Garment Washing Techniques Comparison

In garment finishing, washing techniques are widely used to enhance design, comfort, and aesthetics. These processes impart unique effects, making them popular across various apparel types.

Overview of Garment Washing

Garment washing involves treating semi-finished garments through manual and mechanical processes using detergents to achieve dimensional stability, softness, and distinctive color or texture effects. Post-washing wastewater contains residual dyes and chemicals, requiring treatment to minimize environmental impact. Eco-friendly dyes are preferred for sustainability.

Washing is most commonly applied to denim, especially jeans, due to its popularity. However, fabrics like cotton, cotton blends, linen, and silk can also undergo washing.

Denim Washing Process

Denim washing typically involves the following steps:

Denim Washing Process

Denim washing typically involves the following steps:

1. Manual Processing

Effects like whiskering, creasing, or distressing on jeans are created manually using tools such as needles, sandpaper, or small grinding wheels.

2. Spray Treatment

To achieve localized bleaching, spray treatments are combined with manual and washing processes. Spraying is often applied to the front, back, waist, or pockets of jeans. Since denim yarn is sized during weaving to enhance strength, desizing is required before spraying to ensure chemical reactions. Specific areas are sprayed with reagents, which react during washing to create a faded, bleached effect.

3. Washing Techniques

Before washing, desizing removes starch from the fabric, making it softer using penetrants and softeners. The detergent quantity and ratio are adjusted based on fabric type through testing.

Common Washing Types:

1. Regular Wash
   Involves standard industrial washing to clean and soften garments. Detergents are added at 50-80°C, followed by rinsing with softeners, resulting in soft, comfortable, and clean fabrics.

2. Bleach Wash
   After regular washing, garments are heated to 60°C and treated with bleach for a specific duration, depending on the desired fading level. Bleach must be added in the direction of the machine’s rotation to avoid uneven application and localized over-bleaching.

3. Stone Wash
   Typically performed after desizing, stone washing uses pumice stones in the washing machine with water levels sufficient to soak garments. Stones interact with the fabric, creating a naturally worn look. Regular or bleach washes can precede or follow stone washing. Effects vary based on stone size, washing time, and temperature, ranging from slight to heavy distressing.

4. Sand Wash
   Popular in the 1980s, sand washing uses alkaline and oxidizing agents in industrial washers to achieve fading and an aged appearance.

5. Enzyme Wash
   Also known as cellulase washing, this method degrades fibers under specific pH and temperature conditions, resulting in mild fading, reduced pilling, and lasting softness. Compared to stone washing, enzyme washing provides a finer texture, better drape, gloss, and permanent softness. Combining enzyme and stone washing can create varied patterns: enzyme-first yields finer textures, while stone-first produces coarser effects.

6. Snow Wash
   Also called “frosted wash,” this technique creates a snowflake-like bleached effect, often using a “frosting machine” for dry grinding.
   

7. Resin Crinkle
   Similar to non-iron finishing, this process creates durable creases, often paired with techniques like whiskering, sandblasting, or hand-rubbing for a distinctive style. Requirements include lasting shape retention, minimal strength loss, no yellowing, low formaldehyde residue, and careful selection of chemicals and conditions.

   

8. Distressed Wash
   After pumice stone grinding and chemical treatment, specific areas (e.g., seams or collars) are intentionally damaged, creating a heavily worn look post-washing.

   

Additional Techniques

Other methods like tie-dye, laser engraving, and hand-painting are also used during washing to achieve unique effects.

Considerations

Washing processes are complex, with numerous parameters requiring small-scale trials to determine optimal conditions before bulk production. These techniques add significant value to garments but demand substantial labor and equipment. Production planning must allocate sufficient time for washing to ensure quality outcomes.