Machine washing
Four variables the machine sets for you, and a care label that constrains two of them. The label is issued for the garment, not for the fibre.
What not to do
Machine washing should be avoided for Upholstery fabric
Best avoided
The available guidance advises against this.
Aimed at the thing people actually do: unzip the cushion cover and put it through the wash. Every code that permits liquid at all says not to.
Why we say this
Supported
Three of the four codes state it independently, which is as close to unanimity as this standard gets.
Sources
Woven & Knit Residential Upholstery Fabric Standards & Guidelines
Joint Industry Fabric Standards and Guidelines Committee, via the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) · Standards body
Relied on for: That under W cushion covers should not be removed and laundered, under S not removed and dry-cleaned, and under WS not removed and laundered or dry-cleaned. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — Section 4, Guideline for Cleanability of Upholstery Fabrics and Standard for Colorfastness to Water and Solvents: 4.3.1, 4.4.1.1, 4.4.1.2 and 4.1.1.3. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. Closes two observed intents and corrects a belief the register would otherwise have published. CleaningHQ was about to describe the codes as cleaning-method codes, which is what every accessible explanation calls them; the originating committee says they are colourfastness codes and explicitly disclaims the cleaning-method reading. The seam-to-seam instruction is the other find: it inverts the reader's intention, which is always to clean the spot.
Last reviewed by a person on .
Machine washing is unsafe on Trainers
Unsafe
Do not do this. The risk is established, and it is described below.
The maker refuses it at every temperature, and the damage is to the adhesive and the foam rather than to the surface — which is why the shoe looks fine afterwards and stops behaving as it did.
Why we say this
Strongly supported
A manufacturer refusing a treatment for its own product, with a named mechanism, is the strongest form this register accepts on an object it does not otherwise model.
Sources
Can I Put Shoes in the Washing Machine?
Altra Running (VF Corporation) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That the maker advises against the washing machine, that the cycle breaks down the glue, foam and mesh forming the internal structure, that a hot wash reaches around 130°F or hotter, and that the consequence is loss of structural integrity. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The verdict, the mechanism paragraph and the hand-cleaning sequence. Supports the claim as stated. Closes the washing-machine question with a manufacturer's own refusal and a named mechanism, and supplies the hand method the trainer-cleaning question needed. The adhesive is the finding: it makes a trainer an ASSEMBLY rather than a surface, which is why the register now models it with parts.
Last reviewed by a person on .
Machine washing is unsafe on Trainer midsole
Unsafe
Do not do this. The risk is established, and it is described below.
The part the prohibition is actually about. Nothing read here gives any cleaning method for a midsole at all.
Why we say this
Strongly supported
Scoping the prohibition to the part makes it explicable rather than arbitrary, which is the pattern Sprint 47 established for appliances.
Sources
Can I Put Shoes in the Washing Machine?
Altra Running (VF Corporation) · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That machine washing breaks down the glue and foam forming the shoe's internal structure, causing loss of structural integrity. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The verdict, the mechanism paragraph and the hand-cleaning sequence. Supports the claim as stated. Closes the washing-machine question with a manufacturer's own refusal and a named mechanism, and supplies the hand method the trainer-cleaning question needed. The adhesive is the finding: it makes a trainer an ASSEMBLY rather than a surface, which is why the register now models it with parts.
Last reviewed by a person on .
In detail
A wash cycle applies chemistry, temperature, mechanical action and time, and the machine fixes three of them once a programme is chosen. What decides the programme is the care label, and the reason the label outranks anything general about the fibre is worth understanding: it is issued for the made-up garment, accounting for its dyes, finishes, interlinings and trims, any of which may impose a tighter limit than the main fibre would. A wool-blend jacket may be labelled dry-clean-only because of its interfacing. The international symbol system covers washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and professional textile care, and the symbols indicate the maximum severity of treatment the article can withstand without irreversible damage — a ceiling rather than a recommendation, which is why washing cooler than the label says is always permitted and washing hotter is not. Two mechanisms cause most laundry damage and both are mechanical rather than chemical. Agitation felts wool irreversibly, because the fibre's scales interlock when moved while wet and warm. And a load packed tight cleans badly, because mechanical action needs room to happen.
