Patent ID: 7041630

Claim:
A method for restoring and/or rejuvenating color of a worn, faded color fabric, wherein said method comprises applying an effective amount of a fabric color care active to said fabric, wherein said fabric color care active is selected from the group consisting of: (i) polysaccharides selected from the group consisting of: heteropolysaccharides; algal polysaccharides; microbial polysaccharides; lipopolysaccharides; fungal polysaccharides; animal polysaccharides; and mixtures thereof; (ii) water soluble and/or water dispersible synthetic polymer selected from the group consisting of homopolymer of hydrophilic monomers; homopolymer of hydrophobic monomers; copolymer of hydrophilic monomers and hydrophobic monomers; and mixtures thereof; wherein said hydrophilic monomers are selected from the group consisting of: acrylic acid; methacrylic acid; crotonic acid; maleic acid and its half esters; itaconic acid; salts of said acids; vinyl alcohol; allyl alcohol; vinyl pyrrolidone; vinyl caprolactam; vinyl pyridine; vinyl imidazole; vinyl sulfonate; N,N-dimethylacrylamide; N-t-butyl acrylamide; hydroxyethyl methacrylate; dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate; and mixtures thereof; and wherein said hydrophobic monomers are selected from the group consisting of: methyl acrylate; ethyl acrylate; t-butyl acrylate; methyl methacrylate; 2-ethyl hexyl methacrylate; methoxy ethyl methacrylate; vinyl acetate; vinyl propionate; vinyl neodecanoate; styrene; t-butyl styrene; vinyl toluene; methyl vinyl ether; vinyl chloride; vinylidene chloride; ethylene; propylene; other unsaturated hydrocarbons; and mixtures thereof; (iii) fabric softening actives capable of forming a bilayer structure, wherein said fabric softening actives are biodegradable and have with highly unsaturated and/or branched hydrophobic chains; and (iv) mixtures thereof; and wherein the color restoration and/or rejuvenation is characterized by the ability of said active to change the properties of a worn, faded black cotton (chino) twill test fabric, resulting in: (A) a percentage reflectance reduction ΔR of at least 3%; (B) a Hunter L value reduction ΔL of at least 0.5; and (C) a percentage pill number reduction ΔP of at least 10%.