Colour Performance / Transfer / Dry and Wet Rubbing
How Is Colour Fastness to Rubbing Tested in Knitwear?
Rubbing fastness asks whether colour transfers from a textile surface to another material under friction. Dry and wet results are separate observations; neither can be inferred from shade depth, wash fastness, or abrasion resistance alone.
Colour fastness to rubbing is tested by conditioning a representative textile specimen and moving a standard white rubbing cloth across its surface with the apparatus, pressure, path, and number of cycles defined by a named method. One assessment uses a dry cloth and a separate assessment uses a wetted cloth. The colour transferred to each rubbing cloth is graded for staining under specified viewing conditions, commonly with the grey scale described by ISO 105-A03. The report should state the method and edition, dry or wet condition, moisture preparation, fabric face and direction, colourway and sampled area, pretreatment, individual grades, and acceptance requirement.
Rubbing fastness measures transfer, not every form of colour change
ISO 105-X12:2016 determines the resistance of textile colour to rubbing off and staining another material. It applies to textiles made from all types of fibre in yarn or fabric form, whether dyed or printed, and provides for dry and wet rubbing cloth tests. In American technical usage the effect is often called crocking. The central observation is the colour deposited on the standard white cloth, not simply whether the tested knit looks lighter after rubbing.
This distinction separates rubbing fastness from colour change during washing, staining of adjacent fabrics in a wash bath, water spotting, perspiration, drycleaning, sublimation, or light exposure. Those mechanisms have their own methods. A knit can retain its overall shade after laundering yet mark a pale lining or bag under friction. It can also lose colour in a wash process while showing limited transfer in a dry rubbing test. One fastness result cannot stand in for the full colour-performance specification.
Rubbing fastness is also different from abrasion resistance. Both involve mechanical contact, but abrasion methods inspect progressive damage to the textile surface, mass loss, rupture, or appearance change according to the selected procedure. The rubbing-fastness test uses a standard receiving cloth to evaluate transferred colour. A high abrasion cycle count does not establish colour-transfer performance, and a good rubbing grade does not prove that the knit surface will resist wear.
Name the observed surface
On a multicolour, printed, plated, brushed, or relief fabric, an average specimen can hide the weakest zone. Sampling should represent each materially different colour application, face, and contact surface.
Dry and wet rubbing are separate, controlled assessments
Testing starts with representative specimens and a defined face. Course and wale orientation may matter where ribs, relief, brushing, print direction, or exposed floats change contact. A garment or engineered panel can contain several testable zones: a dark ground, light motif, printed area, pigment surface, contrast trim, plated reverse, and local finish. If the intended contact occurs on the reverse, that surface should not be omitted simply because the face carries the design.
Specimens and standard rubbing cloths are conditioned as required. ISO 139 defines standard atmospheres for conditioning and testing textiles. Moisture regain, recent steaming, washing, after-treatment, softener, pressing, and storage can affect the textile surface and the test cloth. The condition must therefore be controlled before comparisons are made between sample rounds, colourways, suppliers, or production lots.
For the dry test, a clean, dry standard white cloth is fixed to the rubbing finger or other method-defined contact element. The apparatus moves it over the specimen along the prescribed track under controlled force. A new receiving cloth is used for the wet assessment and is prepared to the moisture condition required by the method. The wet and dry observations are reported separately. Wet rubbing may expose a different transfer mechanism, but it should not be described in advance as inevitably one grade lower or automatically worse; the measured result depends on the colour system, surface, finish, specimen, and procedure.
After rubbing, loose fibres or foreign matter are handled only as the standard directs. The stained cloth is evaluated under specified lighting and backing against the grey scale for staining in ISO 105-A03. The scale converts a visual difference into an ordered grade; it does not identify the chemical cause of transfer. Instrumental readings or buyer-specific references can supplement a procedure only when their use and interpretation are agreed. Visual assessment conditions, observer agreement, and reference condition should be controlled when decisions sit close to a tolerance.
ISO 105-A01 sets out general principles and limitations for colour-fastness tests. Its role is a reminder that specimen preparation, adjacent or receiving material, assessment, and reporting belong to a defined system. A result written only as “rub test passed” is not traceable. It should be possible to reconstruct which surface, colour, state, and condition produced each grade.
Surface colour, fibre system, and knit geometry interact
Transfer can arise from colourant or coloured particles at or near the surface, insufficient removal of unfixed material, a print or pigment layer with limited adhesion, or a finish that changes surface friction. These are diagnostic possibilities, not interchangeable explanations. The fibre and colourant system, dyeing or printing route, fixation, washing-off, curing, reduction clearing where relevant, and subsequent finishing must be reviewed as one process.
