Cleaning HAITIAN COTTON- Highlands Ranch CO

DESCRIPTION: "Haitian cotton" is a fabric made entirely short staple cotton fiber. The fabric is woven with bulky, low-twist, batting-type filling yarns and with much smaller, high-twist warp yarns. The fibers are not thoroughly processed, leaving bits of colored seeds, stems, and other plant components in the yarn. The specks of brown give the fabric its natural, rustic appearance. The yarns are thick, coarse, and usually white, cream, or tan in color. Occasionally, Haitian cotton is dyed or may be two-toned.

Haitian cotton fabrics are very susceptible to intrinsic staining from seed particles and other plant fragments when wet. Brown dye is released and the resulting stain may be impossible to remove completely. Haitian cotton fabric is too loosely woven to stand alone and must be manufactured with a latex backing to support the fabric.

CLEANING CHARACTERISTICS: CAUTION--WET CLEAN or DRY CLEAN. Haitian cotton fabrics cannot be cleaned by customary methods, as discoloration may result. Some cleaners have developed special techniques for handling Haitian cotton, but these techniques require extra care, and thus more time and expense. Special cleaning chemicals, controlled wetness and rapid drying are necessary to prevent intrinsic dye staining.

Many cleaners now safely wet clean Haitian cotton. The procedure requires extremely limited wetness, working small sections, and assisted fast drying. Wet cleaning detergents should be neutral to acid pH, self-neutralizing, or contain integral bleaches. The degree of cleaning may be less than normally is expected, and some risk of browning will always be present.

Some cleaners dry clean Haitian cotton, with limited use of solvent and quick drying. Limited use of solvents is required to avoid softening the latex backing, which would result in gross deterioration of the fabric. Darker colored Haitian cotton can "stain" even when dry cleaned. Some cleaners prefer the DRY-WET-DRY method of cleaning.

NOTE: There are fabrics that should be cleaned as Haitian cotton, including those with synthetic (e.g., polyester) warp yarns and/or thinner cotton filling yarns.

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