It's the optical brighteners that tend to fade clothing. Try to find a detergent that doesn't have these in it. Especially in a squeaky washer!

Cheer Powder has no brightener. It isnt HE but it is low suds so it will work fine. Liquid Cheer has brightner.

The Vaska you are using now may be good for colors also--I am not familiar with the ingredients in it.

The "Kids Wear" cycle runs for a while--an hr. or better I think. Maybe go with your Short wash or a Perm/Press cycle, something with less tumble time and maybe less spin. Also dry on low temp. I have read that high temps in the dryer tend to fade colors. Also turn them inside out.

I did read when they tested detergents at CR they used the Tide Total Care(supposed to be great for colors) VS the Tide Coldwater Liquid and the Coldwater did as well(cleaning) as the Total Care plus caused no fading even though I am sure it has brightner.

I LOVE Tide he Original Powder. I use it almost exclusively for my son's clothes (1st grader now), towels, sheets and gym clothes. I do not find it to fade colours, but in the past...I have noticed it to fade and make blacks and navy items a little faded and "dull" looking.

Tide Total Care he liquid does not fade clothes at all. I am probably on my 10th bottle of it. I honestly do not love the only scent it comes in, but it is luckily not strong!

If you do not mind spending a little more, Persil color gel and Persil MegaPerls color powder are AWESOME and color retention is it's strong point! It is the #1 rated detergent in Germany and most of Europe! It is also amazing at stains, odors and marks! Some find the smell strong in the box, but after washing the scent is (sadly to me) mostly gone! And for those who find the scent overwhelming, The National German Asthma and Allergy Dept. has rated the Persil scent and detergent safe and perfectly suitable for allergy or asthma sufferers!! While it is $$$ up front, a little goes a long way, and the way it cares for clothing, is worth a lot!!

Tide always has been, and still is, a heavy duty detergent. Tide is aggressive, and over time, will fade out colors. I use Tide for everything EXCEPT colors. I use Cheer for all colored items. Nothing can clean like Tide, but I tend to buy expensive clothing that I wish to keep looking new for as long as possible. I have found that water temperature has less to do with fading. It is more the detergent. I have jeans and black socks that have been washed in HOT water numerous times, with Cheer, and I have never noticed accelerated fading. Warm is best of darks, in my opinion. Cold water washing is NEVER an option in my house. I would suggest buying detergent specifically for colors. Cheer (powdered only), Tide Total care, even Woolite. If cost is not an issue, go with Persil products, Vaska, or Clorox Green Works. Just a little extra effort in purchasing two different detergents will pay off, because your colors will last much longer. Good Luck!

Sparky i never use the kids wear cycle. Seems funny to wash kids clothes in hot! I use the other cycles that i can choose warm or cold. I kind of thought it was the Tide doing the damage. Just wanted to make sure others experienced the same fading when using tide on darks or bright colors.

Greenworks laundry detergent. I have not seen it before, where can I find it? How much is it? I like vaska so far, did a few more loads today and it suds alot at line 2, I probably will never use line 3. I have to use half of line 2 to keep the suds down, but will it still clean as well?

Mindy-I thought you used the Kids cycle because you said it defaults to Hot water but that you changed it to use warm or cold water so I was thinking you used the Kids cycle with warm or cold instead of changing the cycle...my bad.

Cheer powder does come in an HE version. I purchased large boxes at Sam's Club in the summer. It isn't easy to find, but it does exist.

Yes they have made an HE powder at times. I was at Sams last week but I didnt look for it. That is where I have seen it before. According to P&G they only made it for Warehouse Clubs/Stores as a "trial" to see how well it would sell.

You should try the Cheer Powder. Yes I am sure the jets helps suds up the water and liquids(some anyway) tend to be more suds prone than powder.

I will try the powder. I have a never endless supply of detergents. Here is my current stash

2 seventh generation 4x liquid big bottles
2 30 packs of seventh generation detergent
1 tide total care
2 Cheer liquid bottles
1 method 4x fresh air
2 vaska big bottle lavender.
1 tide free and clear

I have too much detergent. Lol

Have you ever tried the Cheer for Darks liquid? I wonder if it has brightener? I know all the other liquids (Cheer) do.

