A care label looks very small.
The decisions behind it aren't.
For an established textile, care instructions are usually based on years of industry experience, established testing methods and a reasonably good understanding of how the material behaves.
With a new material, things can be rather different.
Sometimes the producer has tested the material extensively.
Sometimes they know how it behaves during production, but have never investigated what happens when someone spills coffee on it, puts it through a washing machine or takes it to the local dry cleaner.
And eventually, someone is going to do exactly that.
So when you are making a garment, bag or accessory from a material that doesn't have an established care history, how do you decide what to tell the customer?
Start with the material producer
The first conversation should always be with the material producer.
They may already have information from internal testing or previous customers. They may know which cleaning methods have been tested, what the material is sensitive to and which conditions should be avoided.
But it is worth asking specific questions rather than simply:
“How should we care for it?”
Ask what has actually been tested.
Has it been washed?
Dry cleaned?
Exposed to water?
Ironed?
Dried at different temperatures?
Exposed to detergents or cleaning agents?
The difference between “we recommend dry cleaning” and “we have tested professional dry cleaning under these conditions” is rather important.
Not every new material needs a completely new care system
One useful distinction is whether the material is genuinely unfamiliar in its behaviour or whether it uses an established material structure with a different raw material.
Some innovative materials are made using processes that are already well understood.
A fabric may use an unconventional bio-based feedstock but ultimately have a structure and behaviour similar to a more familiar textile category.
In these cases, existing knowledge can provide a useful starting point — although the actual material still needs to be verified.
Other materials have characteristics that don't map neatly onto established textile categories.
That is where assumptions become much less useful.
If you have a material made using bacterial cellulose, fungal structures, algae-derived inputs or another emerging material system, there may simply not be an established care routine waiting to be copied.
You may have to investigate it.
When the producer doesn't have the answer
This happens.
And it doesn't necessarily mean the material is unsuitable.
It may simply mean that the producer's expertise is focused on making the material, rather than understanding its entire lifecycle as a consumer product.
There are several ways to move forward.
Work with a professional cleaner
A professional cleaner can provide practical insight into how unfamiliar materials respond to different cleaning processes.
Taking a material sample or prototype to a cleaner and discussing possible treatments can be surprisingly useful.
The important part is to make sure they understand that this is an experimental material and that you are looking for controlled information rather than simply asking them to “give it a try.”
Work with a textile testing laboratory
A suitable testing laboratory can investigate specific aspects of material behaviour and performance.
Depending on the material and the question, this might include washing, dimensional stability, colourfastness, abrasion or other relevant properties.
Testing should be selected around the actual intended use of the product rather than simply generating as many test results as possible.
Test the material during development
There is also a simpler approach:
Start experimenting.
Not recklessly.
Not by throwing the finished product into a washing machine and hoping for the best.
Take representative samples and investigate specific conditions systematically.
What happens when the material gets wet?
What happens when it dries?
Does it change dimension?
Does the surface change?
How does it respond to mild detergent?
What happens with heat?
What happens after repeated treatment?
The answers can reveal limitations that aren't visible in a material specification sheet.
Test the product, not just the material
This distinction is important.
A material may behave perfectly well in isolation and differently once incorporated into a finished product.
Construction can change how moisture moves through the product. Stitching can affect dimensional stability. Adhesives, linings, interlinings, coatings and hardware can introduce additional sensitivities.
A washing instruction that is appropriate for the material itself may therefore not be appropriate for the finished garment or accessory.
This is why care development belongs within product development, rather than being something added to the label at the very end.
Care instructions should be practical
There is another small problem with technically correct care instructions:
They still need to make sense to an actual customer.
“Clean according to specialist protocol X under controlled conditions” may be perfectly accurate.
It may also be rather useless to someone standing in front of a washing machine.
The objective is to translate technical knowledge into instructions that are clear enough for the customer — and realistic enough that they will actually follow them.
Sometimes that means a conventional care instruction.
Sometimes it means recommending professional cleaning.
Sometimes the most appropriate instruction is simply to avoid a particular treatment.
And sometimes the product needs to be designed differently because the required care would be unreasonable for its intended use.
Don't forget the person holding the garment
One of the challenges with unfamiliar materials is that the customer may have no idea how to treat them.
A material that looks like leather may be assumed to behave like leather.
A fabric that looks like cotton may be washed like cotton.
A material with an unusual origin may be treated according to what the customer thinks it should be able to withstand.
Appearance creates expectations.
The care guidance needs to correct those expectations where necessary.
And this is particularly important when the material's characteristics are part of the product's selling point.
If you tell someone their bag is made from an innovative bio-based material, you should also be able to tell them what that means when they spill their coffee on it.
Care is part of material development
For new materials, care instructions are not simply a compliance exercise.
They can reveal something fundamental about whether the material is appropriate for a particular product.
If a material performs beautifully but cannot tolerate the conditions expected during normal use, perhaps it belongs in a different application.
If it requires specialist cleaning, perhaps that needs to be reflected in the product concept and customer communication.
If it responds well to gentle washing, that could become part of its product proposition.
Care is therefore another way of understanding the relationship between material, product and user.
This is where Material & Product Development Consultancy can help
When there is no established rulebook for a material, figuring out how it should be used and cared for becomes part of the development process.
Substanz Material & Product Development Consultancy helps brands investigate unfamiliar materials and translate their characteristics into realistic product requirements.
This can include understanding available material data, identifying where further testing is needed, working with appropriate testing or cleaning specialists, assessing how the material behaves within a finished product and helping develop practical care recommendations.
Explore Material & Product Development Consultancy
#MaterialDevelopment #MaterialTesting #MaterialInnovation #BioBasedMaterials #NewMaterials #ProductDevelopment #MaterialConsultancy