 My name is Jeffrey Lin. I have a story to tell you. My story is about fabrics and folks like you, and that engrossed young couple over there. There was a time not too long ago when if something like this happened, well, how would you feel? Indignant, sick all over. After all, a ruined suit or a cleaning and pressing job is expensive. But my, how times have changed. Annoyed? Certainly. But only the mild annoyance that comes from knowing it'll take less than an hour to wash and dry them before putting them right back on. Just think, less than an hour. That's a miracle. A miracle that could only happen in the wonderful world of wash and wear. Something quite important. Something that begins over here. In the bottom of the laundry basket of the average home of the average family. About 6,000 years now, give or take a couple, we've faced the problem of covering our bodies with clothing. First, the fig leaves. Since then, we've relied pretty much on four sturdy natural fibers, animal and vegetable. Like, for instance, wool, silk, cotton, and linen. Yes, since the Stone Age, man has spent a lot of time seeking better materials for his clothes. Plus a good deal more towards finding easier and different, always newer, always better ways to get his clothing clean. Right up to today's automatics. We all know that the fabrics we used couldn't always be cleaned by washing. Wool, for example. Raw and processed wool, just sheared. Wool's always been and is a leading warmth fiber for outerwear, especially. As excellent wrinkle resistance, good draping qualities, is easily dyed, a lot of design appeal. Yet no matter how we bettered our laundry methods through the years, this little woolly lamb just won't cotton to washing. All items can be hand-washed, but even so, grass or that sweater shrank. We all know wool shrinks like no other natural fiber. So with wool clothing, it's either costfully time-consuming dry cleaning, or we clean and press it as best we can with spot remover and an iron. It used to be some guys even pressed their pants under the mattress. The newspaper has prevented the springs from leaving impressions. When our washing methods solved some of our washing problems, we knew further progress might be found in something other than natural fibers for our clothes. Textile manufacturers, clothing makers, fabric designers all asked, what can we find that's an improvement over wool or blends with it? What looks, feels, drapes, fashions better than wool? And for that matter, cotton, linen and silk. We Americans go for that kind of challenge. We said, find something with all the good things of natural fibers and none of the drawbacks. That's when the test tube boys knuckled down to work. So began years of research, of tireless work of many men, of spending, well, let's not get into how much money, to create the modern man-made fibers for fabrics that we enjoy today. Day and night, research chemists like this fellow pursued a dream of new, exciting, completely different synthetic fibers. It's quite a dream. Quite a story. If I get a little too technical, will someone please ring a bell? You see, for the first time since creation, men were going back to the elements to create a molecule. So soon? I'll start over. Beginning with pure chemicals, scientists, researchers, chemists stole a leaf from the silkworm and literally spun new kinds of threads. Threads and fibers that had to measure up to all the desirable qualities of resilience, that is to hold or return to original shape, softness, lightweight, strength, durability, and resistance to weather. At first, slowly, then with a speed almost too swift to follow, the magic of modern chemistry rocketed us into a new world of modern fabrics. Continuous, exciting technological discoveries gave us such man-made fibers as rayon and acetate. And such synthetics as nylon, acrylan, dechron, orlan, beryl, cresslan, dinel, zephram, and many others, including the new resin-treated cottons. Of all these, however, the big three soon proved to be nylon, dechron, and orlan. Why? Because they measured up to every expectation for their basic reason for being. Take that young fellow. Where's a suit of dechron? Washable, doesn't wrinkle easily, holds its shape better than wool. His girlfriend wears a sweater of orlan, soft with a luxurious feel, lightweight, yet warm and weather-resistant. And a peeping tom has a nylon jacket. Very light, yet it holds its shape because of its elasticity. Only lightweight, but plenty tough. Oops, watch out, son! Yes, a fiber so strong that many a paratrooper, many an airman, owes his life to a nylon parachute. Both know one of these modern fibers meets all our clothing needs. But when we married them with the age-old natural fibers, we raised a brand-new family of fabrics with greater strength, resilience, and new versatility. More important, these complementary blends meant that more and more clothing items could use new man-made fibers. A few, for example. Suits and shirts of dechron with cotton, silk, or wool. Soft-finished flannels, tweeds, skirts, and cashmere-like sweaters made with Orlon. Women's attractive