I've never seen the cheer for darks! Ill look. I really like the method and vaska. I do like the seventh generation 4x better than the pacs. 1 pacs doesn't really sud up at all on a small load. Smell is really light. It's mandarin and sandalwood

I found all Cheer he liquids suds up a crazy amount in my Miele W4842 washer, and also my Electrolux Wave Touch when I had it. During the wash cycle, there were for sure more suds than normal, but not too bad. OMG....during the 3 rinse cycles, the suds created were awful and would just not rinse away. I had to to run extra, addt'l. rinses and use more Fabric Softener just to cut the foamy bubbles/suds. I get the same, exact suds problem with my super beloved Clorox Green Works!!! :((

Tide he Powder, Tide Total Care he liquid and Persil MegaPerls Powders and Persil Gels/liquids result in very few suds and really clean rinses! :)

@sparky823 - Cheer for Darks has a brightener (disodium diaminostilbene disulfonate) which makes absolutely no sense to me.

I have the Woolite Extra Dark care and use it. I can't find any evidence that Woolite Extra Dark has brighteners. It also has no enzymes, so it is safe for our wool socks and washable wool blend trousers. There is a light floral scent but (so far!) has not caused me to itch the way Perwoll does. (although I have no doubt Perwoll is a far superior product... but there is the perfume issue...)

Kids Wear cycles are designed to deal with heavily stained clothes (children playing outside, spilling food and so forth) that's why they default to Hot. Depending or your washer, it might also add an Extra Rinse "to protect the sensitive skin of children" - as the manuals usually put it...

Alex

Here is a link that might be useful: Cold Water vs. Total Care

I had the same experience as Larsi with the Cheer for Darks liquid. I had crazy suds with it! Also with the Tide Vivid liquid. Tide Vivid powder works fine, and the Woolite for Darks liquid also works well. I'd love to give the Cheer HE powder a whirl but have not seen it in my area, including at Sam's Club. I have heard many times that Cheer powder is low sudsing, but hesitate to buy a box as I wonder if there's more to being an HE powder than low suds--isn't HE formulated to work well in less water?

I love the Tide Vivid powder for my whites and dish towels, and I use Tide Total Care for nearly everything else. I don't care for the smell much, but it's not so strong that I can't ignore it. :-) I have a box of regular Ultra Tide powder for those times when I need some extra cleaning punch, but I know it's pretty aggressive stuff so I don't use it regularly on everything.

Interesting link, Whirlpool Trainee. I may need to check that Tide Coldwater out, though I almost never wash in cold water.

Cj

Cheer for Darks doesn't even come in an 'he' version, so I haven't had a chance to try it. Wah. But the Woolite 'darks' version really does a decent job.

I wish the Tide Total Care came in an unscented version.

I bought the ColdWater just for the sake of once trying a Tide detergent. Target had ColdWater and TotalCare available so I went with the CW because I had seen the video I linked above. I never used it in cold water, though. Usually 104F or at least 85F. Can't fault its cleaning ability but it left my darks somewhat dusty looking - must have been the brighteners.

@ Whirlpool trainee....."left my darks somewhat dusty looking"!! This is the perfect, perfect way to describe how many detergents leave my black and navy items. Dusty. Not faded really, but dusty! Thank you. I found this with Cheer and most Tides, and of course Arm and Hammer and with BioKleen!!

You will not find any "dusty looking" darks with Vaska. Promise.

Sweetmindy, Try using Era detergent. It is made by P&G and it works great! It is easy on colored clothing, great on whites and smells delightful! Best of all, it's half the price of Tide. Mt best friend and I have tried many detergents and we find this one to be the best because it costs less and is easy on the clothes. You can find it in Target and Walmart for $8.99 for an 150 ounce bottle-96 loads. It is also great for sensitive skin. Try it. You won't be sorry! Good Housekeeping rated it as superb.

I turn our clothes inside out to cut down on fading. Blacks and dark navies will fade over time but they are slower to do so if you turn them inside out.

I also do not wash jeans and jackets with zippers with cotton tee shirts or other lighter wieght fabrics, and I zip up the zippers. They abrade stuff like crazy.

And I hang nearly everything to dry. I only machine dry the undies and towels. Because dryers cook the bejasus out of the clothes & break down the fibers.

I use the cheapest no-scent liquid detergent I can find---which can be Oxydol, store house brand (Shop-Rite) and sometimes Purex.

Our clothes do not get little holes (except from the cats' claws!) and they take a long time to fade.