Textile Odor Control Industry Report 2025

A Perspective on Consumer Sentiment & Demand, Industry Challenges & Opportunities, Technology Innovation Trends, and Critical Recommendations for Technology Suppliers, Brands & Manufacturers

Introduction

The textile odor control industry has continued to evolve at a rapid pace in 2024. Technology providers and brands are adopting to new consumer mindsets, technology innovation and regulatory changes.

As leaders try to anticipate how the current trends and challenges will shape the industry in 2025 and beyond, this report explores ongoing shifts in consumer preferences and demand, outlines current challenges and opportunities for the various market participants, highlights recent technology innovation trends and ultimately provides tangible recommendations for action - for technology suppliers, brands as well as fabric manufacturers - to promote the continued and sustainable development of the industry.

As an innovation and thought leader in the textile industry, Livinguard Technologies compiled this report not only based on desk research, but also based on numerous conversations with industry leaders from technology suppliers, brands, manufacturers, textile technology consultants, academia, industry associations, testing laboratories, and regulatory advisors. The goal is to contribute to the education of various involved stakeholders, accelerate textile odor control technology adoption and market growth as well as foster innovation and knowhow exchange in the industry.

Livinguard will work with the company’s vast network of partners as well as customers to substantiate many of the topics covered within this report through further quantitative and qualitative research.

Consumer Sentiment & Demand Trends?

Continued increase in demand for odor control solutions

In a post-pandemic market environment, the demand for antimicrobial textile treatments outside of critical environments such as healthcare or public spaces remains suppressed. At the same time, 75% of consumers perceive odor in textiles as a problem and 90% report that body and textile odors impact their confidence when in a social setting.

Consequently, the estimated global market for body and textile odor treatments (comprising of solutions ranging from deodorants, perfumes, detergents, washing additives, to functional textile finishings for odor control) is expected to grow at an annual rate of 8% between 2024 and 2028. Growth is driven by increased demand and adoption from various emerging markets with increasing disposable incomes where climate and environmental conditions promote body and textile odor build-up.

While solutions addressing body odor or washing clothes have made up most of the odor control market, permanent textile finishings for odor control so far have only captured a small fraction of this much bigger opportunity. However, it is anticipated that high energy prices and sustainability concerns will influence household laundry behaviors and offer a substantial opportunity for accelerated growth of textile odor control finishing solutions. Furthermore, the persistent cost of living crisis is expected to increase consumers’ focus on the longevity of textiles and their total lifetime cost. Finally, consumers continue looking for differentiated product functionalities that enhance their user experience and provide lasting freshness.

Consequently, various studies have confirmed consumer’s increased willingness to pay for odor control treated textile products that offer a truly differentiated functionality and benefit.

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“Nobody challenges the fact that odor is a real and tangible issue for consumers – and that they are willing to pay for solutions addressing it. It is upon the key players in the textile industry to capture a bigger share of the pie for textile treatments.”

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Revived interest from brands for differentiated odor control technologies

Brands continue to respond to consumers’ demand for truly differentiated and innovative textile products and incorporate a variety of functional benefits and finishings into their offering. Whereas there was a wide-spread adoption of mostly biocidal solutions for both odor control and hygiene functionality observed in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic, many brands shifted away from incorporating odor control technologies into their products post 2022.

However, negative customer experiences and feedback related to quick development of unpleasant smells in their products have made many brands rethink their odor control strategies – or lack thereof. The ever-increasing use of synthetic fibers, especially in performance apparel keeps odor control functionality top of mind for product developers as odor build-up remains a key concern that can lead to dissatisfied consumers.

Many brands have recently brought odor control technologies back. However, various brands adopted different approaches related to making odor control performance claims for their treated products. Some brands use odor control technologies to prevent odor buildup and negative customer experiences - but they do not actively communicate the benefit to consumers. On the other hand, some brands seek to actively differentiate their offering through powerful odor control functionality and consequently market their products accordingly.

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“How do you expect a consumer to pay for a function that they don’t know is even there if nobody talks about it?”

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Shift in consumer and brand preference towards biocide-free solutions

Consumers continue to shift their preference towards biocide-free or bio-based odor control solutions due to increased awareness of potential environmental and health risks associated with biocidal and especially silver-based technologies. Several high-profile and public cases involving biocidal odor control technologies and increasing scrutiny from consumer protection agencies have further accelerated the shift in preference for biocide-free technologies.

Also brands increasingly adopt non-biocidal technologies for odor control to avoid complexity and legal risk related to compliance with evolving biocidal product regulations around the world, scrutiny around potential public health claims and headaches related to complying with labeling and consumer information requirements.

