To improve the efficiency of the sewing and handling of soft and flexible fabrics, nine temporary finishing agents for sewing, i.e., trioxymethylene, DL-malic acid, maleic acid, dimethyl oxalate, p-dichlorobenzene, oxalic acid, phthalic acid, naphthalene and benzoic acid were selected taking account of their thermal properties. They were evaluated by measuring the flexural rigidity of the treated fabrics and removal rate of these agents on plain knitted fabrics.
All compounds contributed to increase the rigidity by an application to fabrics. Trioxymethylene, p-dichlorobenzene and dimethyl oxalate were recommended for use in a short duration. Benzoic acid, oxalic acid, maleic acid and phthalic acid were, by contrast, recommended for use in a long duration. All of the latter had carboxy groups in their structure. It was found that all of the latter were very useful as a finishing agent for limp fabrics.

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The degradation and decolouring have been investigated of cloths dyed with a vinylsulfon type metal complex reactive dyes by the laundering with a detergent containing a peroxide bleaching agent. The results are summarized as follows:
(1) The tensile strength of cloths dyed with metal complex reactive dyes considerably decreases due to a peroxide bleaching agent contained. However, an addition of EDTA to a laundering bath prevents, to some extent, the decrease of the tensile strength.
(2) A repeated laundering tends to increase the colour difference. The laundering with an addition of EDTA shows more remarkable colour difference.
(3) The amount of copper remaining on cloths after laundering tends to decrease with increasing the number of launderings. The laundering with an addition of EDTA shows more remarkable decrease of an amount of remaining copper.
(4) The colourfastness to light of dyed cloths after laundering lowers with decreasing the amount of remaining copper.

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