The recent notification from the European Commission, requiring clothing manufacturers and importers to identify, quantify and record the chemicals used in their products. These regulations came into force last June. But companies only had until 1 December to complete the pre-registration process and there are concerns...

Various interest groups are strengthening the trend towards environmentally friendly production methods. Among these are farmers, consumer organisations and companies which are suffering from increasing competition and environmental regulations. For all of these, the effects of intensive cotton cultivation cannot be ignored....

The wool fibre is composed of the protein keratin, which consists of long polypeptide chains built from eighteen different amino acids. Most of these acids have the general formula H2N.CHR.COOH, in which R is a side chain of varying character....

Any coloured compound is not a Dye or Dyestuff. A dye is a coloured organic compound that absorbs light strongly in the visible region and can firmly attach to the fiber by virtue of chemical and physical bonding between group of the dye and group on the fiber. To be of commercial importance a dye should be fast to light, rubbing and water....

In an ever more competitive global market which represents close to $700 billion, the textile industry is seeking new sources of innova¬tion, one of which is biotechnology. In 1996, the global enzyme mar¬ket for textiles amounted to just $178 million. However, textile and Apparel companies are now spending more time and money on envi¬ronmentally relevant issues...

Cotton is the backbone of the world's textile trade. It has many qualities and countless end uses, which make it one of the most abundantly, used textile fibres in the world. It is a seed hair of plant of genus gossypium, the purest form of cellulose found in nature. However, cotton is one of the most problematic fibres as far as its general wet processing or dyeing is concerned...