Technical library
Application notes, troubleshooting guides, a glossary and the dosage chart.
12 questions to ask a textile auxiliary supplier before you buy
A supplier decision is not made on the price per kilo. Twelve questions to put to a textile auxiliary supplier, why each one matters and what a solid answer sounds like.
Dye migration in pad-dry: working back from the fault you see
If the two faces of the cloth differ, the fault is in drying rather than in dyeing. Working back from the symptom means checking the range before the dosage.
Chlorine-free denim bleaching with laccase: what it changes
Laccase does not lift indigo off the cloth; it destroys the colour in place. What the chlorine-free route takes out of the recipe, and what it adds.
Choosing a wetting agent: nonionic, anionic or mercerising
Wetting agent selection is settled by the alkali load of the bath and by what else is dosed into it, not by wetting speed. Where each ionic character works, and where it fails.
Choosing a formaldehyde-free fixing agent for reactive and direct dyes
A fixing agent lifts wash fastness, can cost light fastness and shifts the shade. How formaldehyde-free grades differ from the condensate generation, and what each dye class can expect.
Choosing a silicone softener: handle, yellowing and emulsion stability
Amino content produces the softness and the yellowing from the same groups. Choosing a silicone means deciding where to stop on that trade-off.
Washing-off after reactive dyeing: getting the hydrolysed dye out
A fastness problem on reactive dyeings is not a dye problem. Wet fastness is whatever the hydrolysed dye left on the cloth allows it to be.
Choosing a sequestering agent and peroxide stabiliser for the bleach bath
Sequestrant selection starts with a water analysis, not a recipe. Choose the product without knowing which metal dominates and you have bought a chemical that does not do its job.
Neutral cellulase stone washing: contrast without the stones
The enzyme does the stone's job more cleanly and hands you a new problem: released indigo. How to hold the contrast and keep the pocketing white.
Choosing an antifoam: silicone or oil-based
An antifoam suppresses foam, but the foam usually comes from a wetting agent already in the recipe. Which type works where, and where the spots come from.
Crease marks: why the rope keeps folding in the same place
An anti-creasing agent only covers the margin the machine leaves. Find out why the rope keeps folding in the same place first; the chemistry comes after that.
Clearing residual peroxide after bleaching with catalase
Catalase saves a bath and the steam that goes with it, and does nothing at all if it is dosed in the wrong order. Never dye before you have proved the peroxide left.
Choosing and running a desizing enzyme on cotton
Most desizing failures are not enzyme failures. They are a size the enzyme cannot touch, or a TEGEWA reading nobody took. What actually decides the outcome.
Back-staining in denim washing: why it happens and how to stop it
Most complaints on a stone wash are not about too little abrasion. They are about back-staining. Where the indigo coming off the garment goes, and why it comes back.
Enzyme deactivation: where the unexplained strength loss comes from
An enzyme that was never stopped keeps working, and the loss gets booked to some other step. How to build a deactivation step you can actually prove.
Acid cellulase bio-polishing: pH, temperature and the strength trade-off
Bio-polishing is not difficult, it is narrow. Let the pH drift and nothing happens; let the time run and the fabric weakens. What decides where in the window you stop.
Unlevelness: reading the pattern to find the cause and save the batch
Unlevelness is a symptom, not a fault. The diagnosis starts by reading how the difference is distributed across the cloth, not by picking a levelling agent.
Glossary
Dosage chart
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