In the post-finishing process of clothing, the washing process is now widely used in many clothing because it can get some special effects and increase the design comfort and beauty of clothing.

Clothing washing process refers to the semi-finished clothing through some manual processing and mechanical washing methods, the use of some washing solvents to make the clothing reach the size of the stable and soft touch and special color and texture effects. Because the dye and detergent added in the washing process will remain in the water after washing, the water washing plant should treat the discharged sewage, otherwise it will cause pollution to the environment.

Generally speaking, the washing process is most commonly used in denim clothing, especially the washing effect of jeans, which is favored by consumers. In addition to denim fabrics, other pure cotton, cotton blend, hemp, silk and other fabrics can also be washed.

Jeans in the wash processing industry before

Stefano said that while many people have claimed to have "invented" washed jeans, no one has been able to provide solid evidence.

Stefano suspects that the first washed jeans were made by costume designers at movie studios who had to outfit actors who couldn't wear brand new jeans in westerns.

It's a theory that can't be confirmed, but it makes perfect sense given the timeline.

The brand started making washed jeans with the aim of eliminating shrinkage. It turned out that consumers preferred the soft texture of jeans after washing, and those jeans that were stiff, heavy and had not been pre-shrunk began to fall into disuse.

Consumers like the look of worn-out jeans, but either don't want to buy used jeans or don't have the patience to wait for them to wear out, which is why washed jeans have become popular.

As mentioned in our series on the history of jeans, washed jeans first became popular in Europe in the late '60s and early' 70s.

Inspired by the hippie movement, many brands started making washed jeans.

That's when garment factories started popping up. "Because jeans need to be washed," says Giovanni.

The emergence of washing technology has made it easy for consumers to buy "personalized" jeans that they are satisfied with. One of the first people to use wash processing technology was cowboy godfather Adriano.

"The idea of pre-treating jeans actually came about by accident," recalls the cowboy Godfather. "I was inspired by the bleach spots on hippie jeans."

At first, he processed the jeans himself. "I would build a fire in the yard and put my jeans in a big pot and 'cook' them."

Adriano soon realized that washed jeans were more popular than unwashed jeans. "Customers line up outside my store every day, fighting to buy a few pairs of jeans that I have used." This was around 1972.

Common denim washing process

1

GARMENT WASH

General washing is ordinary washing, but the washing we are familiar with is changed to mechanization, the water temperature is about 60°-90°C, plus a certain detergent, after 15 minutes or so of ordinary washing, the water can be added to the softener, so that the fabric is more soft, comfortable, and visually more natural and clean. Usually according to the length of washing time and the amount of chemicals, general washing can be divided into light general washing, general washing, heavy general washing. Usually, the light wash is about 5 minutes, the general wash is about 15 minutes, and the heavy wash is about 30 minutes (the time is not accurate), and the three washing methods have no obvious boundaries.

2

STONE WASH/Stone Wash

Stone washing is to add a certain size of pumice stone in the washing water, so that the pumice stone and the clothes are polished, and the water level in the polishing tank is carried out at a low water level when the clothes are completely soaked, so that the pumice stone can be in good contact with the clothes. General washing or rinsing can be done before the stone grinding, and rinsing can be done after the stone grinding. According to the different requirements of customers, Huangshi, white stone, AAA stone, artificial stone, rubber ball and other washing can be used to achieve different washing effects, after washing the cloth is gray, old feeling, and the clothing is slightly to severely damaged.

Stone wash: Stone wash is a physical method to fade denim and increase the color contrast effect. A 20-yard-long, 62-inch-wide roll of cloth is placed into a 250-pound wash-tub filled with pumice stone and washed by stone mill (the wash works best when 35% of the tank's capacity is used). In the washing tank, denim and stone mix and roll, rubbing each other, the length of rolling time determines the depth of color after washing denim, the longer the washing time, the lighter the color, the stronger the color contrast effect. Denim is washed and then rinsed, soft treatment and drying. The soft denim with rich color layers after stone mill washing has become the preferred fashion fabric for home textile industry and clothing industry.

3

ENZYME WASH

The enzyme is a cellulase, which can degrade the fiber structure at a certain PH value and temperature, so that the cloth can be more gently faded, shed hair (producing the "peach skin" effect), and get a lasting soft effect. STONE can be used with or in place of stone, and when used with stone, it is often called ENZYME STONE WASH.

Enzyme wash: Enzymes, like enzymes, can be used to degrade cellulose in cotton fibers. Because the color of the denim is actually attached to the outer layer of the yarn, the enzyme wash water can wash off the fiber and the indigo dye attached to it. When the desired color is obtained, the enzyme washing water can be stopped by changing the alkalinity of the water or increasing the water temperature. Then the next step is rinsing and softening. Enzyme washing is milder than stone washing because no sharp stones are used in the enzyme washing process. Denim washed by enzyme has uniform color, soft feel and is suitable for home textiles and clothing.