Current Challenges for the Textile Odor Control Industry

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Intangible and invisible benefit

Adequate communication of the benefits arising from durable odor control treatments remains a challenge for many brands. While consumers confirm their interest in odor control functionality in explorative and panel-based consumer studies, the benefit is somewhat intangible and cannot be experienced immediately when evaluating a product. Most often, factors such as brand, style, hand-feel as well, as price drive the purchase decision and trump the importance of odor control functionalities. It has proven difficult for brands to properly educate consumers and convey the benefits arising from odor control treatments at the point of sale. Consequently, the perceived value of odor control treatments for brands across many textile categories remains low.

“If the end-consumer does not pay for the benefit – why should a brand absorb the additional cost for it?”

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Ever increasing price pressure

The textile industry remains under mounting pressure to manage the cost and price along the entire value chain.

The application of any odor control treatment inherently adds cost to the manufacturing process. At the same time, purchasing decisions within brands are typically made by teams that are incentivized and evaluated almost entirely based on the cost of sourced materials. Therefore, unless there is a strong pull from other departments such as product development or sales, added cost oftentimes prevents a more widespread adoption of odor control technologies. In many cases, brand’s cost pressure is passed on to fabric manufacturers who face the impossible challenge of having to provide odor control functionality – however at no additional cost. Consequently, they often-times resort to the cheapest possible technology available to maintain their margins.

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“Brands expect to be presented and choose from a menu of functional options including odor control finishings – but buyers are not incentivized to pick up the tab for the bill.”

Rapidly evolving regulatory landscape and risks

Besides the European Biocidal Product Regulation and the standard’s set forth by the US Environmental Protection Agency, various other countries such as Canada and the UK have adopted their own biocidal products regulations. While there are generally some commonalities found across the various frameworks, each of them also comes with its very own requirements in terms of labeling, approved substances, permissible claims and most importantly the roles and responsibilities of brands that are selling treated products.

Increasing complexity especially around antimicrobial odor control technologies from this variety of regulations is reshaping brand’s approach to functional treatments. They are looking for the “common denominator” and solutions that provide global compliance and that can be used across all their global end-markets. This often-times means that biocide-free solutions are favored over biocidal technologies as these typically allow to operate untouched of biocidal products regulations.

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“I am an industry expert and have been working in this field for over 30 years – and I get overwhelmed by this complexity. It is close to impossible for a buyer to keep up with all these developments.”

Limited education around odor control functionality

The detailed understanding of brand buyers and sourcing departments around textile odor buildup as well as various technical approaches to odor control remains limited.

Understanding in detail how odor accumulates on textiles depending on their specific material and end-use as well as how different solutions provide varying performance across different relevant odor molecules is a challenging task. Faced with a widening range of competing technologies and limited resources, buyers therefore oftentimes simply resort to “known and established” solutions. By doing so, brands often miss opportunities to truly enhance the performance of their products through innovative and new odor control solutions which can provide differentiated performance for their very specific use-case and relevant sources of odor.

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“Unfortunately, in many cases, brand buyers are just seeking to check the box – often times selecting technologies that are less suited for the odor challenge the brand tries to solve for.”

Lack of relevant standardized test methods

Recent innovation resulted in a whole variety of novel and mostly biocide-free approaches to combat odor buildup and accumulation in textiles. Available testing standards and frameworks unfortunately have not kept pace with these technological developments. As a result, there is currently no commonly accepted odor control test standard established that does not come with noteworthy shortcomings.

The industry has broadly shifted away from testing the antimicrobial function of textiles for odor control applications (e.g. as per AATCC TM 100) as these test methods do not provide any relevant insight when evaluating biocide-free technologies. Many players have moved towards odor testing based on gas detection / gas chromatography (e.g. as per ISO 17299) which are significantly more relevant for biocide-free technologies. However, also these methods have their shortcomings as they ultimately have not been designed to evaluate the performance of permanently bound textile finishings, but other odor control products such as fabric sprays. Industry associations have been slow to fill the void – for example AATCC just recently published AATCC TM 216 for advanced odor control testing – and the adoption and availability of these recent test standards in laboratories remains low. Furthermore, these novel test methods are often more expensive and take longer to turn around by laboratories compared to established test protocols.

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“Testing frameworks have to catch up to technological innovation to stay relevant and provide meaningful insights for decision making.”

