The Future of Fabric Care: A Discussion with IFF on Extending Garment Life with a Novel Polyesterase Enzyme
An Interview with Arjen Hoekstra,
Technical Director, Health and Biosciences at IFF
With sustainability and performance being key drivers in the laundry industry, why has fabric care for synthetic fibers, specifically polyester, become such a critical area for innovation?
To innovate meaningfully in laundry care today, you must start with the reality that the global wardrobe is shifting toward synthetics, in particular to polyester. Market projections indicate that the demand for polyester fiber is on track to outpace cotton threefold by 2030 (1).
For consumers, polyester offers a range of practical advantages, such as wrinkle, shrink and moisture resistances. So, it’s easier to maintain and it’s ideal for apparel such as sportswear. However, polyester, like cotton, is susceptible to abrasion, especially when used during successive wash-and-wear cycles. This can result in the formation of fuzz and pills on the fabric surface and negatively affect the appearance of the garments. This degradation, which is very visible to the consumer, makes garments look old and worn, and often leads people to dispose of their clothes long before the garment has reached its actual end-of-life in terms of structural integrity.
How is IFF’s bioscience expertise addressing the connection between polyester garment appearance and textile waste?
To address the challenge of polyester pilling, we developed polyesterase, a novel enzyme class specifically engineered for laundry detergents to provide fabric care benefits for polyester and polycotton blends. The exact science and mechanism behind polyesterase, and how it removes fuzz and pills to restore the fabric is complex, but the underlying principle is quite simple. Polyesterase acts on the polymer chain of polyester. The enzyme specifically targets and hydrolytically cleaves the ester bonds within the polymer, breaking down the long polymer chains into smaller, soluble fragments that are simply washed away.
The enzyme effectively trims away the loose, damaged fibrils that appear as fuzz and pills without compromising the garment‘s integrity and strength.
What kind of performance results have you seen in your research? How effective is polyesterase at preventing and reversing pilling and protecting polyester textiles?
For any new laundry ingredient to be commercially viable, its benefits must be rigorously quantifiable with laboratory data that simulates real-world conditions. Our multi-wash experiments have shown that polyesterase delivers compelling and measurable results, which we grade using an industry-standard „degree of pilling“ scale from 1 (heavy pilling) to 5 (no pilling).
First, we focused our polyesterase validation on preventing pilling and restoring the condition of new 100% polyester fabric swatches (scale 5) after they became worn during washing. In a detergent without polyesterase, the pilling scale dropped significantly over multiple washes. When we added a low dose of polyesterase, the pilling stabilized around scale 3. At a high dose, the results were even more impressive: After 18 washes, the fabric‘s condition was restored to nearly its initial state approaching a scale 5.
To determine whether these restorative effects also applied to garments that were already damaged, we ran a second experiment using pre-pilled swatches that began at scale 2. Without polyesterase, the pilling worsened. However, with the addition of our enzyme, the pilling scale steadily increased. In fact, our data confirms that nearly complete de-pilling can be achieved with a higher polyesterase dosage in the wash cycle.
Many garments are poly-cotton blends. How does polyesterase perform in that context, and does it interact with other enzymes used for fabric care?
For years, cellulase has been the go-to enzyme for fabric care on cotton. What’s exciting about polyesterase is its synergistic effect when combined with cellulase on poly-cotton blends, which we tested on pre-pilled poly-cotton fleece swatches. When we washed the swatches in a detergent with no enzymes, they became heavily pilled at scale 2. When we added cellulase alone, there was a minor improvement to a scale of 2 to 3. With polyesterase alone, the results were significantly better, improving the fabric to a scale of 3 to 4. But, when both enzymes were combined, they achieved the best result, reaching a scale of 4 after just ten wash cycles.
How does a fabric-care benefit, such as extending garment life, fit into the larger conversation about environmental sustainability?
At IFF, we see this as a solution that can address both the consumer‘s demand for value and the industry‘s need for sustainable detergents. Polyesterase fits directly with these needs, and has a significant downstream environmental benefit. When clothes maintain their color and texture, consumers resist the impulse to dispose of them prematurely. By slowing this cycle of consumption, we can indirectly reduce the vast amount of textile waste that ends up in landfills.
Additionally, the single largest part of the laundry process‘s environmental footprint often comes from the energy required to heat the wash water. IFF‘s fabric care enzymes, including polyesterase, are specifically optimized to be highly effective in lower temperature wash cycles. Enabling a reduction of the wash temperature from 40 to 30 degrees Celsius can help households reduce energy consumption when doing their laundry. Enzymes are a key ingredient that allows laundry brands to formulate products that deliver superior fabric care alongside measurable energy savings.
Finally, looking ahead, what does the development of polyesterase signal about the future of enzyme innovation and IFF‘s role in shaping the future of fabric care?
Polyesterase wasn’t an accidental discovery, but a deliberate expression of our philosophy of „Biology with Intention.“ At IFF, we’re committed to building a powerful legacy of innovation to harness cutting-edge science and solve problems for the benefit of everyday life. Optimized enzymes for detergents are truly just the beginning.
IFF is uniquely positioned to lead the detergent industry toward a more sustainable, bio-based future. We’re not just reacting to regulations; we’re proactively working with industry leaders and policymakers to shape new standards. We believe that creating high-performing, sustainable solutions isn‘t just about regulatory compliance; it‘s about shaping a clean future.
References:
[1] Textile exchange, report Oct 2022, The Textile Institute Book Series, 2020, Pages 129-218.
