The process which is used to
transform the outlook appearance, warmness & fashion appeal of the garments
is called garment washing. Garment pre- wash became popular especially since
1978 when jeans garments started pre- washing and got instant popularity. It
gave different a look to the clothes. Garments washing are mainly done after
stitching. Wash types usually depend on the product natures and usages. Based
on consumer demand and fashion trend, buyer will fix the washing type of any
product. For example, stone enzyme wash is required for denim item, but light
softener wash is perfect for knitted item.
Garment wash here refers to garment
pre- wash performed after production of garment’s before using it for the
consumers. Garment washing is utilized for the following reasons:
(1) Usually, some Garment shows up
hard, feeling rough, stiff and not responsive enough for wearing if not pre-
washed.
(2) Garment is often made bigger
and larger. Pre- wash returns those to the right size and dimensional
instability.
(3) After pre- wash garment becomes
fit as they get rid of shrinkage; as a result, the garment becomes soft hand
feels and become size free.
(4) After wash some garment’s
become more attractive, lucrative and lively, such as jeans, twill, cotton,
gabardine etc.
(5) Different washing methods are
being used to make an additional appeal for customers/Buyers.
(6) During manufacturing dirt, spot
or oil mark may add with the garments what may eliminate by washing process.
(7)
To eliminate starch and chemicals what used during fabric manufacturing and
dyeing process.
Types of wash applied on knit
garments:
There are different types of wash, applied on the knit
garments are pointed in the below:
1.
Enzyme Wash, èPrice per Garment $0.40
- Stone Enzyme Wash or Heavy Enzyme wash, èPrice per Garment $0.80
- Rubber Ball Wash,
- Hot Wash,
- Softener Silicon Wash, èPrice per Garment $0.40
- Acid Wash,
- P.P Spray, èPrice per Garment $0.15
- Garment Dye,
- Cold Dye,
- Pigment Dye,
- Tie Dye / Tie wash èPrice per Garment
$0.20
- Deep Dye.
Those are discussed in the following:
There
are different varieties of garment wash used nowadays:
1.
Normal washèPrice per Garment $0.30
2.
Pigment wash
3.
Bleach washèPrice per Garment $0.65 to $0.80
4.
Stone wash with or without bleach èPrice per Garment $0.60
5. Acid
wash
6.
Enzyme wash
7.
Caustic wash
8.
Garment wash and over-dye
9.
Whitening / Super Bleach èPrice per Garment $0.80 to $0.85
There are different varieties of garment wash used nowadays:
1. Normal wash
2. Pigment wash
3. Bleach wash
4. Stone wash with or
without bleach
5. Acid wash
6. Enzyme wash
7. Caustic wash
8. Garment wash and over-dye
9. Whitening
A simple outline about different
garment wash has given here:
1) NORMAL WASH:
Normal wash consists of washing garments in hot water with adequate
detergent and softener, rinse with plain water and dry in tumble dryer until it
is 100% dry. Some sodium is added to lend the garment a prominent washed look.
Water temperature, proportion of components of wash is adjusted as per
requirement of wash and types of fabric; the garment is made of. The softener
makes the fiber soft and tumble-drying makes the fabric fluffier. An expert
technician can handle washing by an expedient way to solve many problems
arising out during washing. Washing can also affect different garment parts
differently. Shell fabric may be solid color while pocket may be white
pocketing piece. After washing, it may appear that pocketing piece has been
stained.
It may happen because maybe too much softener has been used or the
fabric bleeding color is of weak color quality. Though softener makes the fiber
soft, it also breaks the dye loose and may stain the fabric. Too much use of
softener makes the fabric waxy. So, one should cut a balance in using softener
and other components in regular wash. In such cases, garment should be washed
with less softener and check if the staining problem is got rid of or
eliminated. If use of less softener cannot solve the problem of staining
indicates poor color quality of fabric. In this case, the garment will not pass
U.S. standard on possibly the following aspects:
-Color change, Color staining, Crooking (rubbing), One way of improving
staining problem or dye quality of fabric may be the following:
(1) Have 40 degree C hot water in a tumble washer.
(2) Put 1% color fixing agent and mix with hot water.
(3) Put the dry garment into the tumble washer and let them soak in the
solution for 5 minutes and then lift them up for drying.
(4) Run the tumble washer a few times and stop.
(5) Do not run the washer too much; it may lead the dye to come off and
stain.
(6) Just let the garments soak and absorb the chemicals. Move the
garments inside the washer as gently as possible; when the garments are dried,
the color quality substantially improves. After treating the garments in the
mentioned way, they can simply be imposed to normal wash to give it the washed
look.
2) PIGMENT WASH:
Pigment Wash is similar to normal wash but a bit costlier. The garment
is solid color pigment dye. The requirement is that the color should fade
evenly to lend the garment a prominent washed look. Pigment wash requires a
higher temperature of water than a normal wash.
(1) Use hot water 50-60 degree C.
(2) Load the tumble washer not more than 70 % of its capacity. It
enables garment to move inside smoothly. If fully loaded with garments due to
the friction of the garments with tumble body.
3) BLEACH WASH:
Bleach wash means that bleach chemical is used in water while washing
in a tumble washer. Strict washing time is a requirement with such wash because
otherwise the garment may be over bleached and the color cannot be reversed.
4) STONE WASH:
Bulk washing machine
Stone wash means washing garments with special stones so that garments achieve
a very strong washed effect. Volcanic stones are used in such wash abrade
exposed parts of the garments, this idea of washing with porous volcanic stones
is to give the garment a strong and rough wash to achieve the pronounced washed
effect through abrasion on the exposed areas, such as the seams and pocket
corners.
