FIRST QUARTER 2019 35 BULLE TIN NO. 495 Drycleaning Causes Dye Streaks What Is The Problem? Some dyes can be adversely affected by proper professional drycleaning resulting in dye streaking and dye fading. What Does It Look Like? During drycleaning, solvent soluble dyes will dissolve and the results are color loss and streaks. The fabric is now duller over- all and there are what looks like bleached out lines on edges, seams, creases, and folds. What Caused It? Drycleanable fabrics must be completely colorfast to dryclean- ing solutions. When a non-colorfast dye is used during fabric manufacture, dye fading will occur during any acceptable pro- fessional cleaning. Dye fading and streaking can appear during the first cleaning or in other cases not become objectionable until after several cleaning processes. Can It Be Prevented? Only the manufacturer can prevent dye loss and streaks on fab- rics labeled drycleanable by using completely colorfast dyes. The drycleaner cannot predict or prevent such fading during proper drycleaning. Who Is Responsible? Again, the cleaner has no means to predict which dye might be defective prior to cleaning, and thus has no method of pre- venting color loss streaks. It is the manufacturer’s responsibil- ity to use colorfast dyes, pigments, and finishes when making drycleanable items so they can withstand later repeated pro- fessional care without objectionable results. Is There A Remedy? Once a fabric changes color and becomes streaky during drycleaning, there is no restoration. By Jim Kirby, DLI Textile Analyst TABS T E X T I L E A N A LY S I S B U L L E T I N S E R V I C E The fading and streaks on this pair of pants occurred during regular drycleaning, as labeled. After professional drycleaning, irregular white color loss lines appeared on this linen blouse.