Identified Opportunities for the Textile Odor Control Industry

Shifting household laundry behaviors

Driven by sustainability concerns as well as increasing costs for energy, many households across the world adopt cold or low temperature laundry cycles and reduce tumble drying. While this shift in behavior may provide environmental benefits, it often-times promotes accumulation of odor in textiles and the development of “permastink”. Odor control technologies can play a critical role in preventing odor accumulation on textiles even when these are washed only at low temperatures.

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“Cold washing provides the perfect conditions for odor buildup on untreated clothes.”

Increasing adoption of synthetic fibers

Driven by cost as well as various functional benefits, synthetic fibers such as Polyester are expected to make up for an increasing share of the overall textile market. Consequently, the global market for synthetic fibers used in apparel is expected to almost double during the next 10 years. At the same time however, most synthetic fibers are especially prone to odor accumulation and often-times start to smell very quickly. Therefore, many brands resort to odor control treatments for their synthetic products to combat this challenge.

Historically, it was assumed that the fast odor buildup on Polyester can be mainly attributed to faster growth of odor causing bacteria. However recent academic research has found that odor accumulation on Polyester outpaces other substrates even in the absence of bacteria. This provides a massive opportunity for odor control solutions that provide efficacious performance on these synthetic substrates.

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“Very few odor control technologies really ace performance on Polyester – this is yet the substrate to crack.”

Increased scope and application on new product categories

Historically, the range of applications for then mostly biocidal odor control technologies has been concentrated on a few highly relevant use-cases. Odor control technologies have been applied mainly on performance gear, underwear, and household textiles such as towels – all of which applications that are commonly understood to be very prone to fast odor buildup that is driven by rapid growth of odor causing bacteria.

Novel biocide-free odor control technologies decrease regulatory complexity for brands and simplify application processes for manufacturers. They also provide performance across a wider spectrum of odor sources including environmental odors and odors that are not related to bacteria. This allows for a wider scope of applications, use-cases, and textile categories that currently do not use odor control treatments. At the end of the day, every garment that can accumulate odor while at the same time may not be washed regularly provides a suitable application. Hence, the focus of technology providers now has shifted to explore applications in denim, formal wear, pet accessories, and many more that provide a blue ocean and growth opportunity for the industry.

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“There is no need to chase the same applications that have already been in scope for the last years.”

Technology Innovation Trends & Challenges

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Evolving odor control technology

The past years have seen a rapid acceleration of innovation in the odor control space with the launch of many, mostly biocide-free odor control technologies. The focus of these innovations has been on providing more sustainable and safer alternatives to antimicrobial and especially silver-based technologies with mineral-based or bio-based active ingredients.

Traditionally, odor control technologies broadly fall into three categories - each of which comes with a specific set of advantages and limitations:

Antimicrobial technologies reduce growth of odor causing bacteria to prevent odor build-up. These technologies recently face increasing consumer and regulatory scrutiny due to safety and environmental concerns and may create complexity for brands regarding compliance with regulatory requirements (e.g. labeling). Their efficacy often decreases over the course of the product’s lifetime due to leaching and washing out. Finally, these technologies have limited efficacy against odor sources that are not related to bacterial growth on the textile such as environmental odors.

Odor-capture technologies absorb odors through mesoporous high-surface area particles. While these technologies are typically able to tackle a broad range of odor sources, they are often more expensive than alternatives and may get saturated quicker between wash cycles. Furthermore, there has been increasing scrutiny due to concerns around human toxicology of certain nanoparticles recently.

Odor masking technologies attempt to mask odor through fragrances. These technologies often do not provide a meaningful reduction of odor and have shown decreasing efficacy over the course of the product’s lifetime.

Recent innovations in odor control technology are centered mostly around new odor capture materials such as magnesium or bio-based materials. Furthermore, avenues to limit the adherence of odor causing bacteria on the textile surface by changing the porosity of the materials are explored by various players.

Finally, several startups have developed technologies to limit growth of odor causing bacteria by promoting enhanced growth of non-smelling bacteria on the skin through microencapsulated probiotics that are transferred to the skin of the user.

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“These are very exciting times – as we learn more about what causes odor on textiles we find new ways to tackle them.”

Challenges for widespread adoption of new technologies

Many of these novel approaches face several technological and market challenges that can prevent their widespread adoption.

Technology providers often-times have limited data and proof to show efficacy of their innovations not only in a laboratory, but in a real-life scenario.

Wash durability and efficacy after extended use of the textile has been a limiting factor for some novel technologies and especially bio-based approaches.

Often-times new technologies are more expensive than established alternatives and cost considerations make them not viable for applications targeting mass markets.

Establishing novel technologies in the market with brands as well as manufacturers is a time-consuming and expensive process which often-times cannot be stemmed by startup companies unless they are exceptionally well-funded.

