Special finishes clothes sometimes needs special treatment when you wash or clean them, as it can remove the vanish for mishandling. Here are some guides on handling special finishes fabrics.



THE BEWILDERING ARRAY of new textile fibers and blends, with their variety of special finishes, has caused a wail to go up from the women who use them, the manufacturers who spin the synthetic fibers, and the textile experts in the government who are called upon to answer questions about them.

THE SPECIAL FINISHES and no-ironing materials are intended to ease the laundry burden of today's busy women and to give them pleasure through beauty of texture, feel, and drape. This they certainly do. But each new material, finish, or blend, must be understood and treated properly in the laundry if it is to give its best service. Gone are the days when just plain cotton held sway in the clothing field with the other natural fibers,linen, wool, and silk. Today we have these and synthetics too in uncounted blends.

LABELING. While some yard goods and clothing are labeled carefully to tell just what they are, much is not, or the information given is incomplete. Women need to know exactly what the material is and, if it is a blend, just what fibers have been used and in what proportion. They need to know what finish, if any, has been applied and whether it requires any special attention. If the material is colorfast, they should know what it is fast to: dry cleaning? washing? light? perspiration? crocking? (loss of color through rubbing when the material is dry)? They have to know whether a garment must be dry cleaned and, if it can be washed, exactly how to do it. Women queried by the government said they wanted this information on garment labels because they have learned that saleswomen often have not been briefed adequately on the newer materials.

A BOX FOR LABELS, whether they are detailed or not, with each one marked clearly to indicate the garment it belongs to, is a must for today's home, regardless of whether clothing is to be washed or dry cleaned. Things have been happening even to wools and cottons, and information is needed about them as well as about the synthetics. The information that follows is intended to help when labels are lacking, give vague instructions, or have been lost. It has been obtained from the manufacturers of synthetic fibers, notably the Du Pont Company, and from leaflets and bulletins prepared by textile experts of the United States Department of Agriculture.

THE MANY SPECIAL FINISHES on fabrics today are intended to give fibers desirable properties which they lack and to increase the wear ability of various materials. They can be applied to all fabrics. Some special finishes are permanent, some vanish with the first dry cleaning, and others are lost gradually with repeated launderings or cleanings. It is important to know what finish, if any, has been applied to the cloth you use and how long the finish can be expected to last; also whether it can be restored by a dry cleaner.

The special finishes or non-ironing materials are easy to be treated. See the label of each cloth carefully which can be useful when you clean them.