Are these common phenomenon to black clothes?

[kenny1999]

I don't buy very expensive clothes but I also do not buy clothes of unknown brand or from unknown sources. My clothes are mostly bought in kinds of shops e.g. Uniqlo, Baleno, Adidas etc.

I find that it happens almost always, when I put black clothes in a bowl of clean water for a few hours (before I wash them), the water will turn black to a very obvious extent, even if the clothes are not new and have been washed for many times. Why does it happen? Is it normal to black clothes made of any raw material of any kind? Or is it a sign that I am getting very low quality clothes? Or is it due to other reasons?

[exchemist]

2 hours ago, kenny1999 said:

I don't buy very expensive clothes but I also do not buy clothes of unknown brand or from unknown sources. My clothes are mostly bought in kinds of shops e.g. Uniqlo, Baleno, Adidas etc.

I find that it happens almost always, when I put black clothes in a bowl of clean water for a few hours (before I wash them), the water will turn black to a very obvious extent, even if the clothes are not new and have been washed for many times. Why does it happen? Is it normal to black clothes made of any raw material of any kind? Or is it a sign that I am getting very low quality clothes? Or is it due to other reasons?

I don't know anything about clothing brands, but all dyes can run if not fixed well. Black, being so dark, will be particularly obvious when it happens. I have some maroon coloured bath towels (a slightly mad choice of colour by my late dear wife, hem hem) which still run a bit after 15 years, so I have to wash them only with other reddish items. But I also have a (Barbour) shirt with dark blue, green and cream colours in it, that is absolutely fine. Clearly, the manufacturer had the wit to realise that putting these colours together required the dyes to be well fixed, to avoid the shirt being wrecked the first time the customer washes it. Barbour is a good - and expensive - brand however.

I suspect your items may not be the best quality if the black runs. However the good-ish news is that black, unlike say blue or red, will just make other items in your wash a bit grey, rather than changing their colour in an obvious and potentially more damaging way. It will probably be best to wash them with other dark clothes and not at a high temperature. 

There's a bit of explanation here from a detergent manufacturer, which may shed some light on the issue: https://www.persil.com/uk/laundry/laundry-tips/washing-tips/knew-one-colour-runs-wash-another.html

[Sensei]

3 hours ago, kenny1999 said:

the water will turn black to a very obvious extent, even if the clothes are not new and have been washed for many times. Why does it happen? Is it normal to black clothes made of any raw material of any kind? Or is it a sign that I am getting very low quality clothes? Or is it due to other reasons?

Cheap things are intensely (artificially) dyed. What looks black in reality is not really black, but, for example, white with a black color that washes out after time.

ps. Or dirty.. People rarely wash black cloth because there is no apparent reason to wash it..

 

[kenny1999]

10 minutes ago, Sensei said:

Cheap things are intensely (artificially) dyed. What looks black in reality is not really black, but, for example, white with a black color that washes out after time.

ps. Or dirty.. People rarely wash black cloth because there is no apparent reason to wash it..

 

My clothes was obviously not dirty. If they are dirty and put into clean water, you would see the water turn pale brown after some time, but not black water. I just don't understand why after having washed the same black T-shirt for up to several tens of times, the black color still runs so greatly. Is it very common?

49 minutes ago, exchemist said:

I don't know anything about clothing brands, but all dyes can run if not fixed well. Black, being so dark, will be particularly obvious when it happens. I have some maroon coloured bath towels (a slightly mad choice of colour by my late dear wife, hem hem) which still run a bit after 15 years, so I have to wash them only with other reddish items. But I also have a (Barbour) shirt with dark blue, green and cream colours in it, that is absolutely fine. Clearly, the manufacturer had the wit to realise that putting these colours together required the dyes to be well fixed, to avoid the shirt being wrecked the first time the customer washes it. Barbour is a good - and expensive - brand however.

I suspect your items may not be the best quality if the black runs. However the good-ish news is that black, unlike say blue or red, will just make other items in your wash a bit grey, rather than changing their colour in an obvious and potentially more damaging way. It will probably be best to wash them with other dark clothes and not at a high temperature. 

There's a bit of explanation here from a detergent manufacturer, which may shed some light on the issue: https://www.persil.com/uk/laundry/laundry-tips/washing-tips/knew-one-colour-runs-wash-another.html

Without any doubt, none of my clothes are really expensive so I would assume that none of them are of the highest quality. However, is it very common that the dyes on black clothes will still leave into water after the clothes having been worn and washed for many times?

