Why Won't This Stain Come Out?

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What Happened to this Cushion?
Browning, Bleeding, or Water Stains?
What was missed here?

A cleaner once contacted me about a natural fiber fabric that had a brown ring on it, but defied any attempts to remove the stain. Based on his description, the problem seemed to be mild cellulose browning caused by a water spill that remained on the fabric too long.

But here was what was puzzling:

He tried three different techniques to remove the browning stain, one of which should have worked!

#1. He Rinsed the Fabric: In many cases, rinsing the area with a mild acidic rinse agent will remove light browning. But this rinse attempt didn't remove the stain!

#2. He Applied a Reducing Agent: This almost always works, or at least improves the appearance. In this case, it also did nothing to improve the discoloration.

At this point, the cleaner sent me the following picture:

As you can see, this fabric is a multicolored, woven patterned material. What appeared to be "browning" to the cleaner was instead dye bleeding! When a multicolored fabric has all of the primary colors (red, yellow, blue) in some combination, then the colors will bleed together and leave a brown or rust colored stain.

Dye damage can not be fixed with any of the above three procedures, and the customer was left with upholstery that needed to be replaced or reupholstered. It was fortunate that this was pre-existing damage, and that it wasn't caused by the cleaner.

Lessons Learned:

#1. Pre-inspect:
Do a thorough pre-inspection of all furniture you intend to clean, and when you see stains caused by spills, be sure to look carefully to see if the stain is, (#1) from the original staining source, (#2) from browning, or in this case, (#3) color bleeding.

#2. Pre-qualify:
If your customer only called you because of that specific stain, its important for them to know before you waste your time attempting to clean something that in the end will still be unacceptable to them.

#3. Think Ahead:
If a simple spill or water damage caused color bleeding, what might your cleaning agents do? Whenever you see dye damage on a fabric during your pre-inspection, be especially cautious when cleaning any part of the fabric, not just the part that is already damaged.

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Jim Pemberton's
Fabric Pro Upholstery Specialist Workshop

"Specialist" Course With Extensive "Hands On" Training
Class size is very limited for personal attention purposes, so register today.

Please Join Us Here - July 18 - 19 in Rochester, NY

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