Well, I did not notice it the first time, but the black mesh panels stained a white capilene 1 shirt. The last trip stained my RR Adventure shirt, and I cannot get it out. Pretty much ruined an expensive shirt, if I need to wear it in town.

Anyone run into this, or have any suggestions of stopping it. Would washing the pack stop the staining? I suppose washing the pack is a really bad idea.

I dyed a pack recently, and thought I had gotten all the stain out. Well, a day of hiking in the rain showed otherwise. The purplish dye leached into the rear of my new Ex-Officio light khaki pants. (That's them in my avatar) After washing them they were bright pink. I finally messed around with some dye and got them to a light brown color, but it still has a touch of pink...looks like granite. :-) You could dye that RR shirt, but if it uses Polyester thread, the stitching color won't change, so take that into consideration on choice of colors.

What color leached out of the pack? Was it from black material or the blue pack body material?

Edited by Coldspring on 05/27/2009 13:27:59 MDT.

Hmmm...
I've sweated on mine several times and haven't noticed this, but I don't see why a gentle hand washing would hurt a thing.

That sucks that your RR shirt got messed up.

Tom,

It is from the black mesh panel that secures the pad. I have nice black spots on the top and bottom of my shirt where it contacted the panel.

A quote from the GG owners manual on the website (this came from the Mariposa Plus manual)

Note:
Recently we’ve had a few reports of the pad holder mesh causing stains on shirts. Last year we encountered this issue in less than 1% of the packs sold and have always thought that it had something to do with specific personal body chemistry which reacts with the dye in the mesh. We have been notified of several more staining issues this season so we have looked into the production of the mesh and have been assured that the fabric is colorfast. We are currently searching for either an alternative fabric or mesh that has been through a more rigorous wash test for the next run of packs. We are also considering a redesign of the back panel that we may test later in the year. In the interim, the best solution is to soak the pack in warm/hot water which should leach out any excess dye in the fabric. Do not put the pack in a washing machine, however.

Thanks, Brad.