With today’s exploding clothing markets of leisure / casual wear and sportswear, garment wet processing has emerged as one of the better production routes toward meeting the quick changing fashion market demands.

Since the beginning of manufacturing as we know it there has been struggle to control process variables. The demand has always been quality. In the competitive environment of most industries particularly the textile and apparel industries, quality excellence together with effective customer service and technological and fashion Innovations are the major attributes to attract the stronger customer base and thus place a company in a dominant position within the industry.

During washing it was noticed that once the jeans were washed faced out they use to pick up levels of abrasion on the seams and other areas thus giving a worn out look, here came the introduction of of pumice stones in order do get a abraded look. Jeans were being washed in order to give a worn out look. Since early 80’s pumice stones were introduced manufacturers has constantly tried various other material in order to replace dreaded pumice stones. Because of its abrasive nature, the pumice stones, whilst giving the desired effect on jeans, was infact wearing out the machines at alarming rate. Other materials were being tried to replace pumice stones, but no vain.

Mid 80’s saw the introduction of enzymes in the washing processes. It was found that enzymes reacted in many ways to give a worn out appearance on the jeans. It appeared that the need for the pumice stones count, and was, dramatically reduced in the wash processes.

The introduction of cellulases into the denim finishing industry was quite dramatic. Whilst assisting the complete and partial removal of stones, one aspect was very apparent. This was the most expensive chemical that has been introduced to this industry. The controls that were required to optimise the cellulase was far beyond any previous requirements in denim finishing.

Once the washing processes started, so did the problems of washing and softening. Various methods were incorporated inorder to give washed out and softened garments. The various practical problems, alongwith the reasons and solutions, being faced by processor are mentioned as below.

The various steps involved in garment/Denim wet processing moves as follow:

Desizing>>>>>>Abrasion>>>>>>Bleaching>>>>>>Neutralization>>>>>>Softening

1. Streaks

Streaks can be caused by improper desizing, undesirable fabric characteristics and excessive creasing of the garments before washing. Streaking can occur in the desize, the enzyme / stonewash process, or both. In some cases, too much enzyme will exaggerate the streaks by enhancing the abrasion on the crease too quickly.

Improper desizing process is one of the main culprits for these streak formations. A good general approach to desizing will involve most of the following items.

• Load size is maintained at about 50 to 60% of the rated machine capacity. Heavier loads donot move well in the wash wheel and unevenness in shade and crease marks will appear in the final garment. Exceptions to this would include special cases of unusual garments such as fleece lined jackets or extraordinary weight denim (either light or heavy) where the load may be adjusted up or down as the garments permit.


• Water levels have historically been maintained high levels usually higher than normal levels for laundry, but not the point of overflow or to the extent that the garments will float. However many fabrics are now available that respond to medium or low water levels, and these fabrics actually tend to streak with high water levels.


• The total running time of the desizing should be kept minimum to limit the undesired abrasion and excessive colour loss. This should be also aided by including the soak time in the process to allow the garments to completely wet out and become more flexible before starting the agitation, thus reducing the streaks


• Wherever possible the washwheel should be stopped while the water is filling or draining.


• Addition of non ionic lubricants and wetting agents to the water and then loading of garments helps in preventing the streaks as it allows complete wetting out of garments and produce enough garment to garment and garment to machine lubrication, thus preventing the white streaks and crack marks.


• Extra precaution like preremoval of hard creases, prebreaking of the sizing films definitely helps in reducing the risks of streak marks.

Obtaining good contrast between the blue and white yarns is often described as minimizing the backstaining of indigo onto the white yarns although this is not strictly the case. The contrast is the difference between the “blueness” of the blue yarns and the “whiteness” of the white yarns. But this is difficult to quantify, so backstaining is a good place to start in assessing the contrast. The backstaining can be quantified by measuring the redeposition of indigo onto white denim.

