Colour and Colour Fastness from the Point of View of the Retail. Distributor
Authors: Williams J. G. 
Published: July 2010

The establishment of testing and research laboratories in retail establishments is an important development of the technique of merchandising. The study and testing of innumerable items of merchandise in order to determine their service‐value and to gather facts which may lead to improvement in their satisfaction‐giving qualities, represent the main lines of work carried out in Selfridge's laboratory. The object of the retail distributor is to satisfy his customers and thereby secure their goodwill, repeated custom, and recommendation. The retailer must carry a stock, therefore, possessing, firstly, a good sight‐value or selling‐appeal, and secondly, a satisfactory service‐value. So far as textile fabrics are concerned, selling‐appeal is controlled by the colour and finish of the fabric, and service‐value by its fastness properties and mechanical durability.

About 66% of the legitimate complaints received during the last few years were concerned with colour fastness, and the investigation of these complaints has been an important phase of the work of the laboratory. Every complaint‐was the result of a normal or abnormal experiment by the customer, and valuable information for subsequent guidance resulted from its investigation.

Textiles may be divided into three groups so far as the problems of colour‐fastness are concerned, viz. (a) those which can be sold as “guaranteed satisfactory”; (b) those which are of ordinary quality, i.e. they give a sufficient measure of satisfaction to the ordinary customer under conditions of normal treatment; and (c) those which can be described only as “not fit for sale,” because they fall short of the most moderate expectations of service. Many technologists possibly hold the view that the last group will disappear, because it contains the seed of its own destruction. The results of actual experience, however, indicate that it is holding its place very well. This is due to the fact that the average customer is very loath to complain about goods which are not so satisfactory as may be reasonably expected, so that the distributor often neither has the opportunity to restore completely the wavering confidence of a customer, nor does he obtain proper information about defective merchandise.

The first step in the study of colour fastness is the adoption of a rational system of grading, and in the author's work the fastness tests described in the Colour Index, suitably modified where necessary, are used in order to reproduce certain faults. If grading is to indicate satisfaction‐giving properties effectively, it is necessary to ask the questions—“What is the ordinary expectation of service”? “What is the normal treatment”? and “What varieties of service may be expected of a particular fabric”? The answers to these questions can be supplied only as the result of experience.

The principal factors affecting wear arc looseness of colour to light, rubbing, water, perspiration, sea‐water, and street‐mud.

In connection with fastness to light, some complaints of the fading of furnishing fabrics and carpets proved to be due solely to dulling of colours by soiling; a good wash restored the colours.

Dress fabrics with colour effects slightly loose to rubbing are likely to cause staining of other garments; hence they are objectionable.

Fastness of colours to water and sea‐water is important, particularly in the case of swimming costumes, some of which have been a source of considerable annoyance owing to discoloration of towels, etc., with which they have come in contact in the wet state. Water‐spotting occurs occasionally as a dark‐coloured zone round the spot and is associated more frequently with the finishing material than with the dye; as a rule, it disappears after the first wash. The water‐staining of down bed quilts is the most common form of this complaint.

Experience has shown that the public are very tolerant about the effects of perspiration on colours. Complaint is made frequently of some damage in a frock, which also shows colour change or bleeding due to perspiration, but the damage due to the latter is not mentioned.

Complaints due to the action of street‐mud have not been received, but the author applies the Colour Index test as a matter of routine examination of suitings and coatings.

In connection with fastness to washing, reference was made to residual alkali‐effects, e.g. creeping or bleeding with consequent staining in mixture fabrics, whilst marking‐off of dyed shades under damp conditions was considered important. Those classes of goods, which become seriously soiled or stained in normal use, should always be dyed with colours which are very fast to washing, and where they are laundered frequently, the colours should be fast also to a mild hypochlorite bleach; shirtings, table linen, handkerchiefs, and coloured towels are typical examples.

Discussing complaints of somewhat exceptional origin, reference was made to the action of sulphur dioxide and to discolorations due to acid from accumulators. Some fabrics, e.g. georgette, occasionally have been found with dark‐coloured or black stains, which may be produced by grease or by perspiration. The action of alcohol from perfumes, etc. may cause extraction or bleeding of colours, whilst other chemicals which may affect colours, include sodium hypochlorite (in household disinfectants and medicinal preparations), iodine, hydrogen peroxide, barium sulphide (in depilatories), and an acid solution of aluminium chloride (found in a widely‐used anti‐perspiration cosmetic preparation). Certain dry‐cleaning or stain‐removing chemicals of the chlorinated hydrocarbon type will extract colours from some types of dyed cellulose acetate silk fabrics.

The author considered that the attitude adopted by some merchants and manufacturers of always' disclaiming responsibility for complaints is not in the best interests of the industry. Numerous examples were quoted, e.g. printed chiffon squares showing loose colour owing to the fabric not having been steamed; an artificial silk fabric, which increased in width by 7i% and decreased in length by 11% on washing: a cretonne curtain in which a red effect had bled to a serious extent and tests showed that simple soaking with water alone would cause bleeding.

It was emphasised that whilst these goods might have had a satisfactory appearance and good selling appeal, so far as the retailer was concerned, the mere act of selling did not complete the transaction: indeed, the retailer's transaction is not completed until the customer is satisfied.

The author suggested that the responsibility of the technologist in preparing and handling dyed and finished textiles should be increased greatly, and he should have a definite contact with, and interest in, the commercial side of the business. The production of charming colour effects with good colour fastness presents serious problems, which must absorb the full attention of many competent technologists; other trained technologists, therefore, should form a connecting link between them and the selling organisation. If this arrangement were in force, complaints could be considered properly as they arose, and, where possible, a product might be improved, or any difficulties explained clearly to the distributor. Education and co‐operation between the manufacturer and the distributor would be of mutual benefit, and would result in increased sales of textiles in consequence of increased desirability, both in appeal and utility values. It is desirable also that the general public should be educated as to the properties of coloured goods, particular reference being made to correct treatment in washing.

As regards the questions of the descriptions applied to coloured goods, much good would result if there were some proper definitions for such selling descriptions as “Fadeless” and “Fast Colour.” Definitions could be found and enforced if all in the industry were in agreement.

Everybody engaged in the handling of textiles should recognise that there is one common interest; for the prosperity of all concerned is dependent upon the money spent by the public on textile goods. It is certain that as the public become more assured that an expenditure will buy proper and lasting satisfaction, the more will be spent on the class of goods concerned. It is this fact which should unite all interests in a common bond, from the dealer in the raw fabrics to the launderer who washes the goods after sale.