Bleach as You’ve Always Done – Fine, but You’re Missing Out
By Laura Thornquist, President, Innovo Fiber
Textile science has long preached one approach to cleaning and bleaching cotton: high temperatures and caustic soda. Let’s be frank — it works, but it comes at a cost.
That reality hit home the moment I met Graham Stewart in 2021. Here was a textile veteran with four decades of dyeing experience, looking for someone not afraid to break with convention. He laid out a radical concept — a pretreatment process that didn’t rely on caustic soda, used lower temperatures and less water, and, most surprisingly, preserved the cotton fiber’s natural wax layer instead of stripping it away.
The trial results were remarkable — clean cotton, stronger fibers, and a softer hand feel — yet acceptance was slow. That’s when my background outside the textile world became a strength. I kept asking the obvious question: If there’s a better way to bleach, why aren’t we doing it?
And that’s how FIBRE52® was born.
From Explanation to Expansion
My career has been built on entrepreneurship and transformation. When Graham entrusted his innovation to me, I knew its potential was extraordinary — it just needed structure and scale. Together with a small, expert team, we entered mills, ran trials, created samples, and built trust.
We aligned our chemistry with ZDHC 3.1 standards and demonstrated that mills could achieve the same or better whiteness and dye uptake with a neutral-pH, low-temperature bleaching system. Then came the pivotal moment: in a Bangladesh mill, a Japanese brand representative touched a FIBRE52®-treated sample and was visibly amazed by its softness. That single reaction led to multiple t-shirt orders across color ranges — and proved that preserving cotton’s wax layer wasn’t just science; it was a commercial breakthrough.
Wax On, Not Off
What makes FIBRE52® revolutionary is simple: it keeps the wax on the cotton — from greige fabric, through bleaching, and even after dyeing is complete.
Conventional bleaching assumes that to clean and prepare cotton for dyeing, you must remove the cuticle layer. FIBRE52®’s patented process challenges that thinking by maintaining the cotton’s natural wax throughout treatment.
The results are profound:
2–3% higher finished fabric weight (less fiber degradation)
Built-in, chemical-free softness and strength
Up to 50% less water and energy consumption
Lower COD/BOD in effluent and reduced CO₂ emissions
Improved dye uptake and reduced need for silicone softeners
The outcome? A more sustainable, more efficient, and more profitable process — all within the mill’s existing infrastructure.
Recognition and Momentum
FIBRE52®’s breakthrough has captured global attention. The technology has been:
Selected for presentation at the Textile Institute World Conference 2025 in Portugal
A member of Fashion for Good (FFG) and registrant in the Apparel Impact Institute (Aii) — two of the industry’s leading sustainability accelerators scaling technologies that reduce water, energy, and chemical impacts
Featured at the Sustainable Apparel & Textiles Conference in New York alongside major brands and sustainability leaders
These recognitions affirm what we see every day in the mills: FIBRE52® is reshaping how the world thinks about cotton bleaching.
Cotton and Beyond
In our scaling journey, our focus has been on commercializing quickly. To do that, we knew our process had to be cost-effective. We designed FIBRE52® to be a drop-in chemistry, working within existing infrastructure. It requires no capital expenditure from mills, making adoption easier and faster.
When we work with a mill, we show how bringing in the system can be a cost-neutral opportunity — advantages in utility savings, chemistry reductions, and cotton-weight preservation can offset chemistry pricing.
To date, we’ve commercialized with seven mills across South Asia, focusing on knits, towels, and cold pad batch (CPB), with ongoing work in denim, continuous processing, and nonwovens.
And next? We’re showing how our process can work with cotton-polyester blends, cotton and man-made cellulosic fibers, and beyond. That’s what’s exciting — it feels like we’ve only just scratched the surface.
As FIBRE52® continues to grow, we’re excited to see how organizations like GenuTrace can bring scientific verification to the forefront — helping companies like ours substantiate sustainability claims with measurable, proven data.
Change for the Better
Change in textiles takes courage and trust — but it’s happening. We believe in showing, not just telling, and the proof is in the results.
FIBRE52® isn’t just changing how cotton is bleached; it’s redefining how the industry measures performance, durability, and sustainability. We’re proving that nature’s own design holds the key to a cleaner, softer, stronger future for textiles.
If you’re ready to explore how, we’re ready to help.
About Laura Thornquist
Laura Thornquist is President of Innovo Fiber LLC, the company behind FIBRE52®, a patented cotton pretreatment technology transforming global textile processing.
With more than 25 years of experience in business innovation, startup leadership, and marketing strategy, Laura brings a unique blend of entrepreneurial vision and operational discipline to the sustainability space. She has served as Chief Operating Officer and Marketing Director for a Texas energy company, a television news anchor, and the founder of a nationwide media and blog network.
A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Laura is passionate about connecting innovation, impact, and integrity across industries.