Backstaining can be evaluated visually. Another option is to use the reflectance values. The inside of the garments is only the place where the differences in backstaining can be measured. It is known in the industry that the backstaining on the inside of the garment is used as an indication of the degree of backstaining on the outside of the garment. However, the backstaining on the outside of the garment is most important to the quality of the final look. The amount of backstaining is sometimes compared by looking at the pockets of the garments. In general it is better to visualize backstaining from the back of the denim rather than the pockets, since the pockets are constructed from variety of different fabrics. The backstaining on pocket fabrics does not correlate to backstaining on the denim fabric. Polyester blends, for example, can pick up dye readily even when there is no backstaining at all on the denim portion of the garments.

Controlling backstaining is a particularly important in the following types of finishes:

• Finish that require extremely high levels of abrasion and high contrast.


• Finishing on fabrics, which contain high percentage of indigo, and/or sulphur dye components that tend to redeposit.

In case using Acid enzymes split cycles helps in reducing the backstaining. Also shorter the cycle less the backstaining.

Rate of backstaining is directly proportional to temperature; with the advancement of genetic engineering enzymes are available, which can work efficiently at low temperatures. These enzymes have supported in reducing the levels of backstaining.

Rinsing/ Clean Up cycle: This is one of the most important factors, which at times is overlooked. Two to three short rinses of two seconds each done with high water levels helps in cleaning the garment well and taking out the loose indigo. A scour cycle after enzyme helps in pulling out the loose indigo. At times processors have also found the use of little quantity of Sodium Hypo Chlorite in the clean up cycle helps in pulling out the loose indigo dye.

At times it has been noticed that hard water comprising of ferrous ions tends to lead more backstaining. In case the water is hard and have these metal ion contents it is recommended to use chelating and sequestering agents in order to reduce the amount of backstaining.

The real art lies in not allowing the backstaining happen, as it is really very difficult to remove once the colour build up in the wash cycle. The use of non-ionic surfactants and dispersing agent helps in holding the indigo dye in the bath thus minimizing the backstaining.

3. Tensile Strength/ Fraying

This is unnecessary weakening of the garments. While processing garments with enzyme the most important thing is to select right chemicals after understanding the initial strength of the fabric.

The tensile strength and weakening of garment is due to unnecessary abrasion, which can be either mechanically or chemically. It is recommended to use right amount of chemicals especially enzymes. . Overdose of enzymes tend to degrade the fabric drastically.The enzymes should be deactivated by increasing the pH to 10 and increasing the temperature more than 70 deg C. The leftover residual enzymes tend to weaken the fabric during storage.

In case of using stones the stones used should be in right volume and right size. Time also being an important factor to give mechanical abrasion the process time should be controlled strictly in order to prevent unnecessary abrasion.

The tensile loss also occurs in case of improper bleaching. The pH during bleaching should not go below 9 as below 9 Cellulose degrades to form Oxycellulose thus weakening the fabric. The bleaching should be done within small bleaching cycles. In case light shades are desired it is better to use two-bleach cycle rather than one.

4. Yellowing/Dullness

The reasons identified for yellowing and dullness in the garments are as:

• Softeners


• Inherent property of Ozone fading of Indigo dye

Cationic softeners at times give yellowing. While choosing a Cationic Softeners it is important to check the tendency of the Cationic to give yellowing.

Indigo has got an inherent property to give yellowness due to Ozone fading. Using Antiozonate softeners can prevent this.

5. Variations

• Variations can be garment to garment


• Variations can be wuthin the garments

a) Uncontrolled process parameters

• pH of the bath


• Temperature of the bath


• Water Levels


• Timings


• Light Source

b) Fabric Lots: At times different fabric lots cut together cause a lot of problem and gives variations in the end garments.

c) Improper bleaching

• Water levels


• Dosing

Bleaching should be done in high water levels so that during the stop time of the machine the garments are completely immersed in water, as at times it tends to give variation within the garment due to exposed area that will be out of the bleach bath.

The other issue to be taken care in bleaching is the bleach strength as the most usual bleach used is Sodium Hypochlorite, which has the tendency to loose strength with time.

Initial fabric lot variation has been one of the major reasons for variation of the garment. This can be identified by doing blanket wash and segregating the rolls so that rolls of similar shade are cut and sewn together and they can go in washing as one lot.

