Why do jeans fade easily?
Those of us who like to wear jeans are often very troubled by the color fading.
Whether it is low-end jeans or high-end jeans, it is common for jeans to fade.
After washing, the water in the bucket will be blue or black, and it will even contaminate other clothes, making other clothes unwearable.
So why do jeans fade so easily?
This is because most of the fabrics used in jeans are made of indigo dye.
Indigo dye is a reducing dye that is insoluble in water.
During the pulp dyeing process, caustic soda, insurance powder and other reducing agents are used to turn it into a water-soluble leuco body which is distributed in the dye liquor. The raw cotton yarn is soaked in the dye liquor and then passed through The oxidation effect turns into very tiny crystals that adhere to the yarn fibers to obtain the desired indigo color.
Because it is glued on, it is definitely not that fast and requires many passes to complete.
So in the pulp dyeing process, several dips and pads are often used, that is, the cotton yarn is soaked several times in a row, then oxidized, then padded dry, soaked again, oxidized again, and padded dry again. Do this many times to complete the dyeing process.
This is why many people in the industry like to ask, how many vats have you dyed with this paste?
The number of vats often represents the depth of dyeing. Because of this continuous dyeing process, the yarn has a different structure from other dyeing methods.
It forms a deeper structure layer by layer.
Many experts in the denim industry like to joke that we are actually doing useless work.
You see, we tried every means to get the indigo dye onto the yarn fibers, but the masters at the washing plant tried every means to get the indigo dye we dyed on it again. Get it down.
Aren’t we all doing useless work?
Actually not, on the contrary, this happens to be the real charm of denim, and it is also the biggest feature that distinguishes it from all other clothing categories.
Let’s talk about the color fastness of indigo dyeing.
Due to the vat dye characteristics of indigo dye and the unique dyeing process, the color fastness of indigo dye is generally not very good.
Normally speaking, the average pulp dyeing factory can achieve a wet rubbing fastness of a few levels, which is very good.
The color fastness level required by the state for jeans that can be worn by consumers is level three.
So in the water washing plant, a series of processes are carried out to solidify the color, so that it can meet the standards required by the country.
Many jeans purchased on the market have not undergone necessary color fastness testing at all, so it is very common for serious color fading to occur.
Especially for those low-priced cheap jeans, in order to save costs, there is even no color fixing process at all.
The reason why the color fades and stains other clothes is because it saves the process of anti-dyeing treatment.
Our correct understanding of jeans should be to understand that fading of jeans is a normal phenomenon, but the degree of fading varies.
Can it meet the standards? To what extent can it be achieved? This is one of the important indicators to judge the quality of jeans.
Jeans that really don’t fade at all are basically not real jeans.
Of course, over the past year, some people have been hyping up jeans that will never fade. The main reason is that there are too many jeans that fade online, and the negative reviews caused by fading not only affect sales, but even lead to The store’s rating weight dropped, so the store requested the development of jeans that never fade.
When there is a demand, it is natural to find a way to meet it. The method developed by the cloth factory is to use the reactive dyeing process. The reactive dyeing will not fade even if the water temperature is 100°C.
However, although the denim fabric made using this reactive dyeing process does not fade, it does not have the same effect as the denim washing process.
That is to say, only ordinary washing can be done, and the processes such as rinsing, frying sand, frying salt, and stirrup can basically no longer be used. In other words, the colorful changes unique to jeans are lost. Only dullness like color cloth remains.
How can these be called real jeans?
