Stonewashing, how, why and what for?

Just what is stonewashing and how is it done and why?

Stone washing is the laundry process where clothing and fabrics are pre-washed using a very abrasive wash process.

The fabrics are placed inside a wash drum with small pebbles of pumice stone, which comes from volcanic rocks.

This is a quick method of increasing the mechanical action of the wash process, which if you have a look at my How to do laundry page will explain the four factors of the wash process and why we try to reduce the amount of mechanical action to provide the best environment for every fabric in your washing machine.

Stone washing is used mainly in the jeans industry where the clothes are pre-washed to provide that comfortable "lived in" feeling of a well loved pair of jeans, straight off the shelf.

Instead of having to break them in yourself by wearing and washing until they fit you like a second skin, this is done by the manufacturer before you buy them to speed up the ageing of the garments.

Most manufacturers whether Levi, Wrangler, or Armani, will use a similar method to produce the required stress to the finished garments.

The only draw back is that the process is a bit hit and miss, which means the clothes get wear and tear on the knees and seams prematurely.

In some cases during stonewashing laundry process the garments can get stuck in one part of the machine where it takes all the wear in a couple of places, which ends up with fraying the fabric; so always inspect these garments in the shop before buying to make sure they are not severely damaged.

The manufacturers get round this by making the whole worn jeans and ripped knee effect a "fashion statement" so everyone is happy.

Everyone, except that is, those of us who buy a pair of jeans with the hope of getting some life out of them before tossing them into the nearest bin.

So when I buy a pair of jeans these days I try to find an outlet with unwashed jeans or where they've been washed once, without the pumice stone; so that they can get their patina of age gently in the Miele washing machine at home with only gentle fading taking place over several washes without the (stone wash)scrubbing and damage. You may have to be careful about the dye running a bit on the first few washes at home but that is worth the trouble as far as I am concerned.

The pumice stone balls can be purchased from specialist suppliers and used several times until they are worn out and lost down the drain.

It is not advisable to use a domestic machine for this as it will cause wear in the machine's drum and pump.

The machines for stone washing are normally built with heavy duty drums with solid paddles and gravity drain outlets with simple valve openings.

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