So i spilled HCl on my brown chino pants, not while wearing them. They are still intact without visible corrosion or holes, fabric is intact. Sad part is that the parts of the pants the acid soaked is now permantly discoloured, with light red stains. What does HCl do to the brown pigment to make it red? Chemical reaction with lightabsorbing aromatic pigments that changes its structure and therefore absorbtion spectrum?

 

This might sound really minor, but i really liked those pants, they fit me like a glove.

 

When it happened, i soaked them ASAP in a bucket of cold water, then washed the pants in the washing machine. The stains are still there, unchanged. The dye of the pants itself seems to be changed. No holes though, the fabric is intact.

 

Is there anyway to reverse the process and turning them brown again?

Dye the whole pair of pants.

 

Are they brown, tan, khaki or another variation? You should be able to use a fabric dye to color the pants any way you want. You can use a whole package of tan RIT dye with 2 teaspoons (10 ml) of pearl gray RIT to get a standard khaki color. You can try other formulas if this isn't quite right.

A bit late, but i dyed the pants with dark blue textile dye, and it worked, beyond expectation! All stains are gone, they look as good as new, except they're marine blue, but its a real nice color, most of chino pants are beige/brown anyway, its nice to have a dark pair.

Thanks for the advice!

Edited April 27, 201312 yr by Conium

Next time, you only need to dye them at most overnight. Five months is too long.