Sometimes,
bleach is added to the wash so that the color fades in a more pronounced
manner. This is done to make navy blue jeans into a more faded light blue. Such
wash requires a lot of skill, experience; workmanship and expertise so that
desired results are achieved. In stone wash the following points should be
carefully checked:
(1) Size of
the stones: Stone size is very important in stone wash. They have various
effects on the garment being washed. Large stones may give tough abrasion, and
small stones may lead less abrasion. Stone should be selected based on the
required abrasion effect as well as the type of fabric of the garments.
However, larger stones may damage comparatively light-weight fabric. Small
stones may give softer abrasion.
(2)
Garment-Stone ratio: (Weight of stones relative to the weight of garment) Wash
with more stones may lead to more apparent blue/white contrast on the fabric.
(3) Washing
time: Washing time also much important in stone wash.
(4) Quantity
of Bleach: Use of more bleach can shorten wash time and leads to more
productivity. Bleach, however, cannot be used indiscriminately.
Disproportionate amount of bleach may lead to lose of the desired blue/white
contrast on the fabric. In order to achieve a better result, one should cut a
balance between quantity of bleach, stone size and amount of stone. Sometimes
one needs to use the normal quantity of stone and longer washing time to
achieve the color standard requirements.
5) ACID WASH:
It is a
patented process and can be used only by permission. It is also a kind of stone
wash. The wash is performed in two steps: in the first step, garment is washed
without water and in the 2nd step with water.
(1) Soak
volcanic stones in potassium permanganate solution. Stones absorb chemicals and
become saturated. The stones are then dried in normal air or sun. The stones
are ready for work.
(2) Denim
garments are now made ready for wash. They are desized/detached in water in a
tumble washer and dried in a spin dryer.
Hydro extractor
(3) the garments are put in a separate tumble washer filled with treated
stones. Water is not added. Now run the tumble dryer wash the garments without
water. Tumble washer is run to wash the garments without water. Stone will
abrade the garments, especially, the exposed parts. Hidden parts will not be
abraded.
(4) After
that, the garments are taken out of the tumble and transferred to another
tumbler filled with water for washing and rinsing. After rinsing is over, the
prominent acid wash effect will show up.
The treated
stones carry the chemical to bleach the exposed parts and bleach them to white.
But the hidden parts remain untouched. Whitening agents are often added to
water during rinse to make the white color in the blue jeans whiter to display
acid wash.
6) ENZYME
WASH:
Enzyme wash is
performed with a kind of live cell. Enzyme can break some fibers of fabric and
gives the fabric special effect desired on the garment. Enzyme wash provides
the fabric a soft, sanded or “peached” effect very desirable on many garments.
Enzyme wash is also useful for indigo denim.
In this case,
enzyme can replace stone but gives denim a stone wash look, with better and
nicer blue and white contrast on the fabric. Enzyme wash is, however, costlier
than stone wash.
7) CAUSTIC
WASH:
Caustic wash
is a pre- printing wash. Caustic is a strong chemical with highly corrosive
features. Prior to printing on cotton fabrics, gray goods are treated in
boiling water with caustic, which also has strong cleaning power, especially
for grease. This wash can remove all soil, dirt, grease, fine particles of
cotton seeds as well as all foreign materials. As a result, only pure cotton
fiber in the fabric for printing is left. It leads to stability of printing and
well-cleaned fabric. However, when we want to do caustic wash on garments, we
just do the opposite of the above; prior to printing, fabric is not treated
with caustic wash for cleaning.
Printing is
done on the row & unclean fabric so that about 30% of the printing done on
the surface may eventually fade away. Finally, printed garments are caustic
washed. It leads to, about 30% of the printing washed away along with the
foreign materials- leaving about 70% of the printing on the fabric. It
eventually makes the design or stripe of the desired look. For this type of
wash, the printing must be pigment print with a binder. Baking treatment should
also be performed so that
The color will
stay on the fabric more or less securely to coincide with the caustic wash to
be done later.
8) GARMENT
WASH AND OVER-DYE:
This type of
wash is also used for denim garments to give them an exclusive look. This is
performed in the following way:
(8.1) Wash the denim garments with stone so that the double needle
seams, pocket flaps, and exposed parts get washed down to light blue color or
white.
(8.2) Put into dye the tumble to dye the garments to get the desired
color.
(8.3) A coat of new color will appear on to the garment, especially, in
areas where the garment has been washed to a light shade. It creates a unique
but different look. In this process of wash, the lining or pocketing will pick
up the color too. By this wash, direct dye or reactive dye same as dyeing
fabrics or yarn may be used. Direct dye is cheap. So, direct dye may be
utilized with the concomitant use of color fixing agent, after dying to make
the color more stable. In case of solid color fabric staining within the
garment is not a problem. However, if garments of different colors are washed
together by the consumers, color may transfer to other garments. Reactive dye
is always preferable in this case.
9) WHITENING:
Whitening agents are used to create a super white look. (Unless the
garments you wash is all colored namely no white color at all in the fabric,
you should use whitening powder in the rinsing process to make the white part
more white) In denim where there are colored warp threads and white weft
threads. If such garments undergo “stone wash and bleach” whitening powder is
used for the final rinsing. It makes the white threads in the fabric whiter and
generates a stronger contrast between blue and white on the surface of the
fabric.
After washing, denim checks the reverse side of the fabric to evaluate if
adequate whitening agent has been used during rinsing. It is a common practice
that garments having white parts should be washed with whitening powder at the
time of rinse. It generates a quick and desired look.
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