How To Care For Bulwark Flame Resistant Cotton Excel Garments
Instructions on how to care at home for:
Bulwark™ Excel-FRTM
Flame Resistant 100% Cotton and Excel-FR
ComforTouchTM 88%
Cotton/12% Garments
You may use any water temperature setting on your washer, set to either the
“cotton” or “normal” cycle.
However, like regular cotton, FR cotton and cotton/cotton-blends also have a
tendency to shrink. Higher water
temperatures tend to cause more shrinkage, but may be needed to remove
oil-based stains or soiling.
Please note that it is very important to ensure that you use higher
temperatures to remove any such oil-based stains or soiling, as they may be
flammable and dangerous.
You may find it helpful to turn the garments inside-out before washing, in
order to reduce fabric streaking (especially with stiff, new fabric).
Be sure not to overfill the washer and use correct water levels.
While you may wish to keep these garments separate from your regular family
wash, you may mix them in with your wash (unless, of course, the garments
are soiled with contaminants).
When washing, be certain to use soft water (<4.0 grains).
This is very important, as hard water contains minerals/salts that
can build up on the fabric. If
such a build-up occurs, the flame-resistant qualities of the fabric may
become improvised or be rendered completely ineffective.
The build-up could also serve as a fuel under certain circumstances
where an ignition source is present.
You may use any laundry detergent not containing hydrogen peroxide.
Examples of readily-available laundry detergent at your grocery store
include Tide™,
Gain™,
Cheer™,
etc. The majority of these
detergents contain “color-safe” bleach alternatives that do not interfere
with a garment’s flame resistance properties.
You also may use any stain remover (e.g., Shout™,
Spray-n-Wash™,
etc.), which products are also generally available at your local grocery
store.
IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT use tallow
soap and DO NOT use either chlorine bleach or liquid non-chlorine bleach.
Repeated bleaching breaks down the FR polymer, which results in a
reduction of the garment’s flame resistance properties; chlorine bleach also
fades the garment’s color.
It is strongly recommended that you do not use starch, fabric softeners or
other laundry additives, as these products have a tendency to coat fabric,
which reduces or can altogether remove the garment’s flame resistant
properties.
Be certain that you do not over-dry the garments, as this will likely result
in extreme shrinkage. Using the
normal/cotton setting, you may iron the fabric (keeping in mind the
paragraph above, which states that starch is not to be used).
You also may have these garments dry-cleaned.
EXCEPTION:
the FR denim jeans cannot be dry-cleaned, because the denim dye will
bleed into the dry-cleaning solvent and the denim will fade.
If you have minor repairs to your garments, you can use the Repair Kits
available from
Bulwark customer care.
PLEASE NOTE, however, that if
the integrity of the garment has been compromised, you will need to have the
garment replaced.
The information provided in this article is provided for your information
and guidance.
