Shrink-Proof Wool

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31656, 17 April 1968, Page 3

Shrink-Proof Wool

This newly perfected process converts normal knitting wool into a shrink-proof yam, allowing hand-knitted woollen clothing to be tumbled, rinsed, spun or wrung like any other item in home washing machines. Another obstacle against wool usage has been overcome now that synthetics can no longer make exclusive claims about ease of care to housewives.

Marketing information shows that the new process will give wool a definite advantage over synthetics because the yam offers an easycare fibre combined with the unique advantages of 100 per cent pure wool. The New Zealand process makes the improvement per-

manent by impregnating individual fibres with machine washable resilience. Repeated washing only strengthens and softens the fibre. This advancement in wool technology should benefit growers and housewives alike. Both garments shown above entered the machine exactly the same size. Both were washed in water exceeding 120 degrees Fahrenheit for times exceeding 35 minutes. When garments were dried after the first wash, it was found that the non-treated garment had matted very bad-

ly and had shrunk considerably, but the machine washable garment had lost none of its qualities. This extreme test was repeated six times, and with each washing the non-treated garment continued to deteriorate. These tests were definitely excessive, and under the normal washing cycle the garment would never experience such treatment. Automatic and wringer-type machines were used in exactly the same manner with exactly the same results.