​Separating laundry, is it necessary?

Separating your laundry pile into different colours and materials isn’t just done for visual satisfaction, it serves a real purpose for protecting the brightness and longevity of your clothing items.

You may be wondering - “what’s the worst that could happen if I just throw them all in together?” If so, keep reading! We’re here to bring you all the laundry sorting facts you need to know.

Why should I separate laundry?

Ultimately, separating laundry allows your clothes, bed-linen and other household items to remain in-tact and looking as bright and wonderful as can be after every use. Other benefits include:

1. Colour protection - Separating your washing pile according to white, bright, and dark colours is the best way to ensure that dyes don’t leak into the water and bleed into your other clothes.
2. Temperature control – Different fabrics require different washing cycles to be cleaned most effectively. For example, darks and delicate items do best in cold water, whereas whites and heavier items such as sheets and linen are best washed in warm temperatures.
3. Stain removal – We recommend separating items that are heavily soiled or stained prior to washing, these may need to be soaked or treated for best results.
4. Tear avoidance – Keeping light and heavy items apart is also important to prevent mishaps such as tears and lost buttons on fragile items.

How to separate colours.

​There is no doubt that we all want to keep our whites looking white and brights looking bright! But which are the most important colour categories to separate before washing?
We recommend at a basic level to sort colours by: whites, darks and bright colours.
White fabrics, if grouped together, can be treated with bleaches or other whitening agents to keep the colour looking fresh and new. However, these agents can cause irreversible fading or colour spotting damage to garments in other colours – so separation is key!
Keeping white items on their own cycle also reduces the chance of other shades causing them to take on a dull, grey appearance.
When washing dark/black items, it is best to wash on a short, cold cycle to reduce fading. It also recommended to use detergents that don’t have any boosters or bleaches that may lighten their colour over time.
For bright colours, especially new ones, washing on their own for the first few wears is the best way to ensure that dyes don’t run and alter the colour of your other clothes. It is also best to wash coloured items in cold temperatures to retain their original shade for longer.

We’re here to help!

We understand if laundry doesn’t make the cut in your favourite weekly pastimes. That’s where we come in handy with a full commercial laundry process for shirts, suiting and other household items.
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Don't have time to spend separating laundry? Let us take a load off of you! Contact us today to organise pick up or drop off.