Colors portray a variety of psychological effects. People’s reaction towards color is quite strong. For instance, red simplifies a warning while white shows simplicity.
The textile industry has been using this psychological concept of color to relay crucial information. For instance, military fatigue has intentionally colored that way to act as a symbol of authority.
In order to enhance quality, textile industries must ensure there’s no transfer of color from one surface to the other. Mostly this happens due to dry or wet rubbing. This is done through the use a Crockmeter. The TESTEX Electronic Crockmeter would be one of your best machines.
With a Crockmeter, the textile industry is able to make sure that color particles don’t stick on the wearer or any cloth they come into contact with. That’s why the manufacturer must decide the rubbing quickness of a printed or dyed textile material. Rubbing is the transfer of color shades from one textile material to the other.
Prevent Color Crocking
Before we understand how a Crockmeter work, let’s focus on why some textile dyes fade, bleed or crock. These are some basic reasons.
- Using a poor quality dye.
- Using an incorrect dye on a specific fabric. Not all dyes work on all types of fabric.
- Using an incorrect dying technique.
- Leaving out excess dye on the products. This happens when the excess dye isn’t effectively rinsed.
- Wear and tear. That’s the normal friction between fabrics which may lead to breakages. If this happens, the fibers will release any dye on them.
- Bleaching that results from exposure of fabric to different agents. Such may include the sun or excess heat.
How to Prevent Color Crocking
Well, the common myth is that doing laundry in either salt or vinegar helps set the dye. It’s, therefore, able to prevent it from running. Well, that’s not entirely true.
Well, vinegar helps to set any acidic dyes. But that’s only effective during the dying process and not later. Similarly, the salt will act as a drying agent. It dries the fiber forcing it to absorb the color. But it doesn’t stop color from running out.
As such, if you use salt and it appears to work, its bruise the previous washing removed any unattached dye.
At home, you may use these tips to prevent color crocking.
- When doing laundry, put clothes that are of similar color together. Remember, crocking is not a preserve of new clothes only. Repeated washing can wear chemical fixers on the dye. So, always clothes of similar color together. It’ll help prevent color transfer.
- Don’t over wash your clothes. In most cases, we tend to overdo laundry. So, before you wash your clothes, ask yourself. Is it necessary? Is the cloth really dirty? Well, if it’s just smelly, try to use a fresher.
- Use cold water. Washing with hot water opens up fiber allowing the dye to run. You don’t want this to happen. Also, ensure you’re using an appropriate detergent for cool or cold water.