How to sort laundry by color

Sorting by color isn't really about fading — a wash cycle alone rarely fades a garment much. It's about dye transfer: dye that comes loose from one wet item landing on another. A new dark T-shirt sitting next to a white one is the classic way a laundry load goes wrong.

The three-pile method

• Whites — anything white or very light, washed alone so nothing can dull or tint it.
• Darks — black, navy, dark denim, dark prints.
• Colors — everything bright or mid-toned that isn't white or dark.

Add a fourth pile for delicates — thin knits, lingerie, anything with a hand-wash or gentle-cycle symbol on the label — since those need a different cycle regardless of color. See our laundry symbol guide for what those symbols mean.

New, dark, or deeply-dyed items need extra care

A garment sheds the most loose dye in its first few washes. Wash new dark or brightly dyed items alone, or with a color-catching sheet in the load, for the first two or three washes before mixing them in with everything else.

A few habits that actually help

• Turn dark and printed garments inside out — it protects the outer face from both fading and the pilling that rubbing against a zipper or pocket causes.
• Wash in cold water when you can — dye releases more readily in warm or hot water, so a cold wash is inherently lower-risk for bleeding. See our wash temperature guide.
• Don't overload the machine — clothes need room to move through water, not sit pressed together soaking in each other's runoff.

LaundryMax remembers each garment's color group the moment you scan its label, so building a wash-safe load is just picking from a pile it already sorted for you. See how it works.