DENIM WASHES 1

DENIM WASHES
⦿ Denim is a rugged cotton twill fabric,
in which the weft passes under two or
more warp yarns, producing the familiar
diagonal ribbing, identifiable on the
reverse of the fabric.
⦿ Denim washing is the aesthetic finish
given to the denim fabric to enhance the
appeal.
DENIM WASHES
⦿ Denim washes are generally divided into
two types:
(1) Mechanical washes – (a) Stone wash
(b) Micro sanding
(2) Chemical washes – (a) Denim bleach
(b) Enzyme wash
(c) Acid wash
STONE WASH
⦿ Freshly dyed jeans are loaded into large
washing machines and tumbled with
pumice stones to achieve a soft hand and
desirable look.
⦿ Variations in composition, hardness, size,
shape and porosity make these stones
multifunctional.
STONE WASH
⦿ The process is quite expensive and
requires high capital investment.
⦿ Pumice stones give the additional
effect of a faded or worn look as it
abrades the surface of the jeans like
sandpaper, removing some dye
particles from the surfaces of the yarn.
STONE WASH
STONE WASH
⦿ Stone should be selected of the proper
hardness, shape, and size for the
particular end product.
⦿ Large, hard stones last longer and
may be suited for heavy weight fabrics
only.
⦿ Smaller, softer stones would be used
for light weight fabrics and more
delicate items.
STONE WASH
⦿ Stone wt. /fabric wt. = 0.5 to 3 /1
⦿ It depends on the degree of abrasion
needed to achieve the desired result.
⦿ Stones can be reused until they
completely disintegrate or washed
down the drain.
PROBLEMS
⦿ Damage to wash machineries and
garment due to stone to machine and
machine to stone abrasion.
⦿ Increase in labor to remove dust from
finished garments.
⦿ Water pollution during disposal of used
liquor.
⦿ Back staining or re-deposition.
BACK
STAINING/RE-DEPOSITION
⦿ The dye removed from denim material after
the treatment with cellulose or by a
conventional washing process may cause
"back staining” or "redeposition”.
⦿ Re-coloration of blue threads and blue
coloration of white threads, resulting in
less contrast between blue and white
threads.
REMEDIES
⦿ Adding dispersion/suspension agent
to wash cycle.
⦿ Intermediate replacement of wash
liquor.
⦿ Using alkaline detergent like sodium
per borate with optical brightener as
after wash.
LIMITATIONS OF STONE
WASH
⦿ As the quality of the abrasion process is
difficult to control, outcome of a load of
jeans is never uniform, little percentage
always getting ruined by too much
abrasion.
⦿ The process is non-selective.
⦿ Metal buttons and rivets on the jeans in the
washing machines get abraded.
⦿ This reduces quality of the products and
life of equipment, and increases
production costs.
LIMITATIONS OF STONE
WASH
⦿ Stones may turn into powder during the
process of making the garment
grayish in color and rough too.
⦿ Provides rougher feel than enzyme
wash.
⦿ Stone may lead the harm to the
machine parts.
STONE WASH
STONE WASH
PERLITE
⦿ A new process of stonewashing has been
introduced called Perlite.
⦿ Perlite is the form of naturally occurring
silicon rock.
⦿ It has the distinctive property of expanding
to 4 to 20 times its initial volume when
heated at a particular temperature.
PERLITE
⦿ This happens because the raw perlite rock
consists of 2-6% of water content in it.
⦿ The crude perlite rock when heated at the
temperature above 870°C, it gets swollen
up and tiny glass sealed bubbles are
formed.
⦿ Its original color which is black or gray
changes to grayish white else white.
⦿ This heated form of perlite is used for
stonewash purpose.
PERLITE
⦿ It does the same function of stonewashing
as stones.
⦿ Perlite treatment reduces the rate of harm
caused to large washing machines by
pumice stones and gives the denim better
supple (flexible) and softer finish.
⦿ Many jeans manufacturing companies
instead of enzymatic treatment use perlite,
as it reduces the rate of wearing out of
jeans when used.
PERLITE
⦿ It gives throughout uniform worn out and
old look to the denim.
⦿ There are many grades of perlite which
differ in size are used for giving the
stonewash finish to denim right from largest
to finest grades, some are very tiny.
PERLITE
MICROSANDING
⦿ There are 3 ways for this technique:
(1) Sandblasting
(2) Machine sanding
(3) Hand sanding or hand brushing
MICROSANDING
⦿ Used in various ways:
(1) Flat surfaces (tables, ironing boards)
(2) On the dummy (inflatable {designed to be
filled with air or gas} dummies, sometimes
standing, sometimes flat, sometimes
'seated')
(3) Various templates can be used to create a
3D effect.
MICROSANDING
MICROSANDING
SAND BLASTING
⦿ Based on blasting an abrasive material in
granular, powdered or other form through a
nozzle at very high speed and pressure
onto specific areas of the garment surface
to be treated to give the desired distressed/
abraded/used look.
SAND BLASTING
⦿ It is purely mechanical process, not
using any chemicals.
⦿ It is a water free process therefore no
drying required.
⦿ Variety of distressed or abraded looks
possible.
⦿ Any number of designs could be
created by special techniques.
SAND BLASTING
OTHER MECHANICAL
WASHES
⦿ Whiskering
⦿ Shot gun denim
⦿ Water jet fading
⦿ Super stone wash
⦿ Ice wash
⦿ Thermo denim
⦿ Laser technology finish
WHISKERING
⦿ Also known as ‘Cat's Whiskers’.
⦿ Crease lines around the crotch.
⦿ Industrially done with laser,
sandblasting, machine sanding, hand
sanding and abrasive rods.
⦿ Also used for 'knee whiskers' (whiskers
on the sides of knees) and
'honeycombs' (crease marks on the
back of the knee).
WHISKERING
WHISKERING
WHISKERING
WATERJET FADING
⦿ Hydrojet treatment is used for
enhancing the surface finish, texture,
durability of denim garment.
⦿ Hydrojet treatment involves exposing
one or both surfaces of the garment
through hydrojet nozzles.
WATERJET FADING
⦿ The degree of color washout, clarity
of patterns, and softness of the
resulting fabric are related to the type of
dye in the fabric and the amount and
manner of fluid impact energy applied
to the fabric.
⦿ As this process is not involved with any
chemical, it is pollution free.
LASER TECHNOLOGY
FINISH
⦿ It is a computer controlled process for
denim fading.
⦿ This technique enables patterns to be
created such as lines and/or dots, images,
text or even pictures.
⦿ It is water free fading of denim.
⦿ Being an automatic system, chances of
human error are slim.
⦿ Also called spray painting in denims.
⦿ This technique has relatively high cost.
SUPER STONE WASH
⦿ Prolonged stonewashing, up to six
hours or more.
ICE WASH
⦿ Ice washing in denim fabrics is done to
remove more than half of the dye
during washing.
ICE WASH
THERMO DENIM WASH
⦿ Also called double denim.
⦿ A lightweight fabric (either plain, fancy
or colored) is glued to the denim.
⦿ The glue comes-off after washing and
the trousers look like they've been
lined.
VINTAGE WASH
⦿ Applies heavy stonewashing or a
cellulose enzyme wash, with or
without bleach.
⦿ Gives an old and worn look.
SHOT GUN WASH
SHOT GUN WASH