The £7.99 washing machine dye promising to rescue Britain’s fading black clothes

Vamoosh is betting that one of the answers to disposable fashion may be surprisingly ordinary: putting faded clothes back in the washing machine

Black clothes have one particularly irritating characteristic. They rarely remain properly black.

The deterioration is gradual. A favourite pair of jeans begins to lose its depth. A cotton T shirt becomes slightly washed out. After enough cycles, the garment may be perfectly wearable but somehow looks tired enough to be pushed towards the back of the wardrobe.

Vamoosh believes there is a relatively simple answer.

The cleaning brand has launched Wash & Dye, a £7.99 black fabric dye intended to restore faded clothing and household textiles in an ordinary washing machine.

There is nothing particularly revolutionary about dyeing clothes. What Vamoosh is attempting to change is the inconvenience traditionally associated with doing it at home.

Its new product comes ready to use, without the separate salt, measuring or mixing associated with some fabric dyes. The packet is opened and placed directly into the washing machine drum with dry clothing before running a wash.

The company says one cycle can restore a deep and even black to faded jeans, T shirts, bedding, towels and other suitable fabrics.

That simplicity could prove important.

For all the fashion industry's grand conversations about sustainability, the decisions that determine how long clothes remain in use are often considerably less glamorous. A missing button gets ignored. A hem comes loose. White trainers become grubby. Black jeans turn grey.

None necessarily makes an item unusable, but each can make replacement increasingly tempting.

The growing popularity of resale and clothing repair has already challenged the assumption that every wardrobe update requires something new. Fabric recolouring belongs to the same broader idea, even if it lacks the fashionable credentials of vintage shopping.

For consumers, there is also a straightforward financial argument. If an otherwise good pair of jeans can be made presentable again for a fraction of the cost of replacing it, keeping clothes longer becomes as much an economic decision as an environmental one.

Vamoosh says Wash & Dye produces a deeper black than leading alternatives currently available and does so at a more competitive price. These are the company's own comparative claims, but they reveal an ambition to compete in an established category rather than simply add another specialist cleaning product to its range.

The launch also takes Vamoosh beyond some of the household problems on which it has built its name.

Its existing products include a Pet Hair Dissolver designed to remove pet hair from laundry, as well as washing machine cleaner and plughole products. The common thread is convenience: taking jobs people already need to do and attempting to make them easier.

Wash & Dye applies that thinking to the wardrobe.

There is a broader cultural shift working in its favour. Buying fewer things and looking after them properly has increasingly become an alternative to the relentless turnover encouraged by fast fashion.

It is hardly a return to the old fashioned culture of make do and mend. Most people are unlikely to begin routinely repairing every garment they own.

But there is something increasingly sensible about asking whether an item actually needs replacing before buying another one.

Sometimes it may need repairing. Sometimes it needs cleaning properly.

And sometimes, perhaps, it simply needs to be black again.

Vamoosh Wash & Dye Black Fabric Dye is priced at £7.99 and is available from Vamoosh and Amazon.