blouses and sheer lingerie fashioned from nylon as well as a combination of other synthetic and natural fibers. All these enjoy greater freedom from wrinkles. Many feature permanently set creases or fashionable pleats. How's it done? Well, let's go back to the laboratory. You see, all true synthetic fibers are thermoplastic. Sorry. I'll try to make it simple. It means heat simply softens the fibers so they can be molded and remolded. This is nylon. Remember, the fibers are strong. Yet soft, pliable, resilient, or elastic. That's why, if you musse them up, they tend to return to their original shape. That's right. Wrinkles and modern fibers like to go back where they came from. Or, as clothing makers say, wrinkle resistant. Now, when you wash modern fibers, you actually help to banish wrinkles as the fabric seeks its original shape. Know why? Water and detergent, sure. They help the slippery fibers slide smoothly back to their wrinkle-free state. Those little nylon fibers are plastic only one hot. So that's the critical time when wear wrinkles tend to scoot back home or new wrinkles might appear. Heat does the job of keeping the fabric free of wrinkles if, and it's a mighty big if, the fibers are not cooled off too quickly. Let's do an experiment. There's a temperature higher than I've mentioned so far. When fiber resiliency disappears and the fabric can be molded into any shape we want. This little plastic swizzle stick I mean, let's call it a Decron fiber. See how it can be molded with heat? Now watch. Cool this Decron fiber quickly and we give it a permanent shape. It will hold this shape unless we heat it again above the softening point. Did I say we had problems in washing natural fibers? Believe me. New methods and techniques had to be developed in washing and drying modern fibers and delicate fabrics. Consider. On wash day people use, by tradition, hot water for their laundry. And by tradition they like to agitate the dirt out so they know it's been agitated. And when they use an automatic dryer they know that the hotter the temperature the faster the job gets done. All this is enough to scare a modern fiber half to death. No under washing directions on clothing tags usually read. Hand wash in warm water and hang up to drip dry. Yes, from a styling and comfort standpoint we reached new highs with modern fabrics but our washing methods, modern as they were, simply could not meet the particular washing needs of modern fibers. Almost seems like we were back to beating our clothes again with a paddle on a river bank. Well, almost. Plus we used to hang them up to drip dry. A somewhat messy chore even in our bathrooms. It wasn't long before some laundry manufacturers recognized that modern fabrics needed different care. And soon new washers made their appearance. Some new automatics featured gentle cycles or offered a choice of shorter wash times. Others provided a warm wash water temperature. A few had a cold rinse. All tried to meet the new washing requirements of modern fabrics. Requirements which were to become more exacting because the laboratories of science and the apparel industry suddenly catapulted us into the wonderful world of wash and wear. Alone or in blend with natural fibers brought new innovations in cool, crisp, comfortable clothes. Everything from shorts and casual slacks to colorful sport coats. From sun happy sports shirts to fine weave dress shirts. The sheerest of slips and blouses. Bath robes to rainwear to beachwear. At first, summer wear then all weather wear. Suits and top coats for men. Fashionable sweaters skirts and synthetic furs for women. Even, believe it or not, tuxedos. Modern fibers in fashionable weave fabrics soon accounted for one out of every three sales. Based on the increasing usage of wash and wear manufacturers are expecting to more than double today's output within the next two or three years. For example, they'll turn out 3,440,000 suits. 5,500,000 jackets. 13,900,000 slacks. And 21,900,000 business shirts. A success story climaxed only by modern apparel clearly associated with the word automatic. The automatic suit I'm wearing one now. A suit designed to be repeatedly worn then washed in an automatic washer and tumble dried in an automatic dryer then worn immediately. With the creases and pleats still in place but with the wrinkles gone. Small wonder it's called a limited care item. But to give it even limited care requires certain basic musts. Knowing them will help you in buying wash and wear. Generally speaking these are warm wash water short washing cycle gentle agitation water cool down gentle spinning cold rinse right drying temperature and drying cool off. But speaking specifically laundry research specialists asked what is warm. Here's a shirt washed in water that wasn't hot enough. The wear wrinkles especially around the belt line just couldn't return to their original position and disappear. We call this losing their plastic memory. This skirt was washed in water that was too hot. These aren't wear wrinkles they were put in by draining and spinning action. They were set because the hot water wasn't tempered with