Cotton
Cotton garments stand up well to washing. Their resistance to detergents means they are ideal for frequent washing. Dry cleaning ensures cotton garments do not shrink and prevents them from losing brightness of colours and shape.
However, cotton creases easily. Prolonged exposure to sunlight weakens cotton and garments take on a yellow hue. When cotton is attacked by micro-organisms, it becomes weak, gives off a characteristic odour and stains begin to appear.
Spotting agents may cause discoloration, so apply only to white fabrics. Cotton garments are suitable for dry or aqueous cleaning, or both. Always check the care label.
Linen
This fibre, taken from the stem of the linen plant, is also known as flax and is one of he oldest known to man. Although linen is an excellent conductor of heat, it is cold to the touch. This makes it ideal for summer wear.
To avoid alternation of the size and colour of linen garments, they should always be dry cleaned.
Linen garments should be ironed with care, as they turn yellow at high temperatures and the fabric wears thin under repeated ironing.
Spotting agents may cause discoloration of linen, canvas or ramie and should only be applied to white fabrics.
Dry cleaning is recommended. Washing in water causes pronounced wrinkling and can result in shrinking. The most widely used animal natural fibres are wool and silk.
Wool
Wool is sensitive to high temperatures. Garments must be ironed with care to avoid the formation of glossy spots.
Woollen garments should always be dry-cleaned as the presence of moisture, heat and mechanical action causes garments to shrink to half their original size. Wool absorbs a lot of water and any excess can cause shrinking during the dry-cleaning process.
Care should be taken during wet-cleaning the garments can shrink irreversibly. Wash in cold water and reduce the washing action. Woollen garments are not suitable for spinning or for the dryer.
Silk
Dry-cleaning prevents changes in texture, size and dyes. Silk does not take well to heat, so garments should always be ironed at very low temperatures.
Continued exposure to sunlight causes garments to yellow. Perspiration yellows and damages garments.
Washable silk can be either dry-cleaned or washed in water. However, they tend to lose more colour if dry-cleaned. It is preferable to wash them in water.
Printed silks and raw silk should be dry-cleaned only.
Chemical fibres
Chemically-produced fibres can be broken down into artificial fibres and synthetic fibres.
Artificial fibres
Chemically-produced artificial fibres made of wood pulp or other forms of cellulose in-clude viscose, cupro, modal and acetate rayon.
Rayon textiles are good conductors of heat and are cool to the touch. Colours are highly resistant.
Rayon is sensitive to water and prolonged exposure to light - factors which weakens the fibre.
It is also susceptible to detergents and other components present in household cleaning products. Hence, rayon should be dry-cleaned.
For viscose, cupro, modal and acetate rayon, marks similar to oil stains may be observed when the garments are taken out of the dry-cleaning machine. These may be water stains.
The garments may shrink slightly during wet cleaning, although they recover when pressed. If drying is uneven, the remaining water may leave marks.
Synthetic fibres
Fibres of this type include polyamide, nylon, polyester, acrylic and polyurethane.
Chemically-produced fibres are resistant to creasing and general wear-and-tear.
They are highly elastic and recover their shape particularly well.
Their colours are very resistant to washing.
Their low absorption of moisture produces static electricity.
Synthetic fibres are sensitive to heat. Read the care label carefully before washing. For acrylics and elastic fibres (lycra) which are heat-sensitive, reduce the drying temperature.
For polypropylene, polyethylene, polyurethane and PVC, check the cleaning label for recommendations. Finishes of this type are sensitive to heat. Clean in the first machine load and reduce the drying temperature to 45°C or 50°C.
Wet cleaning: These fabrics can be spun but not placed in the dryer