Why Color Clothes Fade (and How to Stop It)
Our favorite clothing will lose its color over time – that’s just a given. So, the real question is: “How can we stop or slow down this process?”.
But to truly know how to stop our clothes from losing their color, we must understand why it happens in the first place. And there’s a lot to learn – so strap in.
Why Do Clothes Colors Fade?
Clothes colors fade because the dye is washed out and fabric fibers become dull over time, due to exposure to sunlight & strong chemicals, and with frequent use. The more you wear and wash a piece of clothing, the more its original color will fade. But there are things you can do to slow down or even stop fading entirely.
Clothes made from dyed cotton or synthetic fibers are what most people wear. Every clothing dye is designed to not fade quickly. A dye is of high quality if it can’t be washed or rubbed off on other surfaces and doesn’t bleed out a lot.
When you buy a new garment at the store, it will often have a color-fast coating applied so it will stay looking new as long as possible. But these treatments gradually come undone each time you wash your clothes and expose them to detergents and hot water that suck away moisture, thereby making fabric dry out faster (and ultimately discolor).
What NOT to do: Our Very Cherry Sock after 2 years of wear and tear (left), worn 2-3 times a month, washed at 60 degrees Celsius (hot) with other colorful socks & underwear, and always tumble dried.
You can keep wearing your favorite items longer by expertly washing garments. We discuss how to do so in our article about How to Wash Clothes so They Don’t Lose Color. In this article, though, we’re all about why clothes lose their color and what else to do to stop color fading.
But, to understand why we first have to get a few facts out of the way.
What are Dyes Made of and How do They Work?
Dyes are mixtures of organic and sometimes synthetic compounds that give away color by absorbing some wavelengths of light and reflecting other wavelengths.
The reflected waves of light that hit the eye are then interpreted as color. Colors change depending on the wavelengths and the amount of each that manages to reach the eye.
Dyes, or pigments, can be obtained from many natural items such as flowers, soil, metals, and even insects. Nowadays, more and more dyes are made by chemical synthesis.
And at the end of the day, that’s what all dyes are, no matter where they came from: chemical compounds that give off a certain color.
As such, they bind chemically to certain types of fiber. In fashion, these fibers are often made of either natural materials (cotton, wool, silk, etc.) or synthetic materials (nylon, spandex, polyester, etc.).
How Dyeing Works
Dyeing (FYI, not the same thing as dying) is a complex process that makes use of chemical and physical processes to bind colorful pigments to other materials.
There are a few different ways to dye textiles. Each is specific to a certain fiber type. Obviously, you should use the one that works best, right?
The most common are acid dyes, disperse dyes, and vat dyes. They each make use of various chemical and physical processes to bond pigments with the intended textile fibers. No, it’s not important for you to know which does what and why.
What is important to know, on the other hand, is that similar processes that bind pigments can be used to remove them from fibers as well. And that’s basically what happens when clothing starts losing its color over time.
Synthetic Versus Natural Textiles
Natural textile materials such as cotton typically have a white-ish appearance as long as they haven’t been pigmented yet. To actually receive a specific color, they must be dyed.
If need be, these dyes can be removed almost as easily as they were put on.
Synthetic fibers are dyed in different ways than naturally occurring textiles. In a way, their color is “baked into” them – chemically. Most artificial fibers are colored by a process called “dope dyeing”. Let’s take a moment to appreciate that term.
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Moving on. Dope dyeing is exclusive to synthetic fibers and takes place before the fibers are even made. While dyeing in a dope fashion (did you see what we did there?), pigments are added during the stage of polymerization (i.e., while “baking” the material for the fibers).
Colorbux socks are partially made of synthetic fibers which is why they are so colorfast (as long as you wash them correctly - not like in the image at the beginning of this article). Here’s a small selection you might like:
Thus, synthetic fibers have maximal color fastness. Therefore, it takes much more time for synthetic clothes, such as polyester, for example, to lose their color.
Regardless of textile composition, dye will come off (almost) any piece of clothing over time. This might take longer for some types of clothing but the factors that make clothes’ colors fade are always the same ones – just to varying degrees depending on the fiber composition.
Factors That Make Clothes Lose Their Color
There are a few things that make clothes’ colors fade over the duration of their use. Some impact color fading more than others, but it’s hard to quantify just how much more (so let’s not even try).