[Sensei]

15 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

My clothes was obviously not dirty.

..which makes no sense, because there is no point in washin not dirty cloth..

ps. You should be an US politician..

 

20 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

If they are dirty and put into clean water, you would see the water turn pale brown after some time, but not black water.

...brown prevents black?

 

23 minutes ago, kenny1999 said:

Is it very common?

My cheap stuff does the same thing.

 

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, kenny1999 said:

My clothes was obviously not dirty. If they are dirty and put into clean water, you would see the water turn pale brown after some time, but not black water. I just don't understand why after having washed the same black T-shirt for up to several tens of times, the black color still runs so greatly. Is it very common?

Without any doubt, none of my clothes are really expensive so I would assume that none of them are of the highest quality. However, is it very common that the dyes on black clothes will still leave into water after the clothes having been worn and washed for many times?

I've given you the example of the towels my wife bought, which do exactly this. They came from a mid-price fabric and furnishing store in France (Bouchara, in Vannes, I think), so were respectable quality but not top notch. So yes it can happen. This is why you are always advised to wash dark coloured garments together, separately from light ones. You can wash them with jeans, dark socks and underwear, dark blue or dark green shirts and trousers, etc. and there will be no effect.  

So just do that, like everybody else, and get on with life.  

[swansont]

3 hours ago, Sensei said:

..which makes no sense, because there is no point in washin not dirty cloth..

Unless they are new and you’re trying to get rid of the fraction of the dye that easily leaches out.

Which is what I was taught to do - always wash anything that was dyed, by itself, in cold water, before washing it with the rest of the laundry, lest your other clothes get stained. 

[mistermack]

I think it's a property of black pigments that it only takes a tiny amount in water to have a visible effect. 

I don't buy printer cartridges, I refill them using a syringe from a bottle of ink. 

When you're done, you can rinse yellow, red and blue fairly easily, but with black you have to fill the syringe, squirt it empty over and over again, before the water runs clear. Maybe it's because black pigment only has to block light, whereas coloured has to selectively absorb some colours and not others. So blocking or absorbing all light might be easier to achieve, so black dye is more effective. 

There's a lot of maybe's in there, it could be down to something else entirely. 

[Phi for All]

Apparently, a mordant is used to fix dyes, and too much heat can break down the mordant and release the dyes. Anything that isn't white should probably be washed in cold.

[exchemist]

53 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

Apparently, a mordant is used to fix dyes, and too much heat can break down the mordant and release the dyes. Anything that isn't white should probably be washed in cold.

I don't think you need to be that extreme. I have washed items with strong colours at 40C for years, with absolutely no trouble. But I would certainly not try 60C, at least not in a mixed wash. That's for whites and cream-coloured things (I have some sheets and towels that colour) only - plus those notorious maroon towels, which I have to do on their own, or with red items - I have some red polo shirts. (Towels really do need 60C or they can get smelly after a bit.)   

Edited December 5, 2023 by exchemist

[mistermack]

What's a bit odd, is that you would think that the same principle would apply in reverse, so if colour ran into a white, due to a 60 deg  wash, then washing it again, on it's own at 60 degrees would wash the colour out, and leave it white again. That might remove some of the colour, but it doesn't get all of it, so it must be a bit more complicated than just temperature. 

Maybe some components of a fabric hold onto colour better than others, so the less "fast" parts let go in the coloured fabric, and the more "fast" parts in the white retain it. 

[Guitarantul]

What is certain is that no high-quality dye will color the water when soaking fabric, clothing, or other products.

[exchemist]

3 hours ago, Guitarantul said:

What is certain is that no high-quality dye will color the water when soaking fabric, clothing, or other products.

Can you give examples of what you mean by dye "quality", e.g. good and poor quality? I was under the impression the issue was how the dye was fixed.

[Guitarantul]

23 hours ago, exchemist said:

Можете ли вы привести примеры того, что вы подразумеваете под «качеством» красителя, например, хорошее и плохое качество? У меня сложилось впечатление, что проблема заключалась в том, как закреплялся краситель.

The dyes used must be suitable for the fabric material and provide good fiber penetration to ensure wash fastness. The dye must be chemically resistant and not react with detergents used in washing, so as not to destroy the bond between the dye and the fabric.
Finally, after dyeing the fabric, the dye must be properly set to prevent it from washing away during washing. This is achieved by using special chemicals (fixatives) that help fix the dye to the fabric.