It is well-known that silk apparel is delicate tolaundering and demands scientific approach, appropriate procedure andtechniques. Deviation due to ignorance/negligence often leads to loss inaesthetic and functional significance of
Textiles get soiled by normal use whether these are made ofnatural or synthetic fibres. Built-up dirt can get ground deep into the fabric,making stains difficult to remove and can even damage the fabric. Rubbingcauses the stain to move deeper into the fabric that may be difficult toremove. Further, the heat in the dryer may permanently set the stain in afabric.
Chlorine bleaching should be avoided which may damage highperformance products made from spandex. Fabrics, linings or insulations couldshrink or otherwise may get damaged due to high temperature or leaving them in thedryer for long. Apparels made from fibres such as acrylic, nylon, polyester,and polyolefin dry quickly. In fact, polyolefin may melt at high temperature inthe dryer. The care aspects vary depending on the fibre content, finish,lining, insulation, trims, and embellishments on the garment.
In view of supra, consumers should select the correcttechniques to restore the attributes of the textiles. In order to help theconsumers get acquainted about clothing care, care labelling rule requiresmanufacturers and importers of apparel and certain piece goods to providenecessary care label instructions giving the consumer accurate careinformation to extend the useful life of garments. These labels must bepermanently attached, and remain legible for the life of the garment.Sometimes, symbols may be used in conjunction with words, but will not bythemselves satisfy the requirements explicitly.
Care Labels
Care labels often are the deciding factors when consumersshop for clothing. While some of them opt for the convenience of dry-cleaning,others prefer the economy of buying garments which they can wash. Somemanufacturers try to reach both the markets with garments that can be cleanedby either method. The care label rule allows providing more than one set ofcare instructions, if a reasonable basis for each instruction set exists.
Though there is relaxation in using only temporary labelsfor products such as totally reversible clothing without pockets and productsthat may be washed, bleached, dried, ironed, or dry-cleaned by the harshestprocedures available; interestingly, no care instruction is required for someof the products sold to institutional buyers for commercial use, and productsthat are completely washable.
Care label rule requires that manufacturers and importers of textile wearingapparel have a reasonable basis and reliable evidence in support of care instruction.That is why different verification tests are involved while determining thecare label of a textile product. For instance, washing, bleaching, drying,ironing, dry-cleaning are the major processes associated before finalrecommendation. Typical example of a popular export oriented garment varietysuch as 100% cotton single jersey T-shirt is depicted in Table 1.
If a garment shrinks more than 3%, the fit property would beobviously disliked by the consumer. Similarly, when apparel is washed andchange in colour of the body or staining of colour on different parts isnoticed, the aesthetic value gets diminished. In such cases, dry-cleaning ishighly recommended which delays perceivable relaxation shrinkage and inhibitscolour loss during a garment's life cycle. This, in turn, ensures consumersatisfaction.
Case Studies
Care instructions for export oriented woven silk fabric with the combination of brown and cream colour ground and sequins of red, pink and brown were developed at the Consumer Testing Services Laboratory, SGS India Private Limited, Bangalore for a reputed European buyer. The specifications of silk fabric were as follows:
Ply - Two ply
Ends/inch - 104
Picks/inch - 100
Weight - 119 gsm
Silk fabric was evaluated for different parameters to establish its appropriate care instruction. In the present study, the woven silk fabric was subjected to colour fastness to washing, colour fastness to laundering, dimensional change to laundering, colour fastness and dimensional changes after professional dry cleaning.
Colour fastness to washing
Woven silk fabric was washed as per the method ISO 105 C06: 1994, A2S. In this method, washing was done in a Laundero-meter by setting the temperature at 40C and 4 g/I ECE detergent and 1 g/I Sodium perborate were used. Small stainless steel balls of 10 numbers were used to facilitate agitation. Sample was treated in the above condition for 30 minutes and colour change and staining behaviour was observed (Tables 2 and 3).
Colour fastness to actual laundering
Woven silk fabric was washed as per the method ISO 6330: 1984. In this method, washing was done in a wascator, a front loading washing machine with ECE Phosphate detergent and Sodium perborate (4: 1). Colour change (Table 2), staining behaviour (Table 3), dimensional change (Table 4) and appearance after washing were observed. The observations made on the appearance after washing under this method are as follows:
- Noticeable colour change was observed, particularly on ground colour (brown, cream) with a grade of 3-4.
- Noticeable cross staining at grade 3 was observed.
- No pilling/ fuzziness were observed.
- Dimensional stability of the sample in the warp/length direction was not within limit i.e., 3.0%.Excessive lengthwise shrinkage was noticed in all the possible washing and drying conditions.
- Overall appearance was found to be unsatisfactory due to dimensional stability and cross staining.
Colour fastness to commercial dry-cleaning using Perchloroethylene
In this method, the colour change grade was 4 each in ground (brown, cream) and sequins (red, pink, brown) while, it was 4-5 in the case of self-staining method (Table 2) and the staining performance was 4-5 on all the six fibres (Table 3) while the dimensional change after the dry-cleaning indicated shrinkage of 0.50% in warp and 0.30% in weft. The observations made on the appearance of the fabric after this commercial dry-cleaning, were as follows:
- Slight colour change was observed on ground colour (brown, cream) and sequins (red, pink and brown) with a grade of 4.
- No noticeable self-staining was observed.
- No pilling/fuzziness were observed.
- Dimensional stability of the sample is within limits i.e., 3.0%. No abnormal shrinkage was observed and,
- Overall appearance was found to be satisfactory.
Recommendations
Based on the above studies, the recommended care instructions of silk items that can be represented with symbol are depicted in Table 5. In various household laundering conditions such as hand wash, machine wash, line dry and tumble dry and the detergents used in the process are not favourable to silk items because of excessive shrinkage and colour change and staining behaviour. Silk fabric should be dry-cleaned in commercial process to preserve the aesthetics and dimensional properties of the silk material.
Conclusion
The advent of new functional finishes and application of embellishment, sequins and fancy prints have made the silk wash care issues more complicated; but the basics remain same. Keeping the fundamentals in mind and selecting right choice of parameters underlined in the process, dry cleaning can be executed successfully. Useful life of silk apparel can be easily ensured if the care instructions are respected. International brands are conscious and concerned on this aspect while arriving at an appropriate care label. But the ultimate care of the product lies with the consumer. Legal issues do come up due to inappropriate care labelling of garment and result into penalty, recall and claims.
Reproduced with permission from Indian Silk, Vol. 47, No. 1, May 2008
About the Author
The author is the Laboratory Manager, Consumer Testing Laboratories (India) Limited Inc., Bangalore.
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