back in black

like most people, you probably have almost an entire wardrobe consisting of mostly dark clothes. and what is the absolute bummer about dark colored clothes? well, eventually, like the rose on the vine, like beauty, dark clothes fade.
completely wiping out the svelte and stylish factor in one fell swoop and relegatating that particular piece of dark clothing to either sleepwear or grubby, cleaning-out-the-garage wear.

oh, the betrayal.

rejoice dark colors! your time has come. while we're not sure why this particular laundry breakthough has taken this long to materialize, it is finally here: laundry detergent specifically for dark clothes.

stateside, both woolite and cheer have created special formulations for dark colored fabrics. you can try cheer dark colorguard laundry detergent, whose job it is specifically hold on to those dark dyes and prevent them from migrating to other, nearby pieces of clothing. woolite's entry into this new laundry detergent category is dark laundry fabric wash which promises to "maintain the look of your dark and black clothes" by preventing fading. both brands are available nationwide. across the pond, the UK has persil, with their formula that touts less fading on darker clothes. in france, look for MIR black to handle washing your deepest and darkest.

for those of you on fiscal lockdown, another effective and more DIY way to help "save" your darks from fading:

a. separate dark from light colors prior to washing

b. use cold water each and every time you wash darks

c. add 1 cup of table salt or vinegar to dark colored garments when washing dark items for the very first time (like a virgin!)

so fight the power, fight that powers that fade.

and on that note, we patiently await for the other great laundry innovation of the century: laundry that does itself.