Deep shade does not by itself prove poor rubbing fastness. A dark colour can pass its requirement, and a pale print or surface treatment can transfer. Shade depth can make a small deposit easier to see on white cloth, but performance depends on how the colour is fixed and what remains available at the surface. Similarly, one approved dark colourway does not clear another dye recipe, pigment formulation, fibre blend, or finish.
Knit architecture changes contact. Raised ribs, tucks, cables, brushed pile, chenille, bouclé, slub, long floats, and textured filaments concentrate rubbing on projecting elements. A compact smooth face distributes contact differently from an open or highly sculpted surface. Plating may place one yarn predominantly on the face and another on the reverse, so the visible colour and the contacting yarn are not always represented by one fibre declaration. Course and wale direction can also change which relief elements meet the rubbing cloth.
Surface hair can carry colour and also release fibres onto the receiving cloth, complicating appearance. Rubbing can flatten or rotate filaments, altering reflectance even where little colour is transferred. A careful report distinguishes staining of the cloth from a change in the specimen surface, visible fibre debris, or physical abrasion. If more than one phenomenon occurs, the development response should not be reduced to a request for additional dye fixation.
A useful specification fixes sampling and decision rules
The acceptance criterion should reflect intended contact. A dark sweater worn over a pale shirt, a colour-blocked dress, a bag handled against light clothing, or a bright trim beside an undyed panel presents a different transfer risk from a self-coloured inner layer. Requirements may differ between dry and wet conditions, surfaces, colourways, and end uses. There is no universal grade that can be labelled “luxury” independent of method and product context.
A development report should identify standard and edition, fabric or garment reference, lot and colourway, sampled zone, face or reverse, direction, pretreatment and care state, conditioning, dry or wet condition, wet-cloth preparation, number of specimens, individual grades, assessor or instrumental protocol, target, tolerance, and disposition. Photographs can support diagnosis, but exposure and colour management must be controlled if they are used as evidence.
When a result is below target, isolate the variable before changing the design. Compare the same knit before and after washing-off or finishing; compare colour areas within the same panel; inspect transferred matter; verify process records; and repeat with correctly conditioned material. Review whether the issue belongs to dyeing, printing, finishing, yarn supply, surface geometry, or an interaction. Retesting an altered route without documenting the change creates a number but not production knowledge.
During technical development, rubbing results can be connected to yarn placement, colour blocking, lining and trim selection, wash route, finishing, care instructions, and bulk approval. Selected material applications appear in Work. Anne's role in translating design intent into production information is outlined in About; specific enquiries can be submitted through the contact form.
Common questions about colour fastness to rubbing
What is the difference between rubbing and crocking?
In this context they describe the same transfer phenomenon. “Crocking” is common American terminology; ISO 105-X12 uses colour fastness to rubbing. The named method and edition remain more important than the label.
Why are dry and wet rubbing tested separately?
Moisture changes the contact system and can alter mobility at the textile surface. The two conditions provide separate evidence and should be reported separately rather than averaged.
Is wet rubbing always worse than dry rubbing?
No result should be assumed before testing. Wet performance is often a particular development concern, but the relationship depends on fibre, colourant, fixation, washing-off, print system, finish, surface, and method.
Does a dark shade automatically have poor rubbing fastness?
No. Shade depth can make transferred colour more visible, but fastness depends on the complete coloration and finishing route. Dark shades need representative testing, not automatic rejection.
Is rubbing fastness the same as wash fastness?
No. Rubbing evaluates colour transferred by friction to a standard cloth. Wash-fastness methods evaluate colour change and staining under defined laundering conditions. One cannot be inferred from the other.
Should every colour in a jacquard or print be tested?
Sampling should cover materially different colour systems and exposed zones, especially the deepest shades, prints, pigments, contrasts, and surfaces likely to contact pale materials. The plan should be agreed before testing rather than chosen after a failure.
Rubbing fastness belongs to the complete colour and surface specification
The grade becomes useful when it can be traced to a precise colourway, zone, surface, state, and method. Read beside care, abrasion, knit geometry, yarn placement, and end-use contact, it supports a production decision without pretending that one small cloth represents every form of colour durability.
Friction is only one route of colour transfer. Compare how colour fastness to washing is tested to separate dry or wet crocking from colour change and adjacent-fabric staining in a detergent bath.