DLI's Drycleaning Blog
 

Q&A and Useful Industry Information

E-mail any question to Techline@DLIonline.org.
« Back to recent posts

Button Dye Stains

Button Dye BleedingManufacturers often add trim materials to garments to enhance their appearance. Such items may include buttons, beads, appliques, or leather patches. Decorative buttons are one of the more popular trims.

Buttons may be plastic or shell buttons, or may be dark, colored, fabric-covered buttons. Care must be taken when cleaning garments that contain dark, colored, fabric-covered buttons. Before drycleaning, colorfastness testing should be performed to determine if the button trim bleeds. To be on the safe side, it may be beneficial to remove the buttons prior to cleaning even if testing shows that the button dye does not bleed.

When stain removal procedures are necessary in areas around the buttons, the buttons should be tested with water, detergent, and wetside agents. If the dyes bleed, the buttons should be removed and re-attached after the garment is completely dry.

If dye bleeding and staining occurs, remove the buttons and follow standard dry-side and/or wetside stain removal procedures to determine if the staining can be removed. On lighter-colored fabrics, testing should also be performed with bleaching agents.

Photo caption: The black color on these buttons transferred to various areas of fabric during drycleaning.

More information on this topic can be found in the following bulletins on DLI's Drycleaning Encyclopedia:
• Technical Operating Information (TOI) 686: Restoration Techniques for Dye Bleeding, Dye Migration, and Chafing
• TOI 647: Dye Bleeders and Solvent Maintenance
• Technical Analysis Bulletin Series (TABS) 443: Problems with Buttons
• TABS 434: Button Dye Stains

Posted By Harry Kimmel | 4/12/2018 1:04:11 PM
Tags
Color Loss
 
Search
« Back to recent posts


Get DLI's Stain Removal App

Get Encyclopedia App Info

Follow Us


 
Login
space