Does Polyester Fade in the Sun? When Washed? How to Fade It
Like wrinkles and shrinking, fading is an issue when it comes to fabrics. There are those that do fade in the sun and those that don’t. Some fabrics even come with their own version of sunscreen so that the UV rays do not ruin them when they are outside.
Does polyester fade in the sun? There are some man-made fibers, like acetate, that do fade when the sun shines on them. But polyester is not one of them. This material is treated with a fade-resistant chemical that protects from both environmental and chemical fading applications.
To learn more about polyester and its inability to fade just continue to read our article. It provides you with the reasons why this material doesn’t fade as well as keeping you informed on other issues surrounding polyester.
Fading Polyester 101
Can You Lighten Polyester?
This may be hard to do unless the polyester fabric is already white. Then there is a way to lighten or whiten the polyester fabric. This method does include chlorine bleach but you have to be careful as chlorine bleach can ruin your polyester fibers.
It can also turn your clothing into a yellowish mess if you are not careful. It is possible to substitute oxygen bleach when you want to lighten the fabric but this is also a risk. When the laundry tag says do not bleach, any bleaching is done at your own risk.
The formula for trying to lighten polyester is to add 1/4 cup of bleach to every gallon of water and let the clothing soak for 5 minutes only. If you use oxygen bleach then you will need 1/2 cup with every gallon of water and then soak it for 1 hour.
For both situations, you need to wash the garment in the hottest water allowed on your machine after the soaking is done. Also, you are to use the best quality laundry soap you can. For the oxygen bleach method, you can add another cup of that powder to this wash cycle.
This process may get stains out but since most, if not all, polyester fabrics are treated to resist lightening or fading, you may not lighten any of your polyester clothing.
Does Polyester Fade in The Sun?
Let’s put it this way, it is not supposed to. Almost all polyester is treated with a chemical to make sure the sun’s UV rays do not harm the color on your polyester fabrics. This is one strength that has made polyester so popular. You can count on the original color remaining even after years of washing.
It is hard to say if the lower quality polyester material is as protected as the higher quality variety. Not all manufacturers are honest or ethical and they may scrimp on that protection to save money and boost profits.
Then if you are not sure of the quality of your clothing item, just turn it inside out before you wash it and protect the color even more. When it comes to drying, you can use your dryer or you can hang the polyester clothing up outside just not in the direct sunlight.
That will protect the color even more. When you are looking at purchasing outdoor furniture or looking to reupholster your outdoor furniture, make sure both have been treated with that fade-resistant chemical. That way you know your furniture will always look good and last you a long time.
Does Polyester Fade When Washed?
One of the reasons polyester was invented was to help make the home maker’s life a little easier. It is a tough job doing the laundry and then the ironing. Polyester was designed to remove the difficult duties and worries from that process.
The fabric, when made right, should resist wrinkles, shrinking, and fading when washed. Of course, those protections also need a little support and you do have to wash them properly and make sure they get the right cleaning care.
Hand washing is always the safest and best way to wash polyester or any fabric you own. But if you do not have the time, you can use your washer as long as you follow the instructions on the laundry label attached to the clothing items.
Trying to lighten colored polyester may be a next to the impossible task but there may be some people who have found a trick or two to get that task done successfully. To repeat, bleaching polyester, or using high water or dryer heat when cleaning the material may damage the fibers and ruin some of your nicer clothing items.
Always err on the side of caution and be careful when you launder polyester.
Does Black Polyester Fade?
That is an interesting question as there may be some unique results when you are trying to fade or have polyester blends out in the sun. If the black polyester is treated like the other colors are then the answer would be no, it won’t fade.
It doesn’t matter the color of the fabric as almost all polyester material is chemically treated to resist fading. This brings up the interesting part of the question as to what happens when there is a poly-cotton or other poly natural fibers blends?
If the polyester fibers in those blends were treated with the same chemical coating as whole fabrics, then you may not see the black fade at all. Only the cotton or the other natural fibers would fade leaving you with interesting fashion design.
Also, if the polyester thread was given the same treatment it would remain its original color adding even more interesting design work to your garment. It is also possible that those polyester fibers were not given that chemical treatment and that the fabric would fade about the same as the cotton would.
