When you have colored logos or embroidery on a white shirt, there’s a good chance you can safely launder the shirt with bleach. First you need to confirm the shirt is made of bleach-safe fabric, then you can check a hidden part of the embroidery thread for colorfastness to bleach.
Most embroidery thread is made of polyester, which is typically colorfast, so many items with logos are actually bleach-safe! This also applies to white items with printed logos and screen printed graphic tees.
Check the care label to see what the item is made of. You can safely bleach cotton, polyester, nylon, acrylic and rayon. You cannot bleach spandex — even a small percentage — wool, silk, mohair, and leather. Once you confirm the fabric in question is bleach-safe, you can check the logo itself for colorfastness.
Add 2 teaspoons of Clorox® Bleach to the water in the measuring cup. Use the measuring spoon to stir the bleach into the water, then rinse the spoon with clean water.
Test the inside of the shirt
Turn the shirt inside out and place the backside of the logo facing up so you can get to some of the embroidery thread. It’s important to test on the inside so a negative test result doesn’t show.
Apply the test drop
Use the smallest measuring spoon (⅛ or ¼ teaspoon) to apply only a very small drop of the test solution to the thread. Apply the smallest possible drop so it doesn’t soak through to the outside. Wait 1 minute, then rinse and blot dry.
Look for a color change
If the thread doesn’t change color, then you can add the shirt along with the rest of your white items to your next bleach load. If the thread lightens or changes color, then the thread is not colorfast to bleach and should be washed with Clorox 2® for Colors.
Frequently Asked Questions
My logo shirt is colorfast. Can I treat a stain on it with full-strength bleach?
No! Never use bleach full strength to treat any soft or hard surface. Bleach should always be diluted with water first before it contacts fabric. To pretreat stains before washing with bleach, soak the entire item for up to 5 minutes in a solution of ¼ cup Clorox® Bleach per gallon of water before machine washing.
Can I bleach white socks with colored stripes without hurting the stripes?
Probably, but you should test the stripes first for colorfastness to bleach. Apply a small drop to the inside of the sock so no test solution soaks through to the front if possible. Even better would be if the toe is knit from the same color as the stripes and you can test the toe without worrying about a negative result showing.
If you decide against bleaching the entire item, you could try an overnight pre-soak with Clorox
Clorox
The bleach active in Clorox® Bleach is sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). Historically, our bleach was made in a simple process beginning with passing an electric current through salt water to produce sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and chlorine gas (Cl2); these two products are then combined, producing sodium hypochlorite bleach.
When you have colored logos or embroidery on a white shirt, there's a good chance you can safely launder the shirt with bleach. First you need to confirm the shirt is made of bleach-safe fabric, then you can check a hidden part of the embroidery thread for colorfastness to bleach.
There are still ways to still bleach your clothes without ruining your embroidered piece - you just have to take extra caution. Bleaching your embroidered garment could lead to color leaching if the embroidered thread is dyed. Bleaching embroidery can also cause popped threads, among other issues.
You can try using 1/2 cup 3% hydrogen peroxide in one gallon of warm water as a very mild and slow-acting whitening agent. It does not work like chlorine bleach, but just may do the trick. Test one T-shirt by letting it soak for an hour. Then rinse it and let it air-dry.
For whites-with-colors that don't like regular bleach and/or hot water, you can switch those out with a color-safe "bleach" (which contains hydrogen-peroxide) and/or cool water and still add the dye catcher. Those articles won't be disinfected, but they should still be acceptably white.
One frequent piece of advice making rounds is about using bleach on white shirts, especially those with embroidered logos or graphic prints. The current widely accepted practice is that if the colored portions of your shirt are colorfast, bleach can be a reliable friend in getting rid of those pesky stains.
“It's a good idea to avoid using bleach on clothes that have decorative prints or details,” Mellick says. “Bleach can cause these to fade or become damaged.”
Start with Oxygen Bleach. After bleaching with Chlorine Bleach, your laundry and linens will wear out faster and gradually turn yellow. While Chlorine Bleach will likely get the stain out, you will decrease the lifespan of the fabric and you will risk an irreversible yellowing. Oxygen Bleach makes things much easier!
You can use hydrogen peroxide to whiten and brighten clothes, disinfect laundry, and remove stains. Pour it directly on stains such as blood. Add one cup of hydrogen peroxide to whites in the washing machine to brighten them.
Baking soda is a natural whitening agent that can help to remove stains and odors from your clothes. Simply add the baking soda to the washing machine along with your regular laundry detergent and wash as usual.
Baking soda can effectively remove yellowing and discoloration from clothes, especially whites, to give them a brighter and fresher look. It also works well on stubborn stains, such as sweat, oil, and food, by breaking down their chemical structure and making them easier to wash away.
Fill a large bucket or basin with warm water. Add one cup of distilled white vinegar to the water and mix well. Place the yellowed garments into the solution and let them soak for 3-4 hours. After soaking, rinse the clothes with cold water and wash them as usual.
To wash a white T-shirt with a graphic design, turn it inside out, wash it with similar colors using a gentle cycle and cold water, avoid fabric softeners, and air dry or use a low heat setting in the dryer.
Bleach can also brighten and whiten fabrics and help remove stubborn stains. Sodium hypochlorite bleaches (also called chlorine or liquid household bleach) are the more powerful laundry bleaches; they disinfect, as well as clean and whiten. They work on many whites and colorfast washables - but not on wools or silks.
How do you bleach colored clothes to white? To use bleach, soak the item in a 1:4 mix of chlorine bleach and cool water for 5 minutes.Then, soak in a 1:10 mix of peroxide and water for 10 minutes and wash. To use color remover, mix 4 US gal (15 L) of hot water and 1 oz (28 g) of powder.
When you are buying bleach, be sure to look for non-chlorine bleach that is safe to use on colored clothes. These types of bleach are also called color-safe bleach or oxygen bleach. Avoid using chlorine bleach for colored clothing, since it lifts color from fabric and causes fading and white stains on your clothes.
Introduction: My name is Arielle Torp, I am a comfortable, kind, zealous, lovely, jolly, colorful, adventurous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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