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Fashion & Textiles vocabulary · Textile Production

Mercerisation

Meaning in fashion & textiles, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In fashion & textiles, mercerisation means: Strong alkali treatment of cotton to change dye uptake and often lustre.

In Turkish: merserizasyon

How it is used

Discuss the intended effect and processing conditions; the treatment is associated especially with cotton.

Example sentences

  1. Mercerisation gave the cotton yarn a brighter appearance in the finished shirt.

    The treatment changes the fibre rather than adding a printed decoration.

  2. The dyehouse adjusted its recipe because mercerisation changed the cotton’s dye uptake.

    Pretreatment can affect the amount of colour taken up during dyeing.

Common collocations

  • cotton mercerisation
  • mercerisation treatment
  • finishingTreatments given to fabric after weaving, knitting or dyeing to improve its look, feel or performance, such as softening, brushing or anti-shrink processes.
  • dyeingThe process of adding colour to fibre, yarn, fabric or finished garments by treating them with dyes, usually in water and with heat.

More terms: Textile Production

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