Summer Workshop Series #3: Why Do Some Fabrics Stain More Easily?

During Thread of Hope’s Summer Workshop Series #3 on July 25, students explore why liquids interact differently with cotton and polyester and what this means for staining, cleaning, and fabric care.

Students look closely at the molecular structures of both materials. They learn that cotton contains many groups that can form hydrogen bonds, making it more polar and more likely to interact with water. Polyester, with its ester linkages and less-polar structure, behaves differently when exposed to liquids.

The workshop also introduces chromatography, a method scientists use to separate substances according to properties such as polarity. Through demonstrations and hands-on testing, students connect molecular structure to changes they can actually observe on fabric. By the end, they understand that the way a fabric absorbs or resists a stain begins with chemistry at the molecular level.