4

SAND WASH

Sand washing use some alkaline, oxidizing additives, so that the clothes after washing a certain fading effect and old feeling, if with stone grinding, the surface of the cloth after washing will produce a layer of soft frosting white fluff, and add some softener, can make the washed fabric soft, soft, so as to improve the comfort of wearing.

Sanding: This finish uses a horizontal row of rollers that can be coated with sandpaper or a chemically treated abrasive. Denim is placed on the roller, and the protruding part is frosted. This finishing method will fade part of the denim and produce a velvet feel on the surface of the denim, giving it a soft, delicate hand feel. The sand washing method can also make the jeans produce wrinkles, cat whiskers and other fashionable appearance effects.

5

CHEMICAL WASH (CHEMICAL WASH)

Chemical washing is mainly through the use of strong alkali additives (NaOH, NaSiO3, etc.) to achieve the purpose of fading, washing clothes have a more obvious old sense, and then add softener, clothes will have a soft, full effect. If the STONE is added to the CHEMICAL WASH, it is called the fossil wash (CHEMICAL STONE WASH), which can enhance the fading and wear effect, so that the clothing has a strong sense of old, fossil wash sets the chemical wash and stone wash effect in one, and the effect of imitation old and fuzziness can be achieved after washing.

6

BLEACH WASH

In order to make the clothes have a white or bright appearance and soft feel, it is necessary to rinse the clothes, that is, after ordinary washing water, heating to 60°C, according to the depth of the bleaching color, add an appropriate amount of bleaching agent (bleaching agent), 7-10 minutes to make the color consistent to the board. During operation, the direction of the bleaching agent should be consistent with the turn of the cylinder, so as to avoid the bleach agent can not be diluted with water as soon as possible and directly fall on the clothing, and local bleaching occurs.

Before bleaching, the water level in the tank should be slightly higher to allow for dilution by floating water. After the clothing is bleached to the board, the residual bleaching water in the water is neutralized with large (small) soda (Na2CO3, NaHCO3), so that the bleaching is completely stopped. After the water is cleared, add detergent, fluorescent whitening agent, hydrogen peroxide, etc. to the water temperature of 50°C for the final washing, neutralize the PH value, fluorescent whitening, etc., and finally perform soft treatment.

Bleaching can be divided into oxygen bleaching and chlorine bleaching. Oxygen bleaching is the use of hydrogen peroxide oxidation at a certain PH value and temperature to destroy the structure of the dye, so as to achieve the purpose of fading and whitening, generally the bleached cloth will be slightly red. Chlorine bleaching is the use of sodium hypochlorite oxidation to destroy the structure of dyes, so as to achieve the purpose of fading. Chlorine bleaching has a rough fading effect and is mostly used for rinsing indigo denim. After bleaching the board, the residual chlorine in the water and clothing should be neutralized by sea waves to stop bleaching, and then the STONE grinding is done after bleaching, which is called BLEACH STONE WASH.

7

"DESTROY WASH"

After the clothing is polished with pumice stone and treated with additives, a certain degree of damage will occur in some parts (bone position, collar corner, etc.), and the clothes will have a more obvious antiquated effect after washing.

8

SNOW WASH

The dry pumice stone is soaked with potassium permanganate solution, and then polished directly with the clothing in the special rotating cylinder, and the pumice stone is polished on the clothing, so that the potassium permanganate oxidation of the friction point, so that the cloth is irregularly faded, forming a white spot similar to snowflakes.

The general process of snowflake washing is as follows: pumice soaked potassium permanganate - pumice stone and clothes dry ground - snowflake effect on the board - Remove the clothes in the washing tank with clean water to wash off the stone dust on the clothes - oxalic acid neutralization - water washing - softener.

9

MOUSTACHE EFFECT

Cat WHISKER is WHISKER, but Whisker is a little more technical. A cat's whiskers is a kind of HAND BRUSH, which is simply ground into the shape of a cat's whiskers.

Cat whiskers are the most common and most complex process in the process, which can be divided into ordinary cat whiskers, three-dimensional cat whiskers, hand sewn cat whiskers, monkey cat whiskers, hand scratched cat whiskers and resin cat whiskers, etc. The first few are conventional cat whiskers, and the final resin cat whiskers are real three-dimensional cat whiskers.

The future of washed jeans

"We are witnessing a fundamental shift in the way jeans are washed," says Stefano. "While the goal of not using water at all is still out of reach, we are making great progress."

As environmental awareness and corporate social responsibility increase, manufacturers are investing significant resources to use clean technologies and environmentally friendly raw materials to reduce water consumption, hazardous chemicals and waste emissions, not only to be responsible to the environment, but also to workers.

Stefano predicts that in the future, washing houses will be more like high-tech LABS, with people and machines wearing lab coats replacing many of the traditional steps used today. Washable processing will become cleaner, more efficient and less dependent on water.

New processing technologies and artificial intelligence will continue to transform the textile industry, as eco-fashion advances.

Article source: Yao Weiming, Dr. Se Shang Fang Bu, DenimNotes