Care and Maintenance of Fabrics

. Introduction You learnt in some of the previous chapters about the significance of fabrics around us. They protect and enhance humans and their surroundings. Care and maintenance of fabric products, e.g., clothing, furnishing, or any other use within the household, is very important.

Final selection and purchase of any product or material is largely based on its appearance in terms of colour and texture, its quality and its functionality. It therefore becomes very important that these characteristics are retained for the expected life of the material. Care and maintenance may thus include: keeping the material free of physical damage; retaining its appearance: – Removal of stains and dirt without damaging its colour – Retaining or refurbishing its brightness and textural characteristics such as softness, stiffness or crispness – Keeping it free of wrinkles or retaining creases or removing wrinkles and adding creases where required