Lower-Impact Cotton Pretreatment Systems

Shahi Exports, one of India’s largest apparel manufacturers, has partnered with Innovo Fiber to deploy the Fibre52® cotton pretreatment technology at an industrial scale within its knit processing facility. This venture marks the largest global rollout of this lower-impact cotton processing system to date.

The Fibre52® innovation replaces conventional cotton pretreatment methods, which are typically resource-intensive, with a low-temperature biochemical platform that uses chemistries approved by the Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals and OEKO-TEX® standards. The technology also reportedly completely eliminates the need for caustic soda. The companies claim that Fibre52® preserves the cotton fiber's natural wax and softness, resulting in fabric that feels different to the touch without additional chemical softeners.

Following a structured validation process involving trials of five metric tons, 20 metric tons, and finally 100 metric tons of fabric, the results demonstrated approximately 25% less water usage and 49% less steam consumption compared to conventional pretreatment systems.

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