Some of our fabrics these days are just not that high of quality and will wear out quickly. If you are using an powder with sodium percarbonate (oxygen bleach) it will lighten clothing eventually.

I hope the real laundry experts come by, but this is what I do.

for darks, I wash on warm to very warm, on a permipress type cycle. Never "Normal" or "Regular" because those cycles are rough and are only there to meet the standards set forth for the energy star ratings, I believe. They will be harder on the clothes. Use a detergent designed for darks, such as powdered Cheer. There is a bit of oxygen bleach in the Cheer, but it is there to neutralize the household water chlorine. Its not there to provide whitening. Or you could use a liquid for darks such as Peroll for blacks, but that gets expensive if you have a lot of laundry. I usually dry by hanging or on a gentle cycle, lower heat. Dryers kill fabrics on high temps. I have several black slacks for work that are poly with stretch, and they look about as good as the day I bought them 4 years ago. They get washed weekly in Peroll on warm (104f) or very warm (120f) water and hung to dry. The threads are starting to wear.

For medium colors, I use something like Cheer powder, or Peroll for colors, or Miele powder for colors. Again, on warm or very warm, and dry on lower heat.

For whites, I use an oxygen bleach in my powder detergent. I still have a bunch of Persil Powder left and use it for all heavy duty cleaning. They don't make the powder any longer so I stocked up. Tide has a variety of powders. I use hot hot water. My hand towels get washed in 190f temps, because the are used on our working farm by my DH with grimy hands. The other whites get washed in 140f temps, which is my Hot cycle. My whites include my DH tee shirts, socks, and shorts, in addition to my white bath and kitchen linens.

Sheets get washed in hot water (140f), even if they recommend cold. Hot water gets the body oils out of fabric. I use a gentler detergent then Persil, such as Grab Green. They have enzymes and some oxy, but no brighteners. I also use Le Blanc Linen Wash liquid sometimes. It smells good, but is expensive and sometimes I get tired of the smell, lol.

For delicate clothing, I use Purex liquid, the one without any enzymes or brighteners. I use a hand wash cycle, and hang to dry. Cool water.

Wools, silks, and down, I'll use a product made for those fibers and feathers. If there is no enzyme in the detergent it should be ok, but you have to know what to look for on the bottles to determine this.

I second what Enduring said.

For stain remover, members here use Shout or Spray and Wash and such. I've read that some members rub some of the Fels Naptha bar soap on stains before going into the wash cycle. I use a dollop of liquid Tide on the stain if needed, then rub it in, then throw in the wash. That usually erases the stain for me. I also use the stain remover gel made by Ecover on super tough ring around the collar if after the liquid Tide pre-treatment, it left behind a smudge of the ring around the collar after a pre-wash cycle. I pull that item out to inspect before proceeding into the official wash cycle to determine if Ecover stain remover is needed.

I normally don't pre-treat stains except for ring around the collar and don't have a problem, but from what I gather, my experience is rather unusual. I use powdered Tide, Mexican Ariel, All or Cheer.

Agreed that fabrics today are not what they used to be. I have some rather new kitchen towels that are shredded on the same side seam. I can't tell if my Speed Queen TL is being too rough on them, or if this is poor fabric quality.

Sea Sea, I bet your towels have short staple fibers in the yarn that makes up the weave of the toweling. I bought old huck toweling towels off ebay and they get hot water wash and are fine. I bet the first 20 or so years they frequently saw a top loader and hot water.

Probably Enduring. I miss the old fabrics...

@SEA SEA - I have linen sheets that were beginning to shed and the natural slubs were opening up. I couldn't figure it out until I saw a sheet wrapped around the agitator of of the top loader I was using.

After I moved and got my front loader this stopped completely. I think there was tremendous friction from the agitator. Newer textiles just aren't as durable for a host of reasons, as we've discussed. From my recent experience I have come to feel that the edges on a top loader agitator may be a component of premature wear.