When winter comes, down jackets are necessary. Whether it is a community laundry or a large-scale central laundry plant, the volume of down jacket washing will increase greatly. The down jackets are mainly polyester and nylon. They have wear resistance, wrinkle resistance, water resistance, and other characteristics. Its overall color fastness is relatively high.
All down jackets must never be washed together. They should be washed separately. This prevents dark clothes from fading and staining light clothes. Also, improved washing parameters protect details (fabric, prints, embroidery…), and extend the service life.
This article will analyze the full-process standardized washing methods for light and dark down jackets from entering the factory to drying, and provide a reference for laundry practitioners.
Pretreatment
After the down jackets enter the central laundry plant, they are not put into the laundry for washing directly. Instead, they should undergo the strict pretreatment process. This is the first step for ensuring the washing quality and avoiding after-sales disputes.
- Unpacking and verification
After the clothes arrive at the factory, staff should first unpack the bags and check each order’s information against the number of clothes one by one to ensure that the physical items exactly match the documents and avoid missed washing, wrong washing, and lost items.
- Pre-inspection
Then, a detailed pre-inspection of the clothes begins. Staff will check each pocket for any remaining items. It prevents hard objects from scratching the fabric and damaging the equipment. It also avoids paper towels breaking and sticking to the clothes, and prevents liquid items from contaminating all clothes. The overall condition of clothes should also be checked. (loose threads, holes, fabric fraying, coating peeling…) Staff should record damage and communicate with customers in advance.
They should also pay special attention to checking dirtier areas (collar, cuffs, sleeve seams, front opening, edges of the pockets…) for oil stains, sweat stains, cosmetic stains, and dust clumps.
- ID code label
After the pre-inspection, a unique identification code label is hung for each down jacket, which includes information such as the clothing details, washing requirements, and customer information. This achieves full-process traceability and avoids mixing of the clothes. If the down jackets have detachable hats, belts, fur collars, and other accessories, corresponding labels should be hung separately for the accessories to ensure that the main clothes and the accessories flow and are processed together. This prevents the loss or mismatching of accessories and ensures the integrity of the clothes from the source.
- Manual stain removal
Before washing, heavily soiled down jackets and down jackets with stubborn special stains should be picked out separately for manual local stain removal treatment and then washed separately. They must not be washed together with other clothes for the spreading of stubborn stains, pigments, and oil, and the contamination of the whole batch of clothes. For the normal down jackets with a relatively light degree of dirt and no obvious stubborn stains, and down jackets with decorative techniques such as prints, rhinestones, embroidery, and patchwork on the surface, the reverse washing method should be used. Turning the clothes inside out before putting them into the machine for washing can reduce the mechanical force’s friction damage to the printed and embroidered patterns during the washing process (avoid pattern peeling, thread breaking, and color fading), and protect the surface of the fabric. (prevent pilling and whitening, and restore the original appearance of the clothes as much as possible)
Machine Washing
Then, machine washing begins. The Huanxixiong Central Laundry Factory uses Kingstar Heavy-duty industrial washing machines, which can set up differentiated washing programs for light-colored and dark-colored down jackets, and balance cleanliness and clothing protection needs. Taking the Kingstar 100kg washing machine as an example, this article will introduce the specific washing procedures for light-colored and dark-colored down jackets.
- Light-colored down jackets
– Pre-wash
Water: at room temperature
Washing time: 3 minutes
Water level: low
Pre-washing is to remove the floating dust and loose stains on the surface of the clothes. It also allows the down to fully absorb water and penetrate, and prevents the down from clumping. A good prewashing is a good foundation for improving the uniformity of the wash during the main wash.
– Main wash
Water: about 35℃
Washing time: 20 minutes
Water level: low
Detergent: Neutral detergent or professional alkaline detergent
The detergents should be added strictly according to the equipment capacity and product instructions. Warm water at 35℃ can activate the detergent’s activity and efficiently decompose stains. It will not damage the fluffiness or the fabric coating.
– Medium extraction
The medium extraction is after the main wash. The spinning speed is set as 450rpm. It mainly discharges the washing wastewater and residual chemicals, reduces the moisture content of the clothes, makes the subsequent rinse more thorough, and reduces the damage of detergent residues to the down and fabric.
