Laundry advice - dark colors fading

In My Humble Opinion
1

Seems silly I know, but every season I feel I have to replace otherwise perfectly fine (meaning, I’ve avoided spilling food down the front) shirts because the black has faded/looks dingy. The background is, I’m really heavy so I wear 100% cotton tunic type shirts, almost always black, with khakis as my work uniform. I prefer at most only a touch of polyester/spandex to help them hold their shape; majority polyester is unbreathable for me.

My winter shirts will be these which are typical of what I get a batch of twice a year.

I wash them in Cool and hang dry them so no shrinkage. I use Tide or other regular detergent. My machine does have a Cold setting – would that help?

I won’t be offended at all if the answer is what do I expect from cheapish shirts!

2

I know woolite at one time was super proud of its woolite darks detergent that was supposed to keep blacks from fading.

The only other thing I can think of is turning the shirts inside out before washing but that’s usually more to protect a graphic printed on the shirt.

3

I forget the brand, but one of the most common laundry detergent manufacturers has a version that’s specifically for darks/blacks. The packaging is black, too – dead giveaway.

ETA: semi-ninja’d but the brand I used was made by Cheer.

4

Watch out for using too much detergent. Some fraction of fading is soap residue on the fibers.

5

Are you sure it’s washing them that’s causing them to fade? Could it be something else, like UV exposure? Are they hung outside?

6

Use one of the detergents for Dark fabrics. Try washing them in COLD water, unless that doesn’t get them clean enough. Try using the less violent washer setting, too.

Letting them hang dry is great–dryers are hard on clothes.

7

You could also consider re-dying them. Dye is cheap but messy - rinse out your washer thoroughly!

8

Cold water and shortest wash setting.

9

Do the bucket method mentioned on the package. Doesn’t crud the washer up nearly so bad.

My wife does it periodically on her cheap black stuff as well. I did it for socks once, but wasn’t worth the trouble. By the time they fade to the point of needing to be dyed, they’re usually pretty beat up as well.

10

Nope, I dwell inside almost exclusively, and they are hung in the (open) closet to dry.

Thanks for the other tips. I will try a darks detergent, in Cold (they are my work shirts and don’t get actually dirty so it should be sufficient). Great Antibob, I’m sure I over-detergent too so I will be more precise with that. Thanks!

11

I wear mostly black shirts, and hardly have this problem any more. Here are my tips:

  • Hang to dry (you’re doing this already)
  • Buy better quality (Hard to tell the quality of the linked shirts)
  • 100% cotton is not your friend.
  • It’s a crapshoot
    It’s harder to dye not-cotton, so shirts with some other fibers in them will usually have better/stronger dye (or something like that anyway) and stay blacker. There are options other than old-fashioned slimy polyester. I have a lot of blends and rayon knits that wash beautifully when hung to dry.

As to point 4, you can’t always tell which shirts will stay black-black and which won’t. I have the very best luck with the nicer type of black t-shirts from Target, but they’re probably not work-appropriate.

12

Thanks Green Bean. The ones I get are a pretty solid cotton knit because anything clingy or thin would be a really bad idea. They do hold their shape and don’t fall apart or anything.

But a touch of polyester would probably help a lot – the few shirts I’ve found with some spandex for shape did seem to stay darker. Do you find that rayon/cotton blends “breathe” OK?