Finishes and Care
What the domain tests
Finishes and Care covers wet processing and mechanical or chemical finishing, plus the care information that protects a garment after sale. Questions link a finish to a performance claim and test whether you can read a care label correctly.
Preparatory and functional finishes
Preparatory finishes include desizing, scouring, bleaching and mercerising. Mercerisation increases cotton lustre, strength and dye uptake. Functional finishes include sanforising to control shrinkage, easy-care resin finishes to improve crease recovery, calendering for surface smoothness, water-repellent finishes, flame-retardant finishes and anti-pilling treatments. A finish may be temporary, durable or permanent.
Care labels
A wash tub gives the maximum temperature and may show a hand symbol. A triangle means bleaching is permitted; crossed means not. Iron dots give temperature: one dot low, two medium, three high. A circle means dry cleaning, with letters for solvent type. A cross through any symbol prohibits that process.
Worked example
A cotton shirt has a 70 cm sleeve and shrinks 6% in length. After sanforising, shrinkage is limited to about 1%. Reasoning: 6% of 70 cm is 4.2 cm, leaving 65.8 cm; 1% is 0.7 cm, leaving 69.3 cm. The finish does not make the fabric shrink-proof, so the care label still matters. A 40 °C wash and line dry protect the finish better than a hot wash and tumble dry.
Traps
Do not assume every finish survives washing; do not use chlorine bleach on wool or silk; do not iron acrylic at cotton temperature; do not ignore “dry clean only” on a structured jacket; do not treat fabric softener as suitable for all towels.