Yellowed and faded linen
What changes on linen. Yellowing in stored linen is oxidation of the fibre and residues in it, not destroyed dye, so unlike sun fading some of it genuinely comes out.
The method for linen
- 1Work out which you have. Even yellowing across a folded garment is storage oxidation; lighter patches where light fell are sun fading and permanent.
- 2For yellowing, soak in oxygen bleach and warm water for several hours, not chlorine.
- 3Dry white linen in the sun. On white linen UV bleaches, which is the one place sunlight helps rather than harms.
- 4Repeat once if it lifted at all. If the first soak did nothing, further soaks will not.
- 5Store it unstarched afterwards. Starch is food for the reaction that yellowed it.
What ruins it
No chlorine bleach on linen. It weakens the fibre and often turns the yellow browner rather than removing it.
The general case, and what it costs you
Sun fading does not come out of any fabric. What differs between fibres is what you can do instead, and what the damage costs when you sell the garment.
Ready to Grade Smarter?
Join resellers who trust GradeThread to standardize condition grading, build buyer confidence, and sell faster.