What a club usually means by whites
There is no single whites rule. Each club writes its own, and two clubs a mile apart can mean different things by the same word. One asks for white clothing and lets a colored logo pass. Another counts the trim on your socks.
So start with the written rule, not with what other members wear. If it is one vague sentence, ask the pro shop or your captain the three questions that decide most outfits: is trim allowed, do shoes and socks count, and do hats and visors count.
The strictest version you are likely to meet is the one used at Wimbledon, where clothing has to be almost entirely white. An outfit that would pass there puts you at the strict end of the scale.
The change Wimbledon made for 2023
Even that rule moved. In November 2022, CBS Sports reported that the All England Club would let women and girls wear colored undershorts from the 2023 Championships. The undershorts could not be longer than the shorts or skirt over them. Chief executive Sally Bolton said the aim was to relieve a potential source of anxiety about white clothing during a period.
That change belongs to Wimbledon. Your club may or may not have followed it, and the only way to know is to ask. If it matters to you, ask directly: it is a reasonable question, and the answer is usually short.
The layers people forget
Most whites trouble comes from what you did not think of as clothing. The sports bra under a white top shows through at the straps and the back. The shorts under a skirt show every time you bend for a low ball. Socks, a visor and a warm-up jacket all sit in plain view.
This is where a one-piece dress is easy to trust. In the PERSIT white dress, the built-in bra and the built-in shorts are white too, so the layers that usually break a whites rule are part of the same white garment. The PERSIT white skort has white inner shorts under its pleats, and the top you pair with it is up to you.
Near-white is not white
Oatmeal, cream and ivory look white in a drawer and look like colors on a court full of white clothing. Our birch heather dress is a good example. It is a warm oatmeal shade, and a club that asks for white will read it as a color.
If the rule says white, buy white. Save the near-whites for the courts that do not ask.
Keeping white clothes white
Start with the label sewn into the garment. Under the Federal Trade Commission care labeling rule, that label has to tell you whether to wash by hand or by machine and how to dry, and it has to warn you off any method that would harm the garment. Both PERSIT labels say machine wash.
Beyond the label, the habits are simple. Wash whites with whites, so nothing darker can bleed into them. Empty the pockets first: a forgotten ball or a receipt in a built-in pocket goes through the machine with everything else.
A checklist before a whites match
- Read your club's written rule and ask about trim, shoes, socks and hats.
- Ask whether colored undershorts are allowed where you play.
- Check the layers underneath: bra, shorts, socks.
- Leave near-white colors like oatmeal and cream at home.
- Wash whites with whites, pockets empty, as the label says.
- Pack a spare white top if a stain on match day would keep you off the court.
A question about a size or a color? Write to baseline@persit.org, and the PERSIT team will answer.