In addition to sorting laundry based on color, you should also know how to separate laundry by fabric type. This may seem like an extra step, but it can actually go a long way towards keeping your clothes in good shape.
When clothes are washed, they make contact with each other continuously throughout the wash cycle. Heavier fabrics are more abrasive, which can cause too much wear and tear on delicate clothes and result in tearing or other damage.Before tossing clothes into the washing machine, double check labels – set aside any clothes that are hand wash or dry clean only. From there, separate clothes into heavy duty fabrics (like denim), daily wear fabrics and delicates.
In addition, consider washing synthetics separately from natural fabrics to avoid color transfer from one to the other. If you have new clothes, wash them on their own for the first few cycles. New clothes tend to bleed dye more readily, and you don’t want that new blouse to ruin all your other ones!
To further protect your clothes, remove all items from pockets, secure all fasteners (zippers, buttons, hooks, etc.) and turn the clothes inside out.