cold. Looks like the dryer temperature did some work in unmolding some of the preset pleats. Could be the ladies temperature went up a bit too when she saw the results. Actually washing temperatures should be over 120 degrees but always under 145 degrees. And certainly drying temperature should rarely be more than 20 degrees hotter. Remember our little experiment we found heat was very important not just to remove soil or to dry faster but because heat must remove all wear wrinkles without disturbing preset creases and pleats. And what is gentle? Certainly not the bongo drum agitation that man handle this delicate garment. Specifically wash and wear must be laundered in water that is medium only long enough to remove soil gently at low agitation speed to protect delicate fibers and in water that is cooled down gradually prior to rinsing. This protects and sets the fibers so that wrinkling is minimized during the rinse and spin action. Wash and wear garments must never be compressed while they are hot. They should be rinsed in cold water gently spin dried at a low speed to protect most of the water for drying and avoid setting in wrinkles. Finally, they should be tumble dried at the right temperature with a proper cool off period. A tall order it most certainly is. No wonder wash and wear makers tell you to follow your automatic instructions to the letter assuming the washer can do the job with one automatic laundry pair you can. And here it is the RCA Whirlpool Imperial Mark 12 a truly miraculous washer and dryer each with its own special wash and wear cycle each completely equipped to meet every exacting requirement of the most modern wash and wear fabrics and just as important they provide the head of the family with all the care free advantages of completely automatic lint free laundry service everything is simplified with this color keyed control panel watch she just turns the automatic fabric guide to the modern fabrics used in wash and wear Decron, Nylon, Orlon plus embossed cottons and blends reading across the fabric guide we automatically see the correct settings for every operation with every control color keyed to the fabric guide she simply dials to color no guesswork no need to refer to complicated instruction books to achieve the best the safest the desired results according to the automatic fabric guide and remembering the basic musts she selects the lower agitation and spin speed she selects cold tap temperature rinse water and medium wash water temperature now she selects the special wash and wear cycle and a four minute wash time the only actual decision she makes is how much water to use and that simply depends on the size of a wash and wear load she can choose an infinite water level for greatest economy on partial loads filled and will all close in well almost all in and with the water level reset washing begins four minutes wash time apparel washed so gently in her favorite detergent at low agitation and by thorough balanced sergillator washing action wash water temperature just right to get clothes sparkling and remove all wear wrinkles this is equally true of this regular washer or the big capacity washer dryer combination where wash and wear gets the same thorough gentle care while being exclusively washed with water not in water after the washing agitation in the regular washer the wash water is now gradually cooled down by cold water tempering while the clothes are still in suspension this cools the fibers and avoids wrinkles that might occur during the drain out and during the spin cycle as clothes receive their thorough cold water spin spray rinses followed by the low agitation deep cold water rinse and then low speed spinning to damp dry clothes and now the wash and wear is ready for the dryer drying wash and wear is equally important remember we want enough heat to soften fibers and remove wear wrinkles but not enough to disturb preset creases as with the washer she uses the dryers automatic fabric guide again color keyed for every fabric she simply dials to color no guesswork on her part to choose the special wash and wear setting she selects it choosing perhaps 30 minutes drying time depending on the load and with this single setting she automatically gets the proper safe drying temperature for wash and wear and now the clothes are gently tumble dried in safe tempered heat again this is equally true of the regular dryer or the washer dryer combination always fast safe drying of wash and wear that protects every fiber with the right temperatures and whether in the combination or regular dryer during the final 10 minutes wash and wear items are gradually cooled down as they are tumbled in unheated air a special feature that prevents wrinkles from being set when the dryer stops and the sunshine fresh results the wash and wear suit the wash and wear dress ready to wear now the creases raise a sharp dress pleats all in place seems like a miracle and it is the most modern the most automatic washing and drying service to match the most modern fabrics in family wear I believe this is where we came in in case you're worried they step back just in time