A Review of Wool from Microbe's Growth

Lifestyle of people has emerged to a long extent. This was reflected through the clothing attitude of people. Therefore, it has become a prime factor to manufacture textiles with antimicrobial activity. The present work is undertaken with a view to establish consciousness on hygiene and health safety, development of protective textiles like wool through antimicrobial finishing during dyeing. Because, microbe's growth during the wear of garments will have a negative impact on the wearer and the garment itself. The detrimental effects can be controlled by durable antimicrobial finishing of the textile using broad-spectrum biocides or by incorporating the biocide into synthetic fibers during extrusion. Henceforth, research were carried out on eco- friendly antimicrobial agents, based on natural products like silver, natural dyes, chitosan for textile application which is gaining worldwide interest now. Its major focus on new quality requirements that include maintaining the intrinsic functionality of the wool through an eco-friendly production process. Therefore, this paper reports a comprehensive review on natural product based bioactive agents such as silver, chitosan, natural dyes for antimicrobial finishing of wool and their evaluation. Also, purpose of microbial studies on wool, mechanism of silver, chitosan and nanoparticles antimicrobial action have been presented. The major challenges and the future potential of application of natural products on textiles have also been critically reviewed.