ISO 15797:2002

ISO 15797 specifies test procedures and equipment which can be used in the evaluation of cotton, polyester/cotton and reverse blend workwear intended to be industrially laundered. They serve as a basis for testing relevant properties such as dimensional stability, colour fastness, creasing and seam puckering. This International Standard does not provide instructions and specifications for the procedures and equipment to be used by industrial launderers.

Since it is not possible, in practice, to reproduce industrial laundry processes (washing and finishing) in a laboratory setting, ISO 15797 provides an approach using defined intermediate scale equipment and exacting test procedures which may be used for the evaluation of workwear intended to be laundered industrially.

The methods described in this International Standard simulate the effect of industrial laundering on workwear. Provision is made for eight different washing procedures based on the use of a front- or side-loading horizontal rotating drum type washer/extractor. Each washing procedure is considered to represent a single industrial wash.

ISO 15797 also specifies two drying/finishing test procedures, namely tumble drying and tunnel/cabinet finishing.