We have all had that favorite piece of clothing that we wore and washed a million times until one day we noticed it wasn’t it’s vibrant colorful self anymore.   It is like losing a family pet in many ways to see our favorite shirt faded and sad.  Unfortunately restoring it to its original glory is not all that feasible and best to enjoy it to the end of its days.

Clothes fade due to oxidation from light exposure, laundry soaps and many municipals put chlorine in the water supply before it hits your washer and while diluted it still takes its toll on colored material.  Repeated washings leach the color out of items as do wearing them.  Some people prefer to have their jeans dry cleaned to prevent the contact with treated city water.

Solid colored clothes can be dyed again if you can find a matching color and the fabric is able to hold the color.  If your garment has a logo, design or pattern then dying them is not feasible as the logos will be ruined, patterns and designs lost due to the new dye.  As for any design whether stamped or sewn on it too will be dyed, especially embroidered designs and may cover the designs or leave odd coloring.  Dying clothes also changes the feel of the clothing so that favorite ultra-soft T-shirt may not feel the same after being dyed.  Also with dying you have the bleed off factor again.  The item will have to be washed separately several times until the color is set.  Consumers say that dying an item may brighten the item but does not bring it back to the original glory.

In order to prevent fading it is suggested to turn your clothing inside out to prevent them from rubbing against the agitator in the center of the washing machine.   Newer front load or agitator-less machines don’t have this problem but for pressed on designed like logos turning the item inside out help extend the life regardless of the machine.

Washing your clothes with cold water will help reduce fading but depending on the color, makes it harder to remove stains.  There are new detergents that have color guard in them to protect colors longer but in the end, when an item fades it is very difficult and in most cases impossible to restore it to near new status.