Publication Sponsored by the Society's Fastness Tests Co-ordinating Committee-51 Colour Fastness to Shampooing of Textile Floor Coverings

For over fifteen years the UK carpet industry has used a test method for controlling the colour fastness to shampooing of carpets. The carpet manufacturers, in conjunction with dye makers, originally developed the test for wool carpets of the Axminster type, in which deep colours lay side by side with ecru or pale colours. Later the procedure was extended to wool I nylon mixtures. In many cases at the end of the dyeing stage, the yarn is left in an acid condition, and to predict the effect of repeated shampooing the test solution is buffered in order to show what would happen as the carpet approaches a neutral pH condition. Throughout the use of this test, the laboratory procedure has been compared with domestic and contract shampooing. The following paper clearly shows this relationship and suggests that perhaps the title of the test method is misleading, since the major effect on the dyed carpets tested is due to the retention of the shampoo liquor and not to the method of shampooing.