I don't have any answers for you Dani, but something along the same topic...

My sister swears by dryer balls. Now I don't typically dry my own clothes in the dryer, with a few exceptions. But she swears that these dryer balls cut the drying time down by as much as 15 minutes for towels and even longer for thinner items. I picked up a pair at CVS for $10. Have not had the opportunity to use them yet, but I'll let you all know if they work. (The packaging claims they eliminate the need for fabric softener as well, but my sister did not think that was the case.) Speaking of fabric softener--dryer sheets are bad for your dryer. Most people do not know this. If you have a dryer with a sensor that turns off the dryer when the clothes are dry, the sheets can leave a waxy buildup on these sensors and rendering them useless. The wax also builds up on your lint trap screen. So, if you do use a fabric softener, a liquid one used in the washer is better for your dryer. Just an FYI...

Sorry to hijack, Dani...

I'm sure Shiny will chime in as our YLF laundry queen. But I use Trader Joes detergent and can’t complain. I do not dry our clothes in the dryer. This is where I believe the damage is done.

Angie, do you find you have to touch everything up with an iron because air drying makes clothes so wrinkly? Do you have any hints on that? I find my ironing pile growing out of control lately.

I've used 7th generation and didn't notice any problems. Lately I've been using Costco liquid fragrance-free stuff, mostly for convenience. I do wash all my stuff on cold and don't put it in the dryer. Kids' clothes, that's another story :) I don't use fabric softener.

I'm not sure if PH level of the water would come into play... just a thought.

I use 7th generation, both the regular powder kind for normal washes, and the bottled liquid kind for delicates, and have been happy with it. I wash most of my tops and non-denim pants and skirts with the liquid stuff, on delicate cycle and on cold.
I did start using Whisk for my white denim upon Shiny's recommendation. It's good, though I gotta say I'm hopeless with white clothes and will even outwit Whisk :-(

Nicole, I spend money on laundry. Greg’s shirts, our knitwear, our jackets and my dresses and blouses go to the cleaners. Underwear and workout wear I wash and tumble dry. Bras I hand wash on our delicate cycle and leave to air dry. Everything else gets washed and air dried. I pop jeans into the dryer for 2 minutes on low once they’re dry to get rid of wrinkles. I do the same with Greg’s undershirts. I iron few things like white jeans, the odd knitted top or fancy shirt. I’ve found that taking the time to fold and put away clothes neatly and properly after they’ve dried is key. It really helps wrinkles hang out, especially when the fabric composition is a blend (naturals mixed with manmade fibres). This laundry strategy may not work for everyone, but it really works for us. Our clothes never shrink and look pristine for longer.

Hmmm...Maybe I'm hanging them to dry incorrectly. I don't have a clothes line, so instead I use a wooden rack. If it's nice out, I'll drag the rack outside, but I'm leary of sun bleaching too...so I tend to dry in my laundry room. Everything is so wrinkly coming off the rack that I end up putting it in the iron pile. I have not tried folding out or hanging out the wrinkles.

We use an all-natural detergent. We used to use Seventh Generation, but then my step-father gave us some other natural kind (I forget the name), so we're using that right now. I've never noticed any problem. Like Angie, we take our nicer clothing (suits, etc...) either to the dry cleaner, or we hand wash them, which is usually an acceptable substitute, even if the tag says dry clean only. We almost always line dry, then pop the clothing into the dryer for a couple of minutes to soften.

Ah ha Christie! Your laundry strategy is like ours.

Nicole, I hang and air dry in a cupboard and pop a few things over a rack, but not many. Perhaps 2-3 things per load.

I started line-drying years out ago out of necessity, trying to preserve the length of jeans (I wear a 34 inseam and need every fraction of an inch). Now I hang most things to dry in the laundry room in the basement, but I do tumble dry cotton underwear, workout gear, tanks, socks and jams. There are a few items that I wash by hand- sundress, knitted tops, bathing suits- and then let them dry on a rack. Nicole, sometimes it helps in the summer to dry most of the way indoors, then pop the clothes on a rack outdoors to let them finish drying. The breeze seems to help soften up the clothing and release any wrinkling but then you avoid sun bleaching because you don't put them out for long. Sometimes when I'm trying to speed along the drying process on a pair of jeans I put them outside because they dry fast in the sun with a breeze, but I try not to do that too much. Really, the only downside to hanging to dry indoors is that it takes longer and can make your clothes feel stiff (especially jeans), but it helps to preserve your clothing.

I use Seventh Generation because it is environmentally responsible as well as easy on my skin. Recently I purchased a cheaper detergent to try to save some money, and I'm still suffering from intense itching all over my body.
I wash everything in the machine, but hang everything to dry. In this Texas heat, things dry in just a few hours.
I do wash all of my delicates with Seventh Generation.
Since I wash in cold water only, I do not separate wash my color, but by fabric and wash cycle type.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I should have been more specific about the problem. It occurs in the washer as I don't dry most of our clothes. Unfortunately, the color removal happens when I wash in cold. I do have to wash in warm and hot occasionally since I have some clothes that require a little more than cold to come clean, but the clothes I wash on warm and hot are play clothes and things that I'm not as concerned about preserving.

Marianne, I hadn't thought about the PH of our water, but I guess that could be part of the problem.

I will also try Seventh Generation to see if that works any better. I guess it will just come down to experimenting to see what works. Thanks for all your comments.

Dani, try Method brand (sold at Target, but also available online) once and see what you think. I have used this for over a year, and haven't had any fading problems with that brand, and it is environmentally friendly.

I use All Free & Clear for sheets and towels, and Woolite for clothing. I also wash everything on cold (except sheets and towels), and I sometimes have color bleeding. I'm not sure how to prevent it (it's not bad enough that it bothers me and it only happens with my cheaper kick-around clothing), but if you want to keep it from dying other laundry, I use those Shout Color Catchers, and they work great.

Dani, do you find the clothes lose color even after a few washes--or just the initial wash? Are the clothes coming from the same store/brand?

I hadn't thought to put my air dried clothes in the dryer for a few minutes to eliminate the wrinkles. I'll have to try that. I spent over an hour ironing this evening. Not something I'm going to want to do when it gets hot again.

Shiny, I thought of you tonight while ironing. How come certain fabrics get shiny when they are ironed? Is this where I should be using a damp cloth between the garment and the iron? Will ironing the garment inside out help? Is my iron set too high? (I am a lazy ironer, I set it as high as it goes, and steam everything!)

Nicole, I read that you should iron all your garments inside out. It didn't explain why, but I thought it was because there was a chance you could scorch the fabric. I am probably totally wrong though. I've started ironing my stuff inside out, just in case.

What are you ironing on high? I only iron my silk stuff when it gets wrinkly in between professional cleanings, and you definitely can't do that on high because then it will burn.

Nicole, the clothes are all different brands and sometimes it happens on the first wash and other times after that. I think the times it's happened after the first wash, I wasn't as careful as I usually am when I add the detergent. I found that when I added the clothes after the detergent, I had a higher instance of the color loss, so I started saturating the clothes in the washer to make sure they were good and wet and then adding the detergent. I should probably add that my washer is 12 years old, so that may be some of the issue as well as I'm using newer detergent geared for HE machines now. Anyway, I'm hoping switching detergents might help.

About ironing, try ironing inside out as Ana suggested. You could also use a press cloth if it's too hard to iron the garment inside out.