INTRODUCING DURA-COLOUR!

By Camilla Swart

Most cotton fabrics are manufactured in the following manner:

When cotton fabric is woven it is a pale creamy colour, because the cotton fibre in its natural state is not white. This is called greige fabric, or undyed fabric.

To ‘whiten’ the fabric it is washed thoroughly and then bleached. After bleaching it is washed very well and is then ready for dyeing or printing – as it is white and absorbent.

Brilliantly white fabric is achieved by adding an optical brightener during the finishing process. Normal laundering will cause the fabric to lose a little of it is brilliancy, but remain white – as most detergents contain small amounts of optical brightener

Fabric that is to be dyed will be taken through a dyeing process, with washing and finishing – resulting in beautiful true colours. Usually this is a process called reactive dyeing, which is a effective and established way of dyeing fabric.

This will result in products that will very gradually ‘lose’ their colour over time, after standard laundering.  Stain removal through bleach will result in colour loss, as the bleach removes the dyestuff as well as the unsightly marks.

In the hospitality industry treating stains with bleaching agents is general practice.  That is one of the reasons why bed and table linen is often white.

What if the quality of the water is poor? ‘Hard’ water contains minerals that colour white fabric, resulting in a unpleasant greyish yellow shade.  In this case white bed linen is not advised, and colours such as beige and taupe are usually used.  However, these colours cannot be treated with bleach for stain removal.

I have watched in awe as Linen Drawer patiently and very purposefully developed a new fabric in response to our unique climate and geography, in answer to the requirements of the hospitality trade.

Much of our country is characterised by ‘hard’ water.  This merely means that the water, specially ground water, is very mineral rich. Using ‘hard’ water for laundry is challenging.

Whites discolour very quickly and look dingey. If you own a hospitality establishment, you need to wash frequently and do not want your water to affect your pristine bed linens.

Closer to home, we have pets who jump onto beds, spouses who drink red wine in bed, and other stain generating habits. Normally you would have to treat these stains with bleaching agents to keep your white bedding pristine.

Linen Drawer has the solution to all the above problems! We have called it Dura-Colour cotton. 

It is a beautiful 300T/C pure cotton, sateen weave, in a shade we call ‘Desert’. The handle is smooth and a little silky, with a subtle sheen.  The colour is absolutely on trend and is a light stone – as implied by the word ‘desert’.  Linen Drawer clients will remember the 400T/C Sand – it is very close to that colour.

Dura-Colour means that the fabric is dyed differently to ‘normal’ dyeing.  The process is longer and more complicated. But the results are amazing!

Dura-Colour fabrics are characterised by the following:

• More resistant to exposure to sunlight -
• More resistant to repeated washing
• More resistant to bleaching agents
• Stains can be treated and removed as if they were white fabrics.
• Very durable fabric

We are VERY excited to bring you Dura-Colour fabric. It will be available only through Linen Drawer and has been developed by us specifically for the Hospitality Industry.  However, Desert is such a beautiful colour that anyone would be happy to have it on their beds and as part of their bedroom décor scheme.

Bleach test – 10% bleach after 3 min.

  

Sand 400T/C ‘normal’ dyed fabric                          Desert 300T/C Dura-colour fabric

 

 

  

300T/C Desert Dura-colour fabric                                   Bed with 300T/C Desert Dura-colour