Unfortunately, some players make hidden use of biocidal agents to power their supposedly bio-based and natural solutions while not properly declaring those active ingredients to customers. This lack of transparency has overall led to uncertainty and driven market participants to stick with their proven legacy technologies from reputed and established suppliers.

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“Commercial viability must be the very first stage gate for new technologies – this industry runs on dollars and most often dimes.”

Spotlight on Sustainability: Are Odor Control Finishings for Textiles a Sustainable Technology??

The problem: Excessive washing by consumers

Besides textile’s production, frequent washing of clothes during their use by consumers has a significant environmental impact encompassing water consumption and pollution, energy use and resulting carbon footprint, as well as microplastic pollution. For example, over the course of the lifetime of a pair of blue jeans, 23% of the total water consumption and 37% of the carbon emissions can be attributed to washing and drying by the consumer. Excessive washing also contributes to a shortened lifetime and increased waste generation from early disposal due to accelerated wear and tear.

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Odor control treatments as a potential solution

Odor control technologies that are permanently integrated into textiles can play a crucial role in extending the time between wash cycles as the build-up of odor is prevented. Their durable performance can withstand numerous washes, ensuring long-lasting freshness over the entire life of the garment.

If even after multiple wears, clothes remain fresh and pleasant to wear, the need for frequent washing is decreased. This not only has the potential to save water and energy but can also lessen the wear and tear on garments, extending their useful life, requiring fewer replacements and decrease waste. Furthermore, they can not only reduce the ecological footprint but also save money, time and effort in laundry care - making it a win-win for consumers and the planet.

So far the theory – and the prominent narratives of various odor control technology suppliers. But does this really hold true in practice?

Actual consumer behavior and the risk of greenwashing

Research has shown that laundry practices are primarily driven by cultural norms and habits. Consumers predominantly decide to wash their clothes either because they are visibly soiled or simply “because it is time” after a certain number of wears which depends on the garment type. For example, underwear and socks are typically washed after a single wear, pullovers and pants typically after 3-5 wears. Odor most often plays a secondary role when deciding to wash clothes. Consequently, behavioral studies conducted at the University of Alberta have shown that also odor control treatments and corresponding hangtags per se do not have a meaningful impact in changing consumer’s laundry behaviors.

Just recently, a major player in the odor control space has been accused of greenwashing as their entire marketing and branding campaign was centered around the positive environmental impact of washing less due to their technology. The company has been accused of making misleading sustainability claims that could not be substantiated with data. Furthermore, in the eyes of regulators their silver-based odor control treatment can leach out into wastewater and can potentially accumulate in waterways and soils – thus having potentially even a rather negative than positive overall impact on the environment.

This case study impressively highlights the risk for brands and technology providers arising from making bold sustainability claims without a solid foundation and clear evidence to support them. As more and more brands face consumer’s and regulator’s scrutiny around greenwashing in general, brands must be considerate of the potential implications arising from such statements.

The final answer: A clear yes, but…

Odor control technology for textiles clearly has the potential and can act as an enabler to alter laundry behaviors and thus decrease the impact on the environment from washing. Also, odor control treatments can extend the useful life of clothes as they can help to prevent the formation of “permastink” which results in their early disposal.

As consumers clearly believe that it is predominantly the brand’s responsibility to develop and provide solutions addressing sustainability, odor control treatments offer an interesting platform for action. However, such campaigns and claims must be carefully crafted and be vetted with data. Furthermore, brands should take on an active role in driving education of consumers and encourage more sustainable laundry behaviors without simply assuming that the technology will take over this role by itself.

Critical Recommendations for Sustainable Market Development

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Successful and sustainable development of the textile odor control market requires joint efforts from all stakeholders at the table: Technology suppliers, brands as well as textile manufacturers. Every player has a critical role to play in furthering the understanding of odor buildup on textiles and relevant technologies to combat them as well as invest into capability build-up, education, and testing.

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Recommendations for odor control technology suppliers

To further develop the market and promote the successful adoption of their odor control solutions for textiles, odor control technology providers should consider various critical recommendations:

Drive continued education of brands and retailers: Continued efforts from technology providers and industry associations are required to further educate brands - not only on recent technological innovations and relevant performance testing frameworks, but also on the business opportunity for products with odor control functionality. Technology suppliers can play a vital role in conducting meaningful and representative research that is required to better understand consumer mindsets in a post pandemic world and substantiate the market potential for treated products. Technology providers can furthermore increase the technological and functional understanding of odor buildup and various strategies to combat odor accumulation accordingly.

