asking how I can get a refund for it.
It put a real damper on Christmas to discover this. I was wanting one ever since I went to SC and was so happy to finally get one.
Just an FYI if you intend on buying one...

Will it wash out? Throw it in the washer/dryer and see if that gets rid of it. Shame you would have to do that, but maybe it could be salvaged.

Hotdog wrote:Will it wash out? Throw it in the washer/dryer and see if that gets rid of it. Shame you would have to do that, but maybe it could be salvaged.

This begs the obvious question: "If water is causing this, how will washing it with water make it look better?"
I'm not going to do anything to do this that could mess up my chances to return it. Besides, if I wash it and that gets rid of it (which I wouldn't believe it would as simple water is the cause), I'll probably still have the problem, so what's the point?

p51 wrote:

Hotdog wrote:Will it wash out? Throw it in the washer/dryer and see if that gets rid of it. Shame you would have to do that, but maybe it could be salvaged.

This begs the obvious question: "If water is causing this, how will washing it with water make it look better?"
I'm not going to do anything to do this that could mess up my chances to return it. Besides, if I wash it and that gets rid of it (which I wouldn't believe it would as simple water is the cause), I'll probably still have the problem, so what's the point?

What is the material it is made of?

Obviously something about these jackets has been changed or there is a problem with your partucular one. I have had the same jacket design with diffrent patches for 7 years have worn it out in rain many times with no problems thats a strange one.

I just called the people at the gift shop and was told I can return it for a refund or an exchange. I said I'll think about it, especially after I was told I need to pay for the return shipping. That just boils me when something isn't what I ordered, I have to return it but I have to pay the shipping both ways? What the heck is that?
Yet, it's a common thing when you're ordering online... Frankly, that's probably going to be the thing that'll make my mind up on replacement v/s return.
As for the problem itself, the lady there seemed quite surprised at the problem with it (can't blame them there, as I still have no clue how this could happen). She said they'd recently changed vendors on the flightsuits but didn't know of any changes to the jackets and had never heard of this problem with one before.

Boomerang wrote:Obviously something about these jackets has been changed or there is a problem with your partucular one.

That's what I assumed right away as well. I saw two of them being worn by staff when I was at SC this year and neither had those issues.
I just wanted to warn people about the issue because there's very little chance that this was the only one they ever had made that had (or will have) this problem. The irony was that if I didn't live in an area that rains a lot this time of year, I wouldn't have known the problem. I'm from Florida originally and this is considered the dry time of the year, it could have been a long time before I discovered this problem had I not gotten rained on right away...

Perhaps their new vendor isn't up to par. When I was there a few weeks ago, I couldn't help but notice the piss-poor quality of the flightsuit worn by cashier in the gift shop who checked me out. Not only did the Space Camp patch on her flightsuit look like it was stitched together by a 2nd grader, the flightsuit she was wearing looked like it had been sewn by someone with severe arthritis. I couldn't believe this level of quality was considered OK for our once proud institution. There's no way I would proudly wear that shitty-looking flightsuit if I were an employee. When old-time alumni like myself come back and see this kind of thing, it can only reinforce the notion that the best days of Space Camp are behind us. It's sad to see this kind of degeneration, and I pray for better times financially for Space Camp, our space program, and our nation in the future. Until then, I guess we can expect more cost-cutting at our expense.

Well, this just keeps getting more and more odd.
I just got a voice mail from them, saying they've decided to give me a refund, because, "We can't promise this won't happen to you again."
I called them back and was told they agree there's a problem, but they have no clue what caused it and nobody has ever reported another issue like this. Explaining I just want one that doesn't react badly with water and would be fine with an exchange, I asked if they could just put some tap water on a spot on another one to see if it has problems and if not, I'm willing to accept it's probably okay and would be fine with a return.
Well, the problem with that is the woman in charge who makes the calls on stuff like that is in meetings all day then off for another week. And golly gee, they just don't know if they will get her to make a decision before she leaves. Never mind they'd had it for almost a week now and I've been waiting for the same manager to make a decision then.
And the postage I paid to ship it back? I asked about that. Yeah, same answer, need to have the boss make the call.
So there's a good chance I won't even hear an opinion on this for well over a week yet!
If this wasn't happening to myself, I'd have a hard time believing what is going on...

Okay, I deleted some of my griping and the back-and forth.
Just got a call this morning from the lady who runs the online sales (and apparently is their buyer, the person some of us always wondered who buys the stuff for the gift shop), she said they're refunding my postage, and sending me a replacement jacket and a tag that if this one gives me problems, I can mail it back with no out of pocket, and then they'd refund it. She agreed there seems to be a dye problem. They haven't changed vendors for these and this is the only vendor they've ever had. Also, these are the very same jackets the counselors get (but apparently with one or two patch changes, I have no idea what they are, though).
So, it appears that all's well that ends well. I really wouldn't expect to have the same problem again, but it's good to know they're set up just in case.
All this said, it still was a real uphill climb to get here...

p51 wrote:Okay, I deleted some of my griping and the back-and forth.
Just got a call this morning from the lady who runs the online sales (and apparently is their buyer, the person some of us always wondered who buys the stuff for the gift shop), she said they're refunding my postage, and sending me a replacement jacket and a tag that if this one gives me problems, I can mail it back with no out of pocket, and then they'd refund it. She agreed there seems to be a dye problem. They haven't changed vendors for these and this is the only vendor they've ever had. Also, these are the very same jackets the counselors get (but apparently with one or two patch changes, I have no idea what they are, though).
So, it appears that all's well that ends well. I really wouldn't expect to have the same problem again, but it's good to know they're set up just in case.
All this said, it still was a real uphill climb to get here...

That's great, I am happy that it worked out!!

Okay, back to the original message:
DO NOT ORDER ONE OF THESE. PERIOD.
Why? I just got my replacement, and minutes ago, I put distilled water on the sleeve, on a spot about half the size of the palm of my hand. Five minutes ago it was dry and I just checked it. It had the exact same problem with this one!
Of course I'm retuning this one, too (they sent a pre-paid label for the box just in case) and will never be ordering another one ever again.
Soon after I e-mailed them about this, I got a response saying that one of their staff ones had the same problem, so now it isn't just me (of course, they waited for that to happen to take it seriously). I was forwarded the supplier's tap dance reply (as in how it's never happened before, like that's an excuse).

Update:
I'm getting my credit card refunded today.
They've returned all of the current jackets to the manufacturer and they have confirmed that although I was the first to have this problem, they have confirmed it has happened to at least another person and a few other jackets were tested and also had the issue.
So, ordering one isn't an option at this point as they don't have any now anyway. The company that made them is in the US (someone elsewhere has suggested a Chinese problem to me, but that isn't fair as they are made here) and they loudly riding the "but it's never happened before" train, as the SC folks did when I first brought up the issue.