Care of fabrics

All clothes become soiled whether it’s over a few hours or a day. Fabrics absorb smells and body moisture so if a garment is to last it’s important to be aware of care labels. By law all manufactured textile items have a fibre label showing the fibre content (indication of fibre content regulations 1973).
 

Detergent and water dissolve dirt and stains; detergent molecules are designed especially for to clean and dissolve dirt and grease. Often detergent is made using enzymes which are organic substances, this type of detergent is called biological detergents.

It is however important to follow care labels as not all garments can be cleaned in the washing machine, some also need hand washing.

When ironing garments its important to follow any signs that state a heat level, otherwise synthetic fibres do not crease so don’t need ironing!

However some fabrics cannot be cleaned at home so would therefore need to be dry cleaned. It’s a complicated process that doesn’t use water, only organic solvents but it’s recommended to keep a garment in good condition.

By Abigail Stephenson
Photographs provided by fashion Capital.

For other articles in the learning about textiles technology, click below:

Part one: what are textiles?
Part two: The inspiration behind the ideas of design
Part three: drawing and modelling
Part four: planning
Part five: influences on design
Part six: fibres
Part seven: construction
Part eight: properties of fabrics
Part nine: care of fabrics
Part ten: components
Part eleven: disassembly
Part twelve: application of colour
Part thirteen: measuring and marketing
Part fourteen: assembly
Part fifteen: industrial production techniques
Part sixteen: systems in production
Part seventeen: aesthetics and ergonomics
Part eighteen: evaluation and quality
Part nineteen: marketing