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Fashion & Textiles vocabulary · Textile Production

Colourfastness

Meaning in fashion & textiles, with examples

/ˈkʌləfɑːstnəs/nounCommon term

In fashion & textiles, colourfastness means: How well a dyed or printed fabric keeps its colour without fading or staining other fabrics when it is washed, rubbed, exposed to light or sweat.

In Turkish: renk haslığı, haslık

How it is used

Labs test colourfastness to washing, rubbing (crocking), light, perspiration and water. Results are given in grades, usually from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) on the grey scale. Dark colours and denim often have problems with rubbing fastness.

Example sentences

  1. The navy fabric failed colourfastness to wet rubbing with a grade of 2.

  2. Please improve the colourfastness before we approve bulk production.

Common collocations

  • colourfastness to washing
  • colourfastness to rubbing
  • light fastness
  • fail colourfastness
  • grey scale
  • dyeingThe process of adding colour to fibre, yarn, fabric or finished garments by treating them with dyes, usually in water and with heat.
  • shrinkageThe amount a fabric or garment gets smaller, usually after washing or steaming, given as a percentage of its length and width.
  • quality controlChecking materials and products at different stages of production to find defects and make sure they meet the agreed standards.
  • lab dipA small piece of fabric or yarn dyed in the laboratory to match a target colour, sent to the buyer for approval before bulk dyeing.

More terms: Textile Production

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