How can I keep my clothes from fading?

Hand wash your clothes; the agitator on washing machines is harsh. If you must use a machine, turn your clothes inside-out before washing them, add a bit of vinegar to the wash and use cold water. Also, obviously don't wash them anymore than necessary.

* Wash them in cold water * Turn them inside out * Use the delicate cycle * Buy a gentle detergent * Air-dry instead of using the dryer

The dryer is the key. Don't. Hang them to dry, iron to get the wrinkles out, if you care. And use water as cool as possible (if they get greasy, you need at least warmish water). And work on getting all superior because you have cool old faded clothes, instead of garish new clothes.

Wash inside out, in cold water, and don't put them in the dryer.

This is what I do: Wash in cold water, inside-out, as mentioned above. Put in dryer (still inside-out) on delicate cycle, low or no heat, just long enough for the wrinkles to get jostled out of them. Hang up (right side out now), with all buttons buttoned and zippers zipped. Rarely do I have to iron anymore, and my dark clothes stay dark much longer.

Don't use bleach, or Oxi-Clean, or any laundry detergent that contains bleach or bleaching agents (read the labels!). Use half as much detergent as the box recommends. Do not use hot water -- warm or cold will get nearly everything clean (I use hot when I'm washing camp bedding, and not much else). Use white vinegar instead of fabric softener. Do not overdry. I have shirts that are older than my HS grad that aren't faded other than at wear lines (collar seams, hems, inseams, etc) or from the sun. I don't handwash anything except handknits (and not all of them).

Change detergents. Tide, I've noticed, is especially bad. My clothes never fade anymore since I switched from Tide and I'm pretty cavalier about laundry. I'll turn some things inside out if I'm washing a load of delicate shirts, for example, but everything else pretty much gets washed on cold with Kirkland HE liquid laundry detergent. Also, avoid optical brighteners and fabric softeners.

I hang all my dark clothes under cover to stop them fading. I'm in a sub tropical climate, so they dry no problem, but consider hanging them on a drying rack indoors if you have the space. Small frequent loads help with this. Save the sunshine for underwear. If you must hand things in the sun, turn them inside out so they fade on the side that no-one sees. I also use a specialist wash on my clothes - http://www.radiantlaundry.com.au/TheRadiantRange.aspx. Wool wash is also good because of how gentle it is. Always use cold water. Vinegar is also awesome for setting color, and I'd reccomend running a litre of the stuff through clothes that get a lot of sweaty body contact (t-shirts and the like) every now and then to kill off any BO causing bacteria.

http://ask.metafilter.com/40072/Save-my-Shirts.