Expression: "My new shirt gave off color in the first washing."

[Tom]

Hi

Does the following sentence sound OK to you--especially the use of give off?

[Johan]

Hey,

it doesn't sound right to me.
Take a look at the following examples:

My jeans are new and they're still BLEEDING a lot

They BLEED a lot because they are new, but, eventually, they'll stop BLEEDING.

I always wash the dark colours separately. If they BLEED, it won't matter so much

My jeans have RUN and I like them better like that

"Look! the colour has COME OUT" on my white shirts!

Therefore in your case I'd rather say:
My new shirt has RUN in the first washing.

Hope this helps.

[Jamie (K)]

[Johan]

Hey Jamie,

was my explanation wrong?
As yours differs from mine, I was just wondering since you are the American guy and I'm the learner!
Thank you

[Yankee]

Hi everybody

I agree that 'give off' is all wrong here. To me, two very typical verbs in this context would be 'bleed' and 'run' -- just as Johan mentioned.

If I had a blue and white striped shirt, and after washing the white stripes had irregular blue edges, I'd probably use either one of those verbs, but run seems more usual than bleed to me in this case.

If a solid colored piece of clothing lost a lot of the dye when washed (with the result that some other pieces of clothing picked up the color), I'd probably use the verb bleed. But using run would not seem wrong to me.

If after washing a piece of clothing, it simply seemed to be a lighter shade than the original color, I'd just say that it had faded.

That's my take.
.

[Jamie (K)]

In my mind, "run" is confined to situations where the dye has remained in the original garment but, well, run. It's something like painting with water colors on a wet paper that's propped upright on a board. When my brother and sister were in high school, having a good Madras plaid shirt's colors run was tip-top teen fashion.

For me, "bleed" means that the color has left the garment and gotten into other garments, as when you wash a brand new red cotton T-shirt with some old jeans. You can't say the colors have run, because the color of the garment is still solid and doesn't look drippy. However, it's obviously bled, because your jeans have a pink cast to them.