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Fabrics made from natural or manmade stuff needs to go through a series of processes. Use of chemicals in textile manufacturing is quite common. Textile chemicals are designed to act in a certain way to change the texture, color or shine of the thread. In fact, the journey from a clutter of wool to beautiful fabrics is possible because of textile chemicals. Statistically, chemicals contribute around 27 percent of the weight of processed fabric. Very few industries use chemicals in such a large proportion as the textile industry does. Environmentalists warn about it because some of the chemicals are not totally safe. Why is there so much use of chemicals? Many people amaze with the exceptionally high use of chemicals in the textile industry. There is a fundamental reason behind it. Technically, fabric processing is called ‘wet processing’ where liquids play an important role in the whole process. There are processes like soaking, maturing, and dyeing where chemicals have an important role. It is a complex sequence of processes where one process is dependent on other. Textile chemicals act as wetting agents, dispersing agents, surfactants, stabilizers and emulsifiers during different steps of production. It is important to keep pH level balanced during production because it affects the strength and luster of the fabric. Hence, there are fixing and leavening agents, and pH regulating chemicals are used. Quality of chemicals is highly important There are a number of companies that produce a range of Textile Chemicals. They keep stringent quality norms and incredibly high production standards because the purity of chemicals is directly proportional to the quality of the fabric. Textile companies have their quality control setup to crosscheck the consistency randomly. Other than standardized products, there are unbranded chemicals also. Companies buy them from the unorganized sector where there are concerns about quality. Fire retardants and resins (formaldehyde and other) are a few examples. Some of them are toxic in nature. Hence, safety measures become further important. Prolonged exposure may cause health ailments. Hence, proper care should be taken to minimize the impact. As per experts, toluene or similar aromatic substances, Di-chloro-methane, Phthalates, and heavy metals are a few examples of hazardous chemicals. Research and development are going on worldwide to search safe and effective alternate products for the same. However, a few of them may not get substitutes that are totally safe. Hence, it is important to mitigate and minimize the risk. The textile chemicals in India are widely available from the renowned chemical manufacturers.
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