Question from Orsolya
Dear Debra,
All the clothing what we wear is made from 100% natural fibers. I say no to synthetics it is the way we decided to live. (same goes for cosmetics, cleaning staff…etc.) For my baby I bought unbleached, undyed or low impact dyed organic 100% natural fiber clothing only.
I understand that non organic natural fiber clothing is safe if it is colorfast. I always handwash everything so I can see if it is safe to keep it. I have hard time with jeans because I have never purchased jeans that is 100% colorfast. I bought two jeans for my son, one of them is bleeding blue colors even after handwashing it three or four times. The other bleeds only very light blue color and only when I handwash (with detergents) it not bleeding at all during rinse. Do you think it is safe to keep it? How about after washing it fifty times? 🙂 I go crazy handwashing and checking if it still bleed the color… 🙂 My son (and myself too) can live without jeans. I started to hate them because all of them bleed colors as hell…
So please share your jeans experience with me. Have you ever seen a 100% colorfast jeans?
Does colorfast means that during the first three-four handwash non of the colors should bleed just like if we washed an undyed fabric?
Thank you for your time and wonderful website!!!!
Debra’s Answer
Blue jeans are blue from a natural plant dye called indigo. Historically, this dye was important economically because blue dyes are rare in nature. Today virtually all blue dyes are made from petroleum. Indigo is used almost solely to dye the cotton yarn used to make blue jeans, and the rest is used to dye other natural fiber yarns.
There is lots of information about indigo online, here is one site Indigo: The Indelible Color That Ruled The World.
Indigo is what makes blue jeans fade over time, because the dye washes out bit by bit.
Another source says that virtually all of the indigo dye used to dye blue jeans is synthetic, that is, made from petroleum. They go on to say, “All these chemicals and toxins added in the production process are leaking from the jeans during the consumer use, washing and end of life. Most salesmen recommend their consumers not to wash their jeans the first couple of weeks, but it actually takes about 3-5 washes to get rid of the worst chemicals stuck in the fabric. This means that the consumer will end up absorbing dangerous toxins and this could result in allergies or rashes.”
I would stick with colorfast dyes, since there is so much unknown here.
Can anyone recommend a jean dye that is fairly safe? I want to dye some jeans this weekend and would prefer to stay away from toxins :).
When I studied home ec in the 70’s, I was taught that dyes need to be “set” with either a hot-water wash or salt-water soak. I usually opt for the former, as it is far less trouble, but an item that can’t take the heat should be soaked in salt water (can’t remember proportion of salt to water).
With brand new cotton clothes, I usually machine wash in hot water sorted according to color. Manufacturers’ care labels are written (in my opinion) to reduce liability and not based upon what the fiber can actually take.
Regarding jeans, they can definitely take the heat, and I would machine wash them in hot water a couple of times to set the dye and wash any finishes that may be on the fabric. (A lot of fabric has a finish on it to give it stability for sewing, and these will wash out.)
More thoughts: Drying in the sun should facilitate release of excess dye. I would buy jeans that are a bit on the loose-fitting side. I would also turn them wrong-side out for some of the washings so that dye is more easily released from the side of the fabric that would touch the skin.
I would machine wash and air dry them many times and then handwash them and check them for bleeding. The agitation of the machine might help the dye to be released, especially after a soak cycle, and it seems like that would also save you some effort. I wonder what would happen if you washed them in a powdered bleach solution like Oxi-clean. Would that get rid of the excess dye? I wonder if you called Dharma Trading Co in Calif. and asked for their advice? They may have a product that would help to release the dye.
I thought I heard that vinegar heLps. The guy who owns furnature knows about this.