When you see a garment from a long distance, it's the colour which pulls you in. But, what  do you feel when you touch a garment ?

• Wow so soft
• Smooth
• Little Rough
• Its Dry
• Scratching my skin
• Falls & Drapes nice
• Loose and limp
• Light or heavy in weight
• Rich
• Brilliant colour
• Bright and Shining … etc.

All these above words come to your mind just because of the various finishes applied on yarn, fabric or garment before it comes to the shelf.

Do we really need to finish a fabric ?

Yes! The fabric that comes out directly from the loom or knitting machine is not attractive and these finishes are required to make them acceptable by the consumers.

Some finishes are basic ones like making the fabric soft, removing the hairiness on surface etc. But some special finishes are also applied to the fabric to make it serviceable for a specific end use. These are usually referred to as performance or functional finishes.

So, textile finishing is used to achieve desired effects and it can have aesthetic or functional benefits. Finishing processes may modify a fabric's final appearance, make it softer, or improve elements of its performance. Whatever may be the process, textile finishing makes the fabric more appealing to the consumer.

History of textile finishing dates back to the usage of apparels by human being. When animal leather was used as apparel, finishing was done to remove fur/hair on the surface, herbal treatments were given to remove the smell of raw leather, mechanical brushing using stones were applied to make leather soft and malleable etc.

In current day textile processing, fabrics get finished in 3 stages -

• before colouration like scouring & bleaching,
• during colouration and
• after colouration.

In restricted sense, after colouration processes are termed as ‘Finishing’ now. Most finishes are applied to woven, non-woven and knit fabrics. But finishing is also done in yarn form or garment form. Finishing processes are usually done in fabric form rather than in yarn form. However, sewing threads made from mercerised cotton, linen and their blends with synthetic fibres as well as some silk yarns require finishing in yarn form.

When finishing takes place in wet form, it is called as Wet Finishing and while in dry form, it is said as dry finishing.

Finishing processes may be broadly classified into 2 groups :

• Physical or Mechanical
• Chemical

Mechanical finishing or dye finishing refers to changing fabric properties, and usually alters the fabric’s appearance as well. Chemical finishing or ‘wet finishing’ involves addition of chemicals to fabrics to achieve a desired result. Some finishes combine mechanical processes along with the application of chemicals.

Another broad method to classify finishing is by basis of degree of performance. No finishes are permanent, but now-a-days due to advances in research it is nearly possible to make a permanent finish. So we can classify finishing here as Temporary, Semi-durable, Durable and Permanent.

Finishing formerly involved a limited number of comparatively simple operations which evolved over the years from hand methods. More sophisticated modern finishing methods have been achieved through intense and imaginative research.

Few basic finishes to understand are given below, which have been followed since years together.

Scouring / Cleaning – It is done to remove stains of oils, starches, waxes using warm soap solution which results in smooth, neat and more absorbent fabric.

Bleaching – It is done to remove pale / light brown colour in the fibre and to make them white.

Starching / Stiffening - It is generally applied to fabric of fine quality and light weight or loosely woven fibres. Starching makes the fabric heavier, stiff, and crisp. It also adds shine and smoothness to the fabric.

Calendering – It is done to remove the wrinkles and to make it smooth, by passing the fabric through a  series of hot rollers.

Let us see some functional finishes in my next article …

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