It’s essential to know the culprits that make clothes lose their color to understand how to stop color fading, though. So, without further ado, here are the factors that make clothes lose their color:
1 Hot Acidic Solutions
Acids are used to get pigments into cloth fibers, so they can also be used to dissolve the same pigments again. You’d actually wash dyed clothing in acidic, near-boiling hot water should you wish to remove its color.
Sadly, if you do so unwillingly (or unknowingly) by using a very acidic detergent and/or very hot water, your garments are bound to lose some coloration.
2 Chlorine Bleach
Chlorine, which is a common bleach type, becomes super acidic when mixed with water. Never use chlorine bleach on colorful clothing. Do yourself that favor.
FYI, you can actually bleach (not with chlorine, though) your colored clothing to make them brighter and even more colorful. We explain how and with what in this article.
3 Strong Detergents
Strong detergents can sometimes harm your clothes more than they help. Always read the user instructions on your detergents and maybe opt for slightly more premium products and trusted brands.
Those detergents that remove stains and grime well, also remove color the best. Bummer.
4 UV Rays
Sunlight breaks apart pigments over time. In an ideal setting, you’d therefore never wear colorful clothing outdoors, but that’s just not realistic.
It’s sadly inevitable that your clothes will lose their color gradually. You can slow the process of degradation by UV rays if you do not hang them in the sun to dry after you wash them.
Simply hang them indoors to dry out. Ideally, keep them away from windows and stow them in a closet away from daylight as soon as they’re dry.
5 Abrasion
Regular wear and tear will make your clothes fade. Period.
Abrasion from daily use, washing, and tumble drying destroys pigments and roughens fibers to a point where any textile will lose its shine and “newness”.
The best way to reduce color loss from abrasion effectively is to never wear the garment you wish to keep intact. But that’s not an option now, is it?
You can significantly reduce the wear and tear from washing, though. We explain how in our dedicated article.
6 Discoloration
The easiest way to gray out a color is by adding contrasting pigments. This is what happened in discoloration – other pigments are absorbed by the fibers.
This is what sometimes happens when you wash strongly contrasting colors together in a hot wash. Some clothes will bleed out and others will absorb the loose dye in the washing machine.
Discoloration just sucks. Make sure you wash your clothes as cool as you can without compromising on cleanliness.
7 Pigments Get Washed Out
Similar to factor 6, you can also change a clothing piece’s color by washing it out. The garment in question then simply loses its saturation.
Over time, the more you wash any piece of clothing, the more it will lose its pigments. Every time your clothing comes into contact with water, a tiny amount of dye will be washed out.
At some point, the fading will become visible and this is bound to happen sooner or later no matter what. Just make sure it’s later.
How Long Does It Take for a Dye’s Color to Fade?
The time it takes for a garment’s color to fade depends on various factors such as length of exposure to negative stimuli, types of dyes used in making the clothes, the hardness of water, type of washing machine used, and the quality of detergent.
In other words, the answer is a hard “it depends”.
One thing is for sure, though. If you take care of your clothing and follow the tips we’re about to outline in the following paragraph, you’ll be able to maximize the time it takes for your clothes to lose their color.
How do I Keep my Colored Clothes from Fading?
Do not use harsh chemicals like bleach unless you absolutely must. Bleach will fade colors faster.
Wash colored materials separately from white, dark, or light-colored garments because they can ruin these items by discoloring them. Ideally, separate according to color as much as you can.
Use mild detergents or use detergent sparingly.
Do not leave clothes in the washer after the cycle has finished. Hang them to dry away from sunlight.
Wash strongly colored clothes only with cold water. Whenever possible, do not tumble dry.
It is sometimes advisable to add a cup of distilled white vinegar during the wash cycle because this counters chemicals present in tap water (like chlorine) that accelerate color loss.
Wash items inside out so there’s more wear and tear on the inside of the garments instead of the more visible outside.
Use a mesh bag. This reduces abrasion from the washing machine.
Use a gentle cycle when washing your clothes because it is gentler on fabrics.
Use a detergent that contains optical brighteners to help maintain color brightness, which is very important for lighter colors.
Add a fabric softener to your wash. This helps reduce color bleed.
Use a laundry detergent that is designed to protect the colors of your clothes. Detergents explicitly made for colored clothes are typically best.
Obviously, there are many more things you can do to reduce color fading. But the tips listed above will get you a long way.
We hope this article and all our points will help you and your clothes look great for as long as possible. If you liked what you read, we suggest subscribing to our article updates.
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