We’ll be looking at how to remove drywipe ink from clothing. This article examines the direct application of ink to clothing, where the pen marks the fabric directly. Article 1, on the other hand, looks at the indirect application of ink, transferring the dry marks onto clothing.
How and When is This an Issue?
This usually happens when a drywipe marker touches your clothes—either by resting the tip on yourself, dropping it and it marks you on the way down, or even on purpose (especially with children). Most of the time, it’s accidental and hard to avoid.
So, What Can We Do?
Direct drywipe ink onto clothing is by far the worst when it comes to cleaning. This is due to the way in which drywipe ink works.
No matter which brand of drywipe markers you have been using, unless they specifically state that the ink is washable from clothing there isn’t much that can be done, yet, we’re still working on it.
As this conversation comes up often, we have been looking at a wide range of stain removers on the market. We have looked at several groups of products and their availability to help you choose.
In all of the testing, unless you have the correct solution and act before the ink dries, less than 15 seconds on average, then it doesn’t seem to make a difference if you wait minutes, hours or days before cleaning as the results were the same for us. This comes down to the way in which the alcohol dries and leaves behind the pigments, the damage is done already.
Post-Washing
We applied the ink directly to the shirt in a standardised block of ink. We then numbered the different markers -extreme, we know.
The ink was left on the shirt 8 hours, which we believe is a normal amount of time for a child to get ink on clothing in the morning and a parent will put a wash on in the evening.
Very few of the marks faded, and even then it was by such a small amount.
Still have questions? Get in touch with our customer care team.
This blog was updated on 02/07/25.