– Rinse
There are three rinses. Each rinse is 3 minutes. The washing water is at room temperature. Many high-water-level rinses comprehensively dilute the residual detergents. It ensures that there are no chemical residues to avoid skin irritation. Also, it prevents residues from causing the fabric to become hard and yellow.
– High-speed spinning
580rpm for 5mins
- Dark-colored down jackets
The dark down jackets have a basically similar process to the light-colored down jackets. The difference is in the temperature and neutralization process. People also need to specifically solve problems such as color fading, whitening, and residual marks on dark-colored clothes.
– Main wash
Water temperature is 38℃.
– Rinse
There are three normal rinses.
– Neutralization
The professional neutralizer should be added for washing at room temperature for 3 minutes. It neutralizes the residual alkaline substances on the surface of clothes, adjusts the pH value, prevents problems such as whitening, hardening, and dull color caused by alkaline residues on clothes, and keeps dark-colored clothes bright and shiny.
– High-speed spinning
700rpm for 5mins
|
Light-colored Down Jacket Washing Program |
||||||
|
Program Name |
Speed | Run/Stop Ratio | Water Temp | Time | Water Level | Detergent |
|
Pre-wash |
25 rpm | 20s/8s | Room temp | 3 min | High | / |
|
Medium extraction |
450 rpm | / | / | 3 min | / |
/ |
| Main wash | 25 rpm | 20s/8s | 35°C | 20 min | Low |
Neutral detergent or down jacket-specific detergent |
|
Medium extraction |
450 rpm | / | / | 3 min | / |
/ |
|
Rinse 1 |
25 rpm | 20s/8s | Room temp | 3 min | Medium |
/ |
|
Drain |
/ | / | / | / | / |
/ |
|
Rinse 2 |
25 rpm | 20s/8s | Room temp | 3 min | High | / |
|
Drain |
/ | / | / | / | / |
/ |
| Rinse 3 | 25 rpm | 20s/8s | Room temp | 3 min | High |
/ |
| High extraction | 580 rpm | / | / | 5 min | / |
/ |
|
Dark-colored Down Jacket Washing Program |
||||||
|
Program Name |
Speed | Run/Stop Ratio | Water Temp | Time | Water Level | Detergent |
| Pre-wash | 25 rpm | 20s/8s | Room temp | 3 min | High |
/ |
|
Medium extraction |
450 rpm | / | / | 3 min | / |
/ |
|
Main wash |
25 rpm | 20s/8s | 38°C | 20 min | Low |
Neutral detergent or down jacket-specific detergent |
|
Medium extraction |
450 rpm | / | / | 3 min | / |
/ |
|
Rinse 1 |
25 rpm | 20s/8s | Room temp | 3 min | Medium | / |
|
Drain |
/ | / | / | / | / |
/ |
|
Rinse 2 |
25 rpm | 20s/8s | Room temp | 3 min | High |
/ |
|
Drain |
/ | / | / | / | / |
/ |
|
Rinse 3 |
25 rpm | 20s/8s | Room temp | 3 min | High |
/ |
| Drain | / | / | / | / | / |
/ |
|
Neutralization |
25 rpm | 20s/8s | Room temp | 3 min | Low |
Neutralizing agent |
| High extraction | 580 rpm | / | / | 5 min | / |
/ |
Conclusion
The washing volume of down jackets in winter is large, and the demand is concentrated. Only by strictly implementing pre-inspection upon entry to the factory, classification and sorting, and differentiated machine washing can both efficiency and quality be balanced. For laundries and laundry factories, mastering standardized down jacket washing techniques is the key to easily coping with the peak washing period.
Q&A
Q1: Dark down jackets need neutralization after washing, but light down jackets don’t need it. Why?
A1: A slightly alkaline detergent was used during washing. Its residues cause white water marks on the surface of the black down jacket. Neutralization is needed to adjust the pH value.
Q2: Some small laundry shops don’t have a large daily laundry volume and don’t have the space to place a 100kg washing machine. What equipment should they choose?
A2: The Kingstar wet cleaning machine is a good choice. A Kingstar 25kg wet cleaning machine can wash about 20 regular down jackets each time. With a daily working duration of 10 hours, about 200 down jackets can be washed. For small laundries, it can basically meet the daily washing requirements. Besides down jackets, wet washing is also suitable for special processes and wool and silk clothes. It has a wide coverage of washing and is suitable for small laundries with limited space.
