How do you prevent clothes fading?

[diplomatic_lies]

Just wondering, how can you prevent clothing (mainly jeans, and sometimes dark cargo pants) from fading? Is there a sort of way to re-dye them?

 

[davei]

Nope.  Try a search, there was a similar question a couple of months ago... but in a nutshell, if the dye is going to come off, it's going to come off.  Especially with expensive jeans, the dye doesn't "soak" into the fibres very much, but just rides on the surface.  You can minimize this by using cold water and hand washing.

Re-dyeing: possible, recommended - depends. Extremely difficult to match colors exactly, messy, time consuming.

 

[hermes]

wash inside out in cold water, either by hand or by gentle cycle in the machine

there is actually a cold water liquid detergent out now that is specifically made for washing dark colours so they don't fade, and i cannot think of the name of it but it's in with the woolite type of detergents (it has a name like 'dark colour wash')

otherwise, take your jeans to the cleaners, not the best method but it's what some designers put on their recommended washing labels to prevent shrinkage and fading (helmut lang is one of them)

 

[davei]

there is actually a cold water liquid detergent out now that is specifically made for washing dark colours so they don't fade, and i cannot think of the name of it but it's in with the woolite type of detergents (it has a name like 'dark colour wash')

I've used that stuff before - the version marketed as Zero (I think that's what Woolite is called in Canada.) I don't think it made any difference, really - clothes that bleed still bled, maybe not quite as much, but the water was still deep blue/black. I would only recommend using it on truly dark colors (black, navy blue, maybe green) since I tried it on a pair of medium grey pants which were ruined. The liquid (which is tough to dissolve completely in cold water) stuck to the pants and was tough to rinse out completely. I ended up with a bunch of crusty detergent on the pants which required dry cleaning.

 

[AskAndyAboutClothes]

Want to reduce fading? Â Try soaking a brand new garment in cold water and vinegar. Â This should set the color. Â Salt is an alternative to vinegar. Set the washing machine settings to cold water and small load. Â Pour a cup of vinegar into the cold water and let the machine mix it for about 1 minute. Â Turn the garment inside out (a good tip for regular washing) and place it in the washing machine. Â Let it mix for a few more minutes, until the garment is submerged. Â Then shut the machine off and let it soak overnight or at least for a few hours. Â Then turn the machine back on and let it complete the cycle. Â A little vinegar each time you wash helps keep the color in it's original state and helps cleaning. Vinegar, a dilute solution of acetic acid obtained by fermentation beyond the alcohol stage has been around for over 3000 years when the Chinese distilled rice wine vinegar. Â The name comes from the Latin "Vinum" or "Vin" for wine and "Aigre" meaning sour. Andy

 

[matadorpoeta]

i know i'm bringing up a really old topic, but it's laundry time.

has anyone used the method andy describes?

did it work?

if this works, why don't clothing makers soak their garments in vinegar before selling them?

i want to keep my precious dress shirts from fading, so i thought i might soak the new ones in a bowl with the water/vinegar mixture for a few hours. any drawbacks to this?

all info would be appreciated.

 

[Pink22m]

What kind of vinegar is appropriate to use?

 

[Knowledge Worker]

The Vin method is tried and true method of "setting" colors and should be used on first wash. Use white distilled. Cold water.

 

[southerncollegeboy]

Use distilled white vinegar.

I posted a question about vinegar a while back and was encouraged to give it a go.  I have since used it and my clothes retained their color very well.  The vinegar also helped in getting stains out of my undershirts (I also used Clorox for that).

I worried about a smell, but there wasn't any. As to how much vinegar I put in, I just opened it and put a dash of it in...not very scientific but seemed to work.

 

[prometheus888]

Regarding the vinegar thing... Got some of those American Eagle neon polos. Is it okay to use the vinegar thing on the bathroom sink and swish the clothing around? Do I do this once or twice and then simply rinse off one more time with laundry detergent?

As for the vinegar "setting" the colors, is this a one time thing? As long as you do it first, it will maintain its colors long term?

Thanks!

 

[MyOtherLife]

2003
Comes
ALIVE!​

 

[megara]

2003
Comes
ALIVE!​

​

Lol

 

[GBR]



2003
Comes
ALIVE!​

But has not improved with age. Silly questions and old wives tales seem to be its contribution to the present.