Colorfastness of Black-Colored Fabrics with Various Fibers

Black garments can lose color, image, and be the main cause of color staining when washed with other laundry that can cause color contamination from interaction with other garments. To know the fiber-based dye fastness for colored garments, 4-5 pieces of various fibers of different fabrics were selected; cotton, linen, wool, silk, rayon, acetate, polyester, and nylon. To determine the colorfastness to washing and crocking, the black fabrics were washed with alkali and neutral detergents under the Laund-O-Meter method under the Crockmeter method. In an alkali detergent laundering conditions, most colored samples did not undergo color or light fastness. However, most of the stained fabrics slightly changed in K/S values while other samples underwent severe changes. With neutral detergent laundering, sample fabrics underwent less shrinking, and had less naps. The stained fabrics also underwent less change in K/S values. With time-repeatedly-washing the original sample went through colorfastness to lose color. In crocking fastness, most samples produced good to excellent results under dry conditions but produced relatively low crocking fastness under wet conditions. Natural fibers especially showed lower crocking fastness than artificial fibers. In conclusion, garments of the same color should be laundered together. The black garments that are washed using neutral detergents can decrease the amount of damage from color change. While it is the responsibility of garment producers to provide appropriate quality indications they should also provide adequate instructions for consumers to understand and appropriately cope with the quality indications in order to contribute to establishing a correct laundering method.