crocking
Today I learned that crocking is the fabric industry term for when color is abraded off a fabric. This is presumably from the idea of a crockpot being, at one point, used in ashes, and thus anything (or anybody) who touched such a pot would risk being smudged. Or maybe etymology is a crock of shit, I dunno. But the test to see if a dyed fabric is colorfast is a crocking test.
Relatedly, I have learned that the machine for testing how well fabric holds up to abrasion is a Wyzenbeek machine. More accurately, the United States standard is a Wyzenbeek machine; the EU measures in Martindales.
Thanks,
-Ed.
