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Existing textile exhaust finishing methods require higher liquor ratios, such as 1:5 and 1:10, leading to energy wastage, chemicals wastage, and higher effluents. However, the nanobubble technique can reduce the liquor ratio to 1:1, resulting in water savings, energy savings, and zero liquid discharge. Nevertheless, production of the nanobubbles for a range of finishes and their successful application onto the textile is a difficult and challenging task. For the first time, this article successfully reports the development and application of nanobubbles at the extremely low liquor ratio of 1:1 for the five most commonly used textile finishes, which include resin, softener, soil release, oil and water repellent, and antimicrobial finishes onto the cotton fabric. In addition, this research compares the performance of the nanobubble finishing at a liquor ratio of 1:1 with higher liquor ratios of 1:5 and 1:10 for all five finishes. The results showed that optimized nanobubble finishing exhibited comparable key performance with reference to liquor ratios of 1:5 and 1:10 related to each finish category. However, the physical properties of cotton fabrics, such as tensile strength, tear strength, bending length, and air permeability, were better for nanobubble technology as compared to conventional finishing.

Oil and water repellency is very important for certain textile end products. Traditional durable oil and water repellents contain fluorine or formaldehyde-based substances. These substances have a long-term negative impact on the human health and natural environmental, and therefore, they are being banned. To address this problem, scientists are continuously working on the development of new sustainable alternatives. In this regard, present paper reports the results of the successful development, optimization, and application of two ecofriendly oil and water repellents for cotton fabrics. In case of the first oil and water repellent development, present research polymerizes the bio-based palmitic acid with formaldehyde-free bio-succinic acid. While in the second oil and water repellent, this research polymerizes the bio-based palmitic acid with formaldehyde-free maleic acid. The developed polymers provided comparable or better performance properties with reference to the C6-based commercial fluorocarbon. In addition, the proposed polymers were successfully characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, FTIR analysis, H-NMR spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-Ray (EDX) analysis, and SEM analysis).

Foam dyeing and finishing is an ecofriendly alternative to conventional padding in textile processing. However, the generation and application of foam is a challenging task especially for wide range of dyes and chemicals due to technical and compatibility issues. In the foam dyeing and finishing process, foaming agent plays a central role. However, there is a lack of research on the compatibility of range of foaming agents with the range of different dyes and finishes. Therefore, in this research, foam was generated and optimized for seven different colorants including three reactive dyes, two direct dyes, and two pigments, and three different finishes including softener, oil and water repellent, and fire retardant using three different foaming agents separately. These foaming agents are alkyl dimethyl amine oxide, alkane sulfonate sodium salt, and ethoxylated decanol. Foam was successfully generated, optimized, and applied on the cotton fabric. Performance of the fabric samples treated with padding and three foaming agents for each dye and finish was evaluated. In most of the foam dyeing and foam finishing recipes, alkane sulfonate sodium salt-based foaming agent indicated the best dyeing and finishing properties and its performance was comparable with conventional padding in addition to significant savings of water, chemicals, and energy.

In the recent era of development, the global market for the sportswear textile manufacturing industries has increased with the increase in consumption of active sportswear. The sportswear manufacturers not only focused on the market trends but also focused on material diversification with technology enhancement. The performance characteristics of active sportswear directly influence comfort level and athletic performance during sports activities. Different types of sportswear products require different performance characteristics. Appropriate moisture and heat management are the key factors for the endowment of the required physiological comfort level. In highly engineered textile-based sports goods, special characteristics are incorporated in the polymer/fibers/product manufacturing procedures/finishing techniques to obtain the maximum performance and comfort level. In this review paper current market trends, highly engineered polymers, fibers, fabrics, finishes, nanomaterials, and the recent developments in the manufacturing techniques of sportswear are illustrated.