Bleeding and crocking are two problems
Color leaves a garment along two paths, and buyers should keep them separate because they have different causes and different tests. Bleeding happens in water: dye that was never fully fixed to the fiber dissolves into the wash liquor and redeposits on whatever is nearby, which is how a dark garment tints the rest of a load or its own lighter trims. Crocking is dry transfer: unfixed surface dye rubs off onto skin or adjacent fabric under friction, and it shows up at wear points - underbands, waistbands, seat panels - rather than in the machine. Both are colorfastness questions, but washing fastness and rubbing fastness are tested separately, and a garment can pass one and fail the other.
For a program the practical value of the split is diagnosis. A complaint that arrives as a load-tinting story points at fixation in wet processing; a complaint that arrives as color on skin at a rub point points at surface finishing. The desk asks for that distinction on color complaints because it routes the corrective action to the dye house in one case and to the finishing or washing-off process in the other.
Where fixation is decided
Dye fixation is a production outcome, not a garment attribute. Depth of shade, fiber content, dye class and the washing-off steps after dyeing decide how much unfixed dye remains in the goods, and the process belongs to the mill - which is why the desk reviews dyeing and finishing as part of plant capability rather than assuming it, as the note on production process describes. Intimates raise the stakes in two ways: fabrics sit against skin, so crocking meets skin directly, and constructions mix components - elastics, laces, trims - that take dye differently and sit adjacent to each other in the wash.
The buyer actions are correspondingly upstream. Shade approval happens before bulk, on dyed samples rather than on a color card; and the order-agreed test list includes colorfastness to washing and to rubbing, reported against the agreed method for the lot. A program that skips the pre-bulk shade approval discovers its fixation problem at retail, where the correction costs a season instead of a sample round.
Where the risk concentrates
Not every colorway in a range carries the same risk. The table below maps the concentration points the desk reviews when a program mixes shades or components, and it is the checklist behind most colorfastness test plans on intimates programs.
| Risk zone | Why it concentrates | Typical failure | Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep dark shades | High dye load leaves more unfixed residue | Bleeding into the wash load and onto lighter trims | Washing and rubbing fastness tested per lot |
| Contrast trims and piping | Dissimilar shades adjacent in the wash | Cross-staining on the trim or the body | Test the assembly, not the components alone |
| Prints over dark grounds | Surface dye at the print edge | Crocking at rub points such as waistbands | Rubbing fastness checked at print scale |
| Lace over a dark base | Fine yarns take dye differently from the base | Uneven wash-out across the panel | Shade approval per component, tested assembled |
| Fashion brights on cotton-rich bodies | Cellulose fibers hold surface dye visibly | Streaking after the first washes | Wash test before bulk; care wording matched |
The assembly point in the second row deserves emphasis. Component-level passing results do not add up to a passing assembly: a trim that is fast alone can stain a body fabric that holds redeposited dye readily, and only a wash test on the assembly sees that combination. The desk orders the colorfastness set on finished panels or assembled pieces for programs with mixed-component constructions, following the same logic as the pre-shipment sampling in the note on pre-shipment inspection.
Testing colorfastness
Colorfastness is among the oldest and best understood test items in apparel, which makes vagueness around it inexcusable in a program file. The desk specifies it as order-agreed items - washing and rubbing at minimum, light fastness where merchandising requires it - each against a stated method, reported per lot by the plant or the third-party laboratory the program names. Results are compared against the pass thresholds set before bulk, and retained swatches from the approved shade are kept in the program file so later disputes have a reference. Material certificates travel in parallel, with OEKO-TEX Standard 100 as the baseline the desk asks for on skin-contact programs; the certification confirms the safety of what remains in the fabric, while colorfastness confirms what stays put.
One reading note for buyers: a fastness result is only as good as its method statement. Two laboratories reporting against different cycle counts or temperatures will disagree, and neither is wrong. The note on testing and inspection covers how the desk names methods and thresholds so cross-lot and cross-plant comparisons hold.
Care labeling and consumer guidance
Care instructions are the consumer-side half of dye discipline, and they must match the tested reality. A garment whose washing fastness passed under cold or lukewarm conditions should not be labeled for hot washing, and dark shades that carry any residual risk deserve the wash-with-like-colors guidance consumers already understand. For the United States market, care labeling has a legal form: the FTC Care Labeling Rule requires a care method that the garment can survive, and the note on care labeling rules covers the requirements and the wording practice. Programs that align the tested method with the labeled method ship fewer color complaints, because the two halves of the system stop contradicting each other.
Program actions
- Approve shades on dyed samples before bulk, per component and then assembled, not on a color card alone.
- Name washing and rubbing fastness as order-agreed test items with method, threshold and reporting lot.
- Order the tests on assembled panels for mixed-component constructions - trims, laces, prints over grounds.
- Keep approved shade swatches in the program file so later lots have a reference.
- Align care wording with the tested method, following the FTC Care Labeling Rule for the US market.
What it means for a range plan
Color carries the season in intimates, and none of the discipline above argues against deep darks or fashion brights - it argues for testing them at the weight they deserve. Reference program figures across the category run: catalog-model samples in 7-15 days, branded samples in 15-25 days, bulk in 30-45 days for catalog models and 35-50 days for branded programs, confirmed in writing per order with quantities on MOQ and lead time. The desk carries the colorfastness line in every quotation through the quote form, alongside the shade approvals, so partner plants price the discipline in from the first round rather than after the first complaint. For the care and quality topics that sit next to this one, the note on pilling on intimates covers the surface half of the same laundering story.