The amount of fade you will get depends on if the polyester was treated to resist that fade or not.
Will Bleach Fade Polyester?
Normally, bleach is one chemical you exclude from the wash when you are cleaning polyester items. Not because the bleach will fade the fabric, but because bleach and polyester are enemies. The chemical compounds in chlorine bleach can react with the chemicals in polyester and ruin the fabric.
Some people have claimed that oxygen bleach is okay to use on polyester but those successful results may not be seen by everyone. Oxygen bleach is still made up of chemicals including hydrogen peroxide which may or may not lighten polyester.
As the previous sections have shown, polyester, for the most part, has a fade protection chemical coating that may interact with the bleach while fighting the lightening effect it has on most clothing.
When the laundry tag on the polyester item says do not bleach, it is dangerous or risky to cross that line. You do so at your own risk and the results you get may not be pretty. Sometimes bleach does turn polyester yellowish which means you will have a new problem to deal with.
It is just better to avoid bleach when you can and keep your polyester clothing lasting a lot longer.
How To Remove The Color From Polyester
The first step in this process is to exclude chlorine bleach from any part of your work. Usually, this type of bleach will turn polyester colors a yellowish tint that cannot be removed. That tint will ruin your polyester look and make the clothing unwearable.
Then you have to deal with the chemical coating that resists any removal of color. There may be a solution that you can add to water to neutralize that coating and if there is, then you are on your way to removing the color of the polyester item.
When you are successful at doing that, you should be able to use a sulfur-based color remover. These different color removers are in Rit Dye and Jacquard products so they are not hard to obtain.
There is a catch though. Some dyes are easy to remove, others are hard to get out and still more cannot be removed. The only way to tell is to put them through the color removal process. With the last group, no solution will change that fact.
In the end, to remove those hard to remove colors, you would have to know the exact dye that was used when the fabric was made.
How To Fade a Polyester Shirt
The above information is applicable here as well. You may have been sold a shirt that cannot have its color removed. That is something you are going to have to live with. Plus, you should try to find out if the polyester shirt has been treated like most other polyester fabrics and it will resist fading.
You can try to hang the shirt in direct sunlight to see if that does the trick. Let it hang there all day and see if the sun was able to penetrate the fade-resistant coating at all. Or you can try the 1/4 chlorine or 1/2 cup oxygen bleach methods and see if those two processes do the trick.
It just may be an effort in futility as most polyester fabrics do not fade and have that coating on them. Polyester is not like cotton or other natural fabrics that are not man-made. When a fabric is man-made, just about anything can be done to them to avoid the pitfalls that come with clothing items.
Natural fabrics, unless sent through extra processing, do not have fade-resistant protection and will fade a lot faster than polyester ever will.
How To Fade Polyester Quickly
You can try this procedure but we are not providing any warranty that your clothes will not be ruined and no guarantees that they will fade when you do use this option. To do this method successfully, you will need three large plastic bins.
The first is filled with 1 part chlorine bleach and 10 parts very hot water. The second bin gets filled with cold water and the third with a chlorine neutralizer. This will stop the chlorine from working and remove that chlorine bleach smell.
Next, you soak the fabric under the tap that has running hot water coming out of it. Then place the material in the first bin and keep an eye on it. It may take 15 minutes to see any fading take place. If it takes longer than that, the material won’t fade.
You can try adding more bleach and do not go above 1 part bleach to 5 parts water, but that may ruin your polyester. After the fading takes place, this can be in 10 seconds or 15 minutes, rinse the item in the cold water bin, swishing it around for a bit, making sure it is completely rinsed.
Once that is done, place the item in the third bin and soak the item according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Each clothing item should have different times it can be in chlorine neutralizer.
When this process is complete, launder the item using the right kind of laundry soap and then place it in your dryer. Again, not all dyes are made to fade or come out and your results may differ.
Some Final Words
The polyester fabric was designed to make housework easier and cut down on your clothing expenses. The good thing about most polyester materials is that they are designed to resist fading.
Try as you might, the clothing item may stay with its original color even when you want to lighten the look. Be careful when you use chlorine bleach as that chemical usually turns polyester yellowish and you won’t be able to wear the blouse or pants, etc., ever again.
In most cases, you are going to be stuck with the original color the polyester clothing came with.
