What Is an Electronic Crockmeter — The Complete GuideDec 10, 2025
What Is an Electronic Crockmeter — The Complete Guide
Color fastness refers to the ability of textiles to maintain their original color when exposed to common challenges throughout their service life. High color fastness is crucial for meeting performance requirements, especially in the apparel sector.
Color fastness testing generally includes light fastness, weather fastness, wash fastness, rubbing fastness, perspiration fastness, etc. In some cases, different textiles or usage environments require special color fastness evaluations.
This article mainly focuses on rubbing color fastness, which evaluates a fabric’s resistance to color transfer when rubbed repeatedly on dry or wet surfaces.
Rubbing Color Fastness
Rubbing color fastness refers to the firmness of the printed fabric color when subjected to rubbing. The rubbing color fastness of colored materials depends on two main factors: the amount of floating color and the combination of dyes and fibers. The more floating color on the fabric surface, the poorer its rubbing color fastness.
The Electronic Crockmeter is used to determine the color fastness of textiles to dry or wet rubbing. A pinned acrylic sample holder ensures rapid sample mounting and repeatable results.
GESTER AATCC Crockmeter Metal box, high-temperature baking coating, easy maintenance. Electric motor, fitted with a pre-determined electronic counter for strokes up to 9999; the experiment completes successfully with automatic stop.
Standards of GT-D04 Crock Meter machine
The most widely used standards are AATCC 8 and ISO 105 X12. A special instrument called a crocking tester is used to rub the test fabric with wet and dry undyed fabric for a specified duration.
GESTER GT-D04 Electronic Crockmeter complies with these standards: BS 1006-D02, ISO 105-X12/D02, AATCC 8/165, ASTM D6279, JIS L 0849 Type 1, JIS L 0862 Type 1
Textile Crocking Tester Test Procedure
First, lay the textile sample flat on the tester’s platform. Then, fix dry or wet standard white cotton onto the rubbing head. The warp and weft of the standard white cotton must intersect the sample at a 45° angle. Next, the rubbing head must travel along a 10 cm track on the sample. It must do this 10 times, once per second, in a straight reciprocating motion. The sample must be at least 20 cm × 5 cm, with the length in either warp or weft direction. The test is used to detect rubbing color fastness. It rubs the fabric in both the warp and weft directions. You must brush off any colored fibers remaining on the standard white cotton cloth.
The test evaluates the staining level on the dyed white cotton cloth and the warp and weft directions using a grey (or colored) scale.
How to Rate the Results
A rating of four for dry rubbing and three to three-and-a-half for wet rubbing generally indicates good-quality material. These ratings show how much rubbing the fabric can withstand without significant color transfer or staining. By understanding these test results, you can avoid unsightly dye stains by choosing fabrics that are less likely to transfer color between garments.
How to Choose Products With High Color Fastness
Now that we have discussed why clothes tend to fade, let’s look at some practical tips that will help you maintain the vibrancy of your garments for a longer time:
Use certified non-fading dyes and finishing agents during manufacturing: When purchasing garments, look for items made with certified non-fading dyes and finishes. Manufacturers who prioritize color fastness often indicate this on their labels. High-quality dyes and finishing agents can significantly extend the color life of clothing, including resistance to sweat, washing, and sunlight.
Hang dry or dry-clean delicate colors: Keep delicate or brightly colored garments away from harsh drying methods such as tumble drying. A gentler option that preserves color is hang drying. For particularly delicate items, dry cleaning may be suitable as it helps maintain fabric integrity and prevents fading.
Wash with mild detergent and cold water: Use mild detergent and cold water when washing clothes. Cold water is less likely to cause dye bleeding than hot water.
Additionally, mild detergents are suitable for colored fabrics. For the best color fastness maintenance, carefully follow the care instructions on garment labels.
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