Wie super ist Superwash-Garn?

How super is superwash yarn?

Is superwash yarn really super?

If you ask me, the answer is a clear "No!" – at least from an ecological perspective. That said, it does have advantages, otherwise it wouldn't be so popular.

What can superwash yarn do?

As the name suggests, you can wash superwash yarn in the washing machine without worrying about felting or shrinking. The colours on superwash-treated yarn are often particularly vibrant, making it especially popular with hand-dyers. And thanks to the smooth surface, it's generally perceived as softer – though that doesn't mean non-superwash yarns can't be just as soft.

What does "superwash" mean?

Yarn can be labelled "superwash" if it has undergone a specific chemical treatment. If you look at wool under a microscope, you can see tiny scales on the surface. When the wool is subjected to a lot of friction and/or heat, these scales interlock – causing the wool to felt and/or the knitted item to shrink. To prevent this, these scales are either smoothed or removed. The most common process nowadays combines both methods. First, part of the scales is removed with chlorine. Then, a polymer coating (if you want to impress your knitting friends with technical terms: polyamide-epichlorohydrin resin) is applied.

Why is it ecologically problematic?

As you can probably imagine, superwash yarn therefore contains plastic – which means microplastics are released into the wastewater and the environment when washing and wearing your knitted items. But that's not all: the wastewater produced during the superwash treatment is highly toxic. This also poses a danger to all workers involved in the process. And the additional processing step makes production more resource-intensive: more water and energy are used. Although more sustainable procedures have been in development for some time now (I might write a separate article about that), most yarns labelled "superwash" are still produced using the method described above.

"Wool Without Qualities"

Please allow me this literary allusion to Robert Musil's "The Man Without Qualities". Fact is that superwash-treated wool really does lose many of its unique properties that we love so much about the natural fibre: it is no longer biodegradable, no longer as elastic, no longer has such good shape memory, and is no longer as warm and water-repellent.

My experiences with superwash yarn

I, too, initially reached for superwash wool when I didn't know much about yarns yet, and knitted a beautiful top from it, the Ellie Shirt by Rust Knitwear (shown in the photo before its "accident"). And ironically, it was this top that I ruined through washing. I had manually set a low temperature and low spin speed on the washing machine, but then accidentally selected the cotton cycle instead of the wool one – et voilà, it felted. The yarn label said "100% merino", even though it should actually contain plastic due to the superwash treatment. That means either it wasn't correctly declared on the label (which would be scandalous) or no coating was applied in this case.

What to do with knitted items made from superwash yarn?

This article doesn't want to convince you by any means that you have to throw away superwash yarn you've already bought or knitted items made from it – after all, the production process is already complete and there's no resource advantage in not using the yarn you already have. However, you can counteract the release of microplastics during washing by using special washing bags that catch plastic particles – a great option for other textiles containing plastic as well. And perhaps this post will inspire you to take a closer look at the yarn label next time you buy wool.

Machine washing WITHOUT superwash treatment?

It is what it is: I'm terribly lazy when it comes to washing knitted items, and I wash ALL my handknits in the machine, even though most of them are made from non-superwash yarn. It is possible – but only if you pay attention to certain factors! I'll write more about that in another article. If you don't want to miss any of my posts, I warmly invite you to subscribe to my newsletter!

Resources:

Back to blog