What Does Garment Dyed Mean? Color, Fade, Shrinkage and Care

Garment dyed means a piece of clothing was cut and sewn from undyed fabric and then dyed as a finished garment, instead of being made from yarn or fabric that already had its color. Because the whole garment goes through the dye bath, garment-dyed clothes tend to look softer and slightly washed, vary a little in shade from piece to piece, and often do much of their shrinking before they are sold.

The Comfort Colors 1717 behind many of our embroidered pet T-shirts is garment dyed, so this guide explains what that means for color, fading, shrinkage and washing.

What does it mean if something is garment dyed?

If something is garment dyed, it was finished as an undyed garment and colored in a dyeing machine afterward. Cotton Incorporated’s garment-dyeing bulletin describes four steps:

1. Fabric preparation: the fabric is cleaned, bleached and, for knits, pre-relaxed to limit twisting and shrinkage. Resins and some softeners stay off because they can block even dyeing.
2. Cutting and sewing: the garment is sewn with cotton or corespun cotton-polyester thread so the stitching dyes to almost the same shade. Blanks made this way are sold as PFD, prepared for dyeing, and Dharma Trading notes they are usually cut oversize because they will shrink.
3. Dyeing: batches of garments turn in a rotary drum machine, or a gentler paddle machine for delicate pieces such as sweaters.
4. Finishing: the garments are rinsed, often softened and tumble dried, which gives the fabric a softer hand.

What is the difference between garment dyed and piece dyed?

The difference between garment dyed and piece dyed is timing: a piece-dyed garment is sewn from fabric colored before cutting, while a garment-dyed one takes its color after sewing. Fiber and yarn dyeing are two earlier stages. The table follows S. Karpagam Chinnammal’s textile coloration textbook, hosted by India’s INFLIBNET academic library.

Cotton Incorporated adds that garment dyeing can shorten lead times and cut excess inventory.

What dyes are used to garment dye clothes?

Garment dyeing uses the usual cotton dye classes, split between dyes that soak into the fiber and pigments bound to its surface:

• Direct and fiber reactive dyes: dissolved dyes the cotton absorbs. In Cotton Incorporated’s tests on garment-dyed cotton, both direct-dyed shades fell to 1, the lowest rating on the 1–5 gray scale for color change, after 20 machine washes, while the two reactive shades held at 3 and 4.
• Sulfur and vat dyes: two more classes the bulletin tested on cotton garments, in black, navy and khaki.
• Pigment dyes: insoluble particles that need help to stick. A second Cotton Incorporated bulletin on pigment dyeing explains that the garment is first treated with a cationic polymer, then dyed, then coated with a binder to limit rubbing off. These colors are meant to keep washing down over the garment’s life for a weathered look.

Comfort Colors uses both groups for the 1717: 52 pigment colors, 13 direct or reactive colors and 2 others, according to its product page.

Why do garment-dyed clothes vary in color?

Garment-dyed clothes vary in color because every part of a garment, and every batch, takes the dye a little differently:

• Components: Cotton Incorporated expects small shade differences between fabrics sewn into one garment, and Levi’s sees color settle differently at ribbed collars and seams on its own garment-dyed tees.
• Thread and fiber: mercerized thread dyes slightly darker, and in a blend the synthetic fiber stays undyed for a tone-on-tone look; our guide to 50/50 cotton polyester fabric covers blends.
• Dye lots: the pigment bulletin warns that matching a color from one lot to the next is difficult without tight process control.

Why is garment dyed better?

Garment dyed is not better in every way; it trades exact color matching for a softer, lived-in look and less shrinkage at home.

• Look: Cotton Incorporated ties garment dyeing of 100% cotton to the wrinkled, worn look of casual clothing.
• Shrinkage: much of it can happen at the factory instead of in your washer.
• Uniformity: shades shift between pieces, lots and parts of one garment.
• Fading: pigment colors are made to wash down.
• Construction: lined or tailored pieces can distort, because their parts shrink at different rates.

Does garment dyed clothing shrink?

Garment dyed clothing can still shrink, but much of the shrinking can happen in the dye machine. In Cotton Incorporated’s study, a cotton knit shirt whose fabric had not been finished for shrinkage control shrank 22.3% in length and 5.6% in width during garment dyeing. A standard AATCC test of five home launderings at 120°F (50°C) predicted 21.5% and 6.0% for the same shirt undyed, so dyeing and tumble drying did about what five home washes would. Pre-shrunk twill pants moved only 1.3% by 2.2%, so fabric preparation still matters.

Comfort Colors says the 1717 is garment dyed “for that lived in feel and almost no shrinkage at home.” Results still depend on the maker, so follow the care label.

Is garment dye safe?

Garment dye is not a separate kind of dye, so its safety depends on the dyes, binders and finishes a maker uses, not on dyeing after sewing. For third-party testing, look for an OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 label, which means all parts of the item, down to the sewing thread and buttons, were tested against a list of more than 1,000 harmful substances.

How should I wash garment dyed clothes?

You should wash garment dyed clothes cold, inside out and with similar colors, then tumble dry low or hang them, because rubbing and long cycles are what make dyed cotton look faded. Five steps:

1. Read the care label: the maker’s instructions come first.
2. Turn it inside out: Consumer Reports explains that the washer’s agitation wears down fibers on the outer face, which is what reads as fading.
3. Wash cold with like colors: cold water helps dark fabrics hold their color, and Levi’s notes that dark garment-dyed pieces may release a little dye in the first few washes.
4. Use a short cycle: fewer minutes of agitation mean less wear on the color.
5. Tumble dry low or hang to dry: tumbling against other clothes roughs up the fiber surface.

On an embroidered garment, also skip bleach and never iron directly on the stitches; our guide on how to wash embroidered clothing has the full routine.

What does garment dyeing mean for an embroidered pet T-shirt?

The Comfort Colors 1717 we embroider is garment dyed, so two shirts in the same color, or the collar and body of one shirt, can differ slightly in shade; our Comfort Colors 1717 color guide shows the 23 colors we stitch on. We embroider each pet design on the finished shirt, so the dye bath never touches your thread colors, and the shirt around the design can keep softening with wear. Its yarn is 100% ring spun cotton, which describes the spinning, not the dyeing.

Frequently asked questions

What does a garment-dyed T-shirt mean?

A garment-dyed T-shirt was knit and sewn in undyed cotton and then dyed as a finished shirt. Expect a softer, slightly washed look and small shade differences between shirts, and between the collar and the body.

Is garment dyed the same as pigment dyed?

No. Pigment dyeing is one way to garment dye: pigment particles are bound to the finished garment and wash down over time, while direct and reactive dyes soak into the cotton. Comfort Colors uses both groups across its 1717 colors.

Does garment dyed clothing bleed?

It can, mainly dark shades in the first few washes, as Levi’s notes for its own garment-dyed pieces. Wash a new dark piece cold with similar colors for its first loads.