What works
Machine washing is effective against Cellulolytic microorganisms Supported
Machine washing is safe on, in specific conditions, Microfibre
Safe only in specific conditions
This is only appropriate within specific limits. Outside those limits, CleaningHQ makes no claim.
Only within these limits:
- Cold or lukewarm water — never hot; the filaments are fine enough to melt
- A mild liquid detergent. Delicate or 'free and clear' formulations are the ones named
- No fabric softener, bleach, oil-based soap, or stain remover carrying dyes, fragrances or brighteners
- Washed on their own, never with cotton towels or mops, which shed lint into the fibre
Every limit here is about keeping the structure open. The fibre does its work by having somewhere for soil to go, and each prohibited product fills that space with something else.
Precautions
- Check the manufacturer's instructions
Why we say this
Supported
A manufacturer's care procedure for its own product class. No temperature in degrees is stated by the source and none is supplied here.
Sources
The dos and don'ts on how to wash microfiber cloths and mop heads
Unger Global · Manufacturer documentation
Relied on for: That microfibre is washed in cold or lukewarm water with a mild liquid detergent, without fabric softener or harsh detergents, and separately from lint-prone items such as cotton towels. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The paired do and don't lists covering temperature, detergent, loading and drying. Supports the claim as stated. Gives the catalogue its first complete care procedure for a cleaning tool, and a mechanism — a residue that fills the structure doing the work — that reaches well beyond microfibre.
Last reviewed by a person on .
Why
- Machine washing is explained by How care labels work
- Machine washing is explained by The four variables
- Machine washing is explained by Fibre swelling and shrinkage
- Machine washing is explained by Laundry risk categories
Aftercare and prevention
- Machine washing requires the aftercare Dishcloth
Drying is the half of the instruction that gets dropped, and it is the half that matters.
- Machine washing requires the aftercare Microfibre
Air-dry it. The dryer is the other way to melt the fibre you just protected in the wash.
- Machine washing requires the aftercare Oven glove
Dry it thoroughly. Damp padding conducts heat far better than dry padding, so this one is a burn risk as well.
Sources for this page
Sources
GINETEX Technical Booklet — international care labelling system
GINETEX, The International Association for Textile Care Labelling, 2018 · Standards body
Relied on for: That the care-labelling system covers washing, bleaching, drying, ironing and professional textile care, and that the symbols indicate the maximum severity of treatment the article can withstand without irreversible damage. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The introduction and implementation section; the definitions of treatments and bleaching agents; and the description of the symbols. Supports a wider statement — our claim was widened. This reverses a Sprint 2 downgrade and corrects an attribution. The chlorine-versus-oxygen bleaching distinction, withdrawn in Sprint 2 because ISO 3758 could not be read, is restored and cited here. More importantly the source model was wrong: CleaningHQ treated ISO 3758 as the authority and GINETEX as a commentator, when GINETEX is the origin and ISO the licensee. The ISO record is now marked as deriving from this one. The 'maximum severity' principle and the definitions of the two bleach classes are new and now carry the laundry vertical.
Wool care: how to wash wool, and caring for wool
The Woolmark Company · Trade or professional body
Relied on for: That wool is damaged by agitation when wet and that the care label governs the treatment of the finished garment. (states this directly)
Verification: a person has read the passage relied on.
Read on — The "How to wash wool" page (machine and hand washing, drying) and the "Caring for wool" page (tumble drying, flat drying, detergent). Supports a narrower statement — our claim was reduced. These pages support the temperature, agitation and drying guidance but NOT the bleach position, which CleaningHQ had attributed here in Sprint 1. That claim was moved to woolmark-detergent-guidance, where the statement actually appears. CleaningHQ's felting explanation is not supported by Woolmark at all and is now carried by the fibre-science record as an interpretation rather than cited here.
Last reviewed by a person on .