Fiber family
Synthetics and Technical Fabrics
Everything that makes these fabrics good is a property of the surface, which is also the part every product touches first.
What this fiber is
University of Georgia Extension lists acrylic, modacrylic, nylon, olefin, polyester, rubber and spandex as manmade fibers from chemical sources, and describes the group as extremely wrinkle resistant, quick drying, resistant to abrasion, dirt, mildew and mold, very heat sensitive, and poor at absorbing moisture. Technical garments are built on that base and then finished so that water behaves in a chosen way. The finish is not a bonus feature. On a rain shell or a wicking layer, the finish is the product.
What each product class does here
- Fabric softener
- Softener is sold on the basis that it leaves something on the fiber. A technical finish is sold on the basis of how the bare surface behaves. Those two claims point in opposite directions, and the care label in the seam is the only thing that settles it for your garment.
- Chlorine bleach
- University of Georgia Extension notes that some nylon fabrics may be permanently yellowed by chlorine bleach, and that the resin in some special finishes retains chlorine, which weakens and yellows the fabric. It also excludes lycra from the fabrics chlorine bleach can be used on.
- Detergent sheets
- Several sheet listings on this site state that they work in hot and cold cycles. Nothing in those listings addresses a technical finish, and this site does not read a temperature claim as a fabric claim.
- Stain sprays and pens
- A pre-treat spray is applied to one spot rather than to a load, which means it lands directly on the finish. The product directions and the care label both have something to say about that, and they should be read in that order.
- Oxygen bleach powders and paks
- One listing in this class claims one hundred and one household uses. A count of uses is not a list of fabrics, and this site treats the two as different things.
What damages it permanently
University of Georgia Extension describes chemical-source manmade fibers as very heat sensitive, and states that some nylon fabrics may be permanently yellowed by chlorine bleach. Heat damage to a synthetic is not a stain and does not wash out; the fiber has changed shape. A finish that has been stripped or coated over is a slower failure than a scorch, and it is just as final for the reason the garment was bought.
This site gives no instructions for rescuing an item that has already been damaged. That is a job for the garment maker or a professional cleaner, and guessing at it here would be worse than saying nothing.
Conflicts that land here
- Fabric Softener and Technical FabricsThis is the one pairing on the site with no government or academic document behind it. The care label on the garment is the authority, and under the FTC Care Labeling Rule that label has to be there.
- Chlorine Bleach and Other CleanersCDC instructs never to mix bleach with ammonia or any other cleaner. University of Georgia Extension states that mixing chlorine bleach with other cleaning products may produce noxious fumes.