6. Handfeel

Handfeel has been a concern of all garment manufacturers. The biggest problem in handfeel is different people have different perception. Whenever trying to achieve a handfeel right understanding of the handfeel required is very important.

Once the required handfeel is identified it is important to select right softeners as different softeners has different advantages and disadvantages.

One of the basic reasons for poor handfeel is poor exhaustion of softeners. In order to exhaust softeners it is important to use right process parameters i.e. in general all cationic softeners exhaust well into the fabric between 5 to 5.5 pH at a temperature of 45 Degrees Celsius. Low hydro extraction and then tumble-drying gives good handfeel to the garments.

At times a cool drying cycle after a hot drying always tends to give good handfeel.

7. Smell

One of the basic problems of garment processors is that the garment tends to give unwanted smell after the processing or once they are opened from the poly bags.

The first thing which is needed to be understood is that various chemicals has the tendency to smell and therefore the choice of chemicals being used should be according to the smell characteristics which it is going to impart to the garment. The main culprits in causing the smell in the garments are residual chlorine, cationic softeners and acetic acid. To prevent these it is important to neutralize the garments well once they are treated with chlorine bleaches. Improper neutralization will always leave the garment give a pungent smell of chlorine.

The garments should be tumble dried well so that the smell of Acetic acid is not leftover alongwith this tumble drying also help in complete removal of dampness which can be cause of smell when stacked together. It is important that once the garment is dried completely in tumble drying the garments should go in ironing once they have come to their normal temperature. Before packing it is very important to see that the garments has achieved the normal conditions as any trapped heat will cause the smell in the garment once the bags are reopened. It is also important to choose a right cationic softener, as while using softeners our main function is to give a good handfeel and no other characteristics other than that.

Precautions and Guidelines in general for better process optimizations thus better economics.

• Never inject live steam once the enzymes have been dosed, as enzymes tend to deactivate in the presence of live steam.


• In order of choosing machinery it’s always recommended to use a washwheel with 42” diameter anything less than will not optimize on the mechanical abrasion part as abrasion cycle is the combination of mechanical and chemical abrasion.


• The RPM of the machine also is a very important factor for denim processing. The right RPM of the machine should be between 28 and 32. Anything less than this will not allow the garment to fall from the maximum distance thus reducing the mechanical abrasion. And anything more than this will make the garments rotate on the walls of the washwheel thus giving no mechanical abrasion.


• Long threads leftover after stitching should be cut before washing, as they tend to entangle the garment in the washwheel and give localized abrasion causing streaks.


• The chemical dosing should be done in appropriate manner and should be properly weighed before dosing in the machine.


• The chemical storage should be done in accordance to the recommendation of the chemical supplier. Proper storage will keep the chemicals stable for a longer period of time. The storage of chemicals should never be done near the boiler, generator or other heat pockets.


• Chemicals should not be prediluted and kept without the recommendation of the chemical supplier.


• In case of using a number of chemicals in one bath it is important to check the compatibility of each chemical with the other.

 The discipline approach toward garment washing consist of

• Customer PO received for garment washing as per the samples submitted


• Garments drawn from stitching or the warehouse


• Garment lots separated into production batches of appropriate size for finishing.


• An exact count, weight, construction and other physicals are obtained.


• Visual inspection of garments prior to finishing. A sampling is further checked for conformity with the expected in-coming garment quality coming.


• Production batches are staged for processing. Batch tickets are created according to the samples approved with their specified processing program.


• First time processing: One or two maximum two batches are processed and garments are inspected for overall appearance, procedural conformity, shade against standard, etc.


• The first time processing is approved


• Batches released for full production.


• Every batch is checked against set standards (Visual, aesthetics and performance)


• Processing parameters are strictly monitored for continuity and reproducibility
  Processed goods are sent to final finishing or packed and shipped to the customer.

It is apparent from the above sequence that the monitoring of quality starts from the moment the garments enter the warehouse and does not end until the finished apparel products enter the retail stream and are found to be of high quality by the end consumer.

The manufacturing sequence discussed above shows that finishing or enzyme washing is not one time, one batch event but rather a continuous activity that must be monitored all the time and at all stages in order to achieve and maintain “QUALITY EXCELLENCE”.