Sanforization

thumb|right|180px|A 1948 advertisement for sanforized cotton fabric Sanforization is a treatment for fabrics to reduce shrinkage from washing. The process was patented by Sanford Lockwood Cluett (1874–1968) in 1930. It works by stretching, shrinking, and fixing the woven cloth in both length and width before cutting and producing, to reduce the shrinkage which would otherwise occur after washing. The original patent mentioned "goods of cotton, linen, woolen, silk, rayon, and combinations thereof".

==Process== The cloth is continually fed into the sanforizing machine and therein moistened with either water or steam. A rotating cylinder presses a rubber sleeve against another, heated, rotating cylinder. Thereby, the sleeve briefly gets compressed and laterally expanded, afterwards relaxing to its normal thickness. The cloth to be treated is transported between a rubber sleeve and a heated cylinder and is forced to follow this brief compression and lateral expansion, and relaxation. It is thus shrunk.