How to clean and preserve spring brights
There’s no season quite as vibrant and uplifting as spring, and your spring wardrobe should be no exception. From blush pink to cherry red, and leafy green to floral print, spring styles are bold and bright - and should stay that way. But how to keep them in full bloom until the end of the season, and beyond? Read on for our ultimate how-to guide.
Step #1: separate them out
To limit colour run, and prevent your spring brights from ‘bleeding’ onto lighter-coloured garments, be sure to sort and separate before laundering. Group items of the same or similar colours (like pinks and reds) together in one pile, and set them apart from darks and lights. Then further sort by clothing type, separating delicate, lighter items (like floaty spring blouses) from more resilient, heavier weight fabrics (like denim). If you’ve got items containing more than one colour, sort each item based on the colour in the majority. This is likely to be the case with patterned items, including florals). For items with an even balance of colours, sort according to the strongest colour in the mix.
Step #2: pre-test and pre-treat
Test whether your vibrant-coloured spring garments will bleed when washed by pre-washing them alone by hand. This might happen with natural fibres in particular, but it’s nothing to worry about - it’s just the yarn dye releasing some colour, and won’t have any noticeable effect on the colour of your garment once you’ve finished washing. You should also pre-treat damaged or soiled areas. Simply work some of our detergent into the garment using a clean, damp cloth, then dab away the residue with another cloth. Spot-treatment may also be all your brights need, and can help preserve them between full loads. After all, if it’s not dirty, you don’t need to wash it after every wear.
Step #3: wash with care
Many laundry products contain bleaching agents. Yet these chemical-stuffed detergents will quite literally blitz the life out of your fabrics, damaging the fibres and causing irreversible fading. Our gentle yet effective plant-based surfactants, by contrast, are here to Kair for your spring brights, rather than play tricks. We want your fabrics to live on in full colour, not fade away and fray at the edges. You should also keep it cool, as heat can damage and discolour bright colours over time. And besides, a 30°C wash won’t negatively affect colour retention, so rest assured your brights will stay bright!
Step #4: dry and finish
Make the most of the warmer weather and line dry your brights. It’s the best way to dry most non-woollen items, both preserving the colour, and helping maintain your garment’s elasticity, shape and overall integrity. Plus, most colour fading occurs in the tumble dryer (due to the combination of heat and agitation), so we recommend ditching it altogether (along with radiators too). But if you must, set your tumble dryer to the lowest setting. Finish with a spritz of finishing spray, to lock in scent and release lingering creases or wrinkles. Like spot-treatment, finishing spray is also a great way to maximise colour preservation between full loads, as it means you can avoid washing after every wear.
With these five simple steps, you’ll never have to worry about faded favourites again, even when spring itself fades away. As a final tip, be sure to clean your washing machine as part of your spring cleaning routine (see our spring cleaning 101 guide for the full details) - a dirty machine will make for dull clothes, the very opposite of spring brights!
