Before wearing this dress, I hand-washed it in cold water w a little bit of diluted detergent, then hung it to drip dry. I was disappointed to find that the brown parts had bled in several places, most notably on the sleeves. ( the brown bled as a bright watery pink ). After doing a Google search to see of any remedies, I rewashed in an Oxiclean product which removed nearly all of the unwanted color that bled. PHEW But really didnt want a double laundry chore & stress before even wearing this once.