A method for the treatment of wool garments with ozone gas to control and inhibit their felting and shrinkage during their subsequent industrial finishing process and/or domestic washing care, and a wool garment treated with said method. The method includes wetting the garments and treating the garments inside the interior of a rotative tumbler for a time period of between 15 and 60 minutes at ambient temperature with ozone gas, the ozone gas being at a concentration in air of between 20 g ozone/Nm.sup.3 and 150 g ozone/Nm.sup.3, where the rotative tumbler which contains the garments is rotated at a speed of between 10 rounds/min and 25 rounds/min. The method is improved by adding treating the garments with enzymes.

An inkjet textile printing apparatus that forms an image in an image formation area of a textile printing target includes a pretreatment head that ejects a pretreatment liquid toward the image formation area, a recording head that ejects an inkjet ink toward the image formation area, and a controller that controls a time interval X from ejection of the pretreatment liquid toward the image formation area by the pretreatment head to ejection of the inkjet ink toward the image formation area by the recording head. The controller performs control so that the time interval X when the textile printing target is made of a specific material is shorter than the time interval X when the textile printing target is made of a material other than the specific material. The specific material is a napped material, a wool material, or an animal hair material.

An inkjet textile printing apparatus that forms an image in an image formation area of a textile printing target includes a pretreatment head that ejects a pretreatment liquid toward the image formation area, a recording head that ejects an inkjet ink toward the image formation area, and a controller that controls a time interval X from ejection of the pretreatment liquid toward the image formation area by the pretreatment head to ejection of the inkjet ink toward the image formation area by the recording head. The controller performs control so that the time interval X when the textile printing target is made of a specific material is shorter than the time interval X when the textile printing target is made of a material other than the specific material. The specific material is a napped material, a wool material, or an animal hair material.

A fluid set includes a pre-treatment composition and an ink composition. The pre-treatment composition includes a multivalent metal salt, a cationic polymer, and an aqueous vehicle. The ink composition includes a pigment, a polyurethane-based binder, and an aqueous ink vehicle.

A method of combatting colour loss from a dyed material, the method comprising contacting the material with a composition comprising an alpha-substituted aldehyde.

A method of combatting colour loss from a dyed material, the method comprising contacting the material with a composition comprising an alpha-substituted aldehyde.

Methods for obtaining natural colorants from plant material (e.g., tobacco material) and for using such natural colorants to dye various substrates are provided. Natural colorants are obtained using particular enzymes and particular conditions (e.g., time, temperature, and pH profiles). Such colorants can be used to dye substrates, for example, using conventional dyeing techniques or using unique in situ methods.

Methods for obtaining natural colorants from plant material (e.g., tobacco material) and for using such natural colorants to dye various substrates are provided. Natural colorants are obtained using particular enzymes and particular conditions (e.g., time, temperature, and pH profiles). Such colorants can be used to dye substrates, for example, using conventional dyeing techniques or using unique in situ methods.

The invention discloses a method for treating an animal substrate comprising: agitating the moistened animal substrate with a treatment formulation and a solid particulate material in a sealed apparatus wherein the treatment formulation comprises a tanning agent or a tannery process agent. The method can comprise applying the tanning agent or tannery process agent to the animal substrate wherein at least some of the agent so applied originates from the treatment formulation. There is also disclosed an animal substrate obtained by the method. The treatment formulation can be aqueous.

The invention discloses a method for treating an animal substrate comprising: agitating the moistened animal substrate with a treatment formulation and a solid particulate material in a sealed apparatus wherein the treatment formulation comprises a tanning agent or a tannery process agent. The method can comprise applying the tanning agent or tannery process agent to the animal substrate wherein at least some of the agent so applied originates from the treatment formulation. There is also disclosed an animal substrate obtained by the method. The treatment formulation can be aqueous.