Garment Wash Appearance Assessment: Key Factors and Evaluation Techniques

Garment Wash Appearance Assessment: Key Factors and Evaluation Techniques

Noor Ahmed Raaz
Specialized in Apparel Manufacturing
Owner and Editor in Chief Textile Merchandising
Asst. Prof., Department of Textile Engineering
Atish Dipankar University of Science & Technology
Email: textilemerchandising1@gmail.com

Garment Wash:

Garment washing is an important part of apparel industry. This is the new technology that is applied on complete garments for modify the outlook, appearance, comfort ability and design of garments. By applying this process on garments become softer, handy, bright and comfort to wear. Mainly garment wash is used for fading effect on garments and avoiding shrinkage. This this article, I describe how to assess the appearance of a garment after washing.

Principle:

The correct numbers of test specimens are to be prepared and tested as specified within this test method in order to achieve a performance assessment of the fabric/garment as described within the scope.

Equipment:

Wascator washing machine

Polyester make-weights (100% knitted polyester, texturised filament yarn, mass per unit area of 310 +/- 20g/m². Four thicknesses of fabric overlocked together on all four sides, bartacked at corners, square pieces 20x20cm +/- 4cm and weigh 50 +/- 5g).

• Tumble Dryer

• Drying rack
  

  Wascator washing machine

Preparations of Test Specimens/Materials:

• Whole, production correct garments must be used.

• An example of the specimen must be retained as a reference point for grading.

• Attach a piece of multi-fiber adjacent fabric (DW) measuring 100mm x 40mm.

Test Procedure:

• Weigh the test specimen and make up to 2kg wash load using make-weights.

• Select the Wascator program 5 A and temperature at 40ºC.

• Place the load in the machine.

• Add IEC detergent type A (non phosphate), Sodium Perborate and bleach activator TAED (tetraacetylethylenediamine) as per EN ISO 6330:2000.

• Switch on the machine and run for 1 cycle.

• Remove sample, dry as per the care label and assess appearance using below table.

• Return sample to the Wascator and wash again 4 more times. If care label states tumble dry, then sample is to be dried after every wash. If care label states flat dry, then dry after 1st and 5th wash only.

• Remove sample and assess appearance again using below table.

Assessment Table:

Record appearance assessment after 1st and 5th wash

* Stop Test – after first appearance assessment if result is unsatisfactory, stop testing and report results.

S/L	Assessment	Satisfactory	Unsatisfactory
A	Color change/loss using Grey Scale assessment(BS EN ISO 105 A02)	4 or better	Less than 4
B	Cross-staining i.e. color transfer onto component parts(BS EN ISO 105 A03)	4 or better	Less than 4 – *stop test
C	Change in appearance of prints, appliqués & embroideries etc.	No cracking or delamination	Cracking or delamination occurred – *stop test
D	Fraying of fabrics and trims	Not frayed	Frayed – *stop test
E	Detachment of fastenings and trims	Not Detached	Frayed – *stop test
F	Grinning/opening of seams.Measure seam opening	4 mm or less	More than 4mm – *stop test
G	Delamination of fused components	No delamination	Some delamination noted – *stop test
H	Unravelling/breaks in stitching.	No unravelling	Movement/migration observed – *stop test
I	Other change(s) observed	No change(s) observed	Change(s) observed (quote)