If there was ever a case of giving the shirt off your back, this is it.

A man who swapped shirts with a stranger during a night out in Truro is on the hunt for the unique item of clothing he was given and subsequently lost – but its original owner now wants back.

Two weekends ago, on October 13, Dave Atkinson was on his stag do in the city and it was while in the Old Ale House that he spotted, in his own words, “this amazing shirt.”

Fluorescent in colour and printed with flowers and an image of Liza Minnelli, it was love at first sight for Dave, who persuaded the man wearing it to swap shirts.

Dave said: “I had to have it. Being slightly inebriated I was confident enough to ask the gentleman wearing it whether or not he would consider a swap for my shirt.

"Kindly he agreed and we did the deed, but – and this is the important bit – we arranged to swap back the next day, once all the fun and shenanigans was over. I left the pub feeling very happy with my new attire and we carried on our way.

“Now, it was from this point that I became incredibly more drunk and what follows is a bit of a blur. However at some point in my stag drunkenness I must have re-swapped my amazing swapped shirt with someone else, as my soon-to-be wife pointed out to me the next morning.”

Dave decided to forget about the whole incident and carry on with his third shirt as if it was his own.

However, fate was to catch up with him. Flicking through Facebook a few days later he spotted a friend of a friend asking if anyone had information about a shirt her friend had lost.

Closer investigation revealed that the shirt in question was the very shirt he had originally swapped and then lost track of.

Its owner’s friend had started making enquiries after he failed to hear from Dave after the weekend.

“It was decided by my future wife that I should hold my hands up and explain the situation, which I did and I promised to the man that I would endeavour to reunite him with his shirt,” said Dave.

A quick search of eBay and other internet sites revealed a further problem though. To Dave’s “horror,” he discovered the Liza Minelli shirt had been handmade and a one-off.

“I now, as you can imagine, feel 100 per cent worse than I did before. And to make matters even worse the gentleman has even gone to the effort of bringing me back my shirt as originally promised. So as it stands I am no closer to finding the shirt, despite my efforts in vain,” added Dave.

In a bid to be reunited with the shirt he has set up a Facebook page, “Help Find This Shirt” and is appealing for Packet readers’ help.

“If there is anything that you can do to help me and help reunite this kind generous man with his beloved shirt it would be much appreciated,” he said.