Textile Finish !

No matter, how expensive clothing you buy, the grace and charm of it is lost within the first 5 washes.

Somehow, the fabric finishes were never strong enough to sustain regular laundary. If a good fabric appeal was to be defined by

Texture
Handle
Feel
Drape
Reflectance
Novelty
Luxury
Hairiness

Then most fabrics would fail after the first few washes.

Two main reasons.
First, the quality of water and detergents, both are questionable. Levers and Proctor and Gamble , both could never make a detergent, which could retain the original qualities of the fabric finish. Inevitably , all your white shirt, become yellow over time. Partly on account of hardness of the water, partly on account of poor detergent quality.

However, the other flaw has been the finish quality of the fabric. After dyeing, the crease , handle and other finishes are imparted at the stage of Stenter. Most of the time, the chemicals at the application temperature just vaporize and only leave behind a small coating on the surface of the fabric. This coating gets washed away and hence the poor resultant quality.

Unless, the yarn or fabric finishes are applied at the stage of dyeing, the result will always be questionable. In case of dyeing, the dye diffusion in cotton takes place right till the secondary walls of the cotton fibre. It is only this time that the finishes can also move to the inner walls and retain their effect. Also, the grilling 8 hours dyeing cycle ensures that besides the dyes, the finish will find a suitable place on the yarn or fabric.

In case of polyester, it is still much easier. At the temperature of 130 deg, polyester is already very friendly and receptive to encase any dyes or finishes, willing to settle in its chain.

There are now many very good companies making good finishes, but the application chemistry has to be tweaked.