pH value: a small but significant problem for textiles

On November 6, Zhejiang Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision published the supervision and inspection results for infants and young children’s wear, which were from 22 enterprises in Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou and Shaoxing. The violation item is PH value with the violation rate as 4.5%.

Zhejiang Xiaoshan Inspection and Quarantine Bureau returned a batch of women’s knitting T-shirts imported from France totaling 80 pieces as their pH values were not compliant with the mandatory national standards in China. According to stipulations of GB 18401-2010 National general safety technical code for textile products, the pH value for infants and young children textile products (Requirements of category A) shall be 4.0 to 7.5.

Category	pH Value
Category A (textile products for infants and young children)	4.0 to 7.5
Category B (textile products in direct contact with skin)	4.0 to 8.5
Category C (textile products not in direct contact with skin)	4.0 to 9.0

It is commonplace to neglect pH values, however, such negligence may lead to significant problems. The pH value of human skin is usually mildly acidic (between 5.5 and 7.0). Where pH value of textiles exceeding the limit, it damages the surface environment of the skin which easily induces itches, bacterial infraction and even dermatitis. In addition, textiles are more easily to be damaged if their pH values lean to either extreme. Seeing from the above, pH values of textiles are not only closely associated with consumer health but also their own quality.
 
Reminder: All companies should ensure each test item be in strict accordance with corresponding standards so as to guarantee the product quality and avoid unnecessary loss.