New multifunctional base for domestic fabric softeners

FLAVIO MARCHESI, GIORGIO AZRAK

Cisme Italy snc, Via Giuseppe Marcora 7, 20121 Milan, Italy

Fabric softeners are liquid compositions added to washing machines during the rinse cycle to make clothes acquire a soft touch.These products work by depositing lubricating chemicals on fabrics treated to make them feel soft, reduce static cling, and imparta fresh fragrance. The first fabric softeners were developed by the textile industry during the early twentieth century. At that time theprocess used for dyeing cotton fibres granted a harsh feel to fabrics. In the early 1900s, preparations known as cotton softeners weredeveloped to improve the feel of fibres after dyeing. Product development chemists created fabric softeners designed to meetspecific marketing requirements, above all to grant attributes desired by consumers such as superior softness, aesthetically pleasing,safe to use, and cost effective. Chemists used technical evaluations based on consumer test marketing and created formulationsthat are both effective and affordable. ...