Garment Washing Techniques——Snow Wash

Ice wash gives indigo jeans sharp contrasts. The process was created in Italy and was patented in 1986. This finish provides jeans with sharp contrasts in tonal color. This is also known as acid wash or snow wash. This is achieved by dry tumbling with pumice stones soaked with bleaching agents to produce a ‘snow’ pattern effect on denim. Stones are used to deposit a chemical on garments to strip off the color. This chemical deposit removes color only from the outer surface of the garments and produces a frosted appearance. Indigo and selected sulphur dyes are the most popular candidates for this procedure.

In the case of an ice wash, in which more than half the dye is removed during washing, one can use a lighter shade of fabric, which will cut the process time, chemical consumption and effluent load. It will help the garment processor work more economically and with minimum error.