Involve relevant stakeholders at brands for decision-making: Pricing and added cost often-times remain the limiting factors for the adoption of odor control treatments. Therefore, technology suppliers should ensure to involve not only sourcing and purchasing departments, but to elevate the discussion to also include key decision makers from marketing, product development, consumer research as well as legal and compliance teams. Understanding the value-added benefit and opportunity for product differentiation as well as business risks is key to increasing willingness to pay for innovative technologies and getting the pricing of the treated end-products right.

Develop simple, yet tailored consumer messaging and activation support: Support for brands from technology providers must go beyond supplying chemistries and providing technical guidance for application. Ingredient branding resources should play a critical role in guiding brands to craft powerful communication strategies and drive successful activation at the point of sale and online. Carefully crafted claims that explain the benefit of the odor control treatment in simple language while catering to specific demographic or geographic consumer preferences are key to land the message right. Exploring consumer’s mindset and ultimate motive depending on the specific application plays an as important role as explaining the function the treatment provides itself. At the same time, close guidance on permissible claims is critical to ensure regulatory compliance and limit legal and reputational risks for brands. Emotional imagery and online landing pages or consumer-facing microsites to learn more about the technology are a must-have in today’s environment.

Support with close regulatory and compliance guidance: The regulatory and compliance environment for brands keeps rapidly evolving. Biocidal product regulation frameworks across the globe have diverted not only in terms of approved substances, but also regarding requirements for labeling, enforcement mechanisms, the expected role of brands and permissible claims. Therefore, brands must ensure that claims are truthful, not deceptive and compliant with the actual functionality of the treated textile to avoid exposure to legal risk. Finally, pending regulations around greenwashing (e.g. in Europe) further expose brands to legal, financial and reputational risk. Technology suppliers must provide meaningful support for brands to navigate these topics and limit their exposure.

Provide relevant, representative and cost-efficient testing: Odor control technology providers must help to guide their customers in building relevant test frameworks to evaluate the efficacy of their solutions considering the envisioned end application. They should provide testing methods and services that are relevant for brands and provide confidence that the technology works as intended.

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Recommendations for brands using odor control technologies

To successfully adopt odor control technologies and market treated products, brands should consider various critical recommendations to future-proof their odor control strategy:

Invest in education and build internal capabilities: As the range of available odor control technologies and testing standards keeps evolving rapidly, brands should build required capabilities and knowledge beyond their material science teams. These efforts should include sourcing and purchasing teams, but also other relevant functions such as product development, marketing, and sales. Currently, many brands are at the mercy of external consultants, their suppliers or the technology providers themselves to guide them through the different odor control alternatives. Only a clear understanding of the performance requirements for a particular use-case, desired customer-facing claims, most suitable test methods and relative performance of available technologies will yield a successful and sustainable adoption of the right technology. A lack of understanding about how odor develops on textiles, which odor compounds are most relevant for which application as well as which performance level results in a discernable difference for end consumers often-times lead to the application of less suited odor control technologies.

Adopt a portfolio of technologies for different use-cases: Not all odors are the same – while for applications in sports apparel combatting isovaleric acid might provide the best perceived performance difference, for applications in undergarments other compounds such as ammonia or even various aldehydes and ketones will yield the most successful reduction of perceived odor. Furthermore, some applications may warrant the use of biocidal technologies while others clearly do not. This may also require brands to adopt a portfolio of odor control solutions each catering for specific application use-cases.

Develop comprehensive frameworks for evaluation of odor control technologies: Brands should invest into understanding available testing protocols and build comprehensive testing processes that go beyond laboratory tests based on currently established standards. Furthermore, brands should conduct representative wear-tests under relevant conditions to gauge real-life performance of various technologies.

Invest in consumer-facing communication and POS activation: Brands should partner with their technology providers to develop strategies for active communication of the value-added benefit to their customers via hang-tangs, permanent labels or point-of-sale activities. Furthermore, brands should play a critical role in educating consumers on the environmental impact of their laundry behaviors and encourage more sustainable practices that may be enabled by odor control treated products.

Understand the regulatory and compliance landscape: To mitigate any legal, compliance, reputation as well as business and financial risk, brands must develop a thorough understanding of the regulatory frameworks in their various target markets. Only this can inform the selection of suitable technologies providing performance while minimizing potential downsides and inform permissible claims that resonate with consumers.

Gain consumer insights and establish market intelligence: Odor control functionality – other than for example color, style or other functional attributes such as moisture wicking – are often not available product attributes that can be used to sort the overall offering and that are not actively tracked in ERP systems. As a result, brands lack first-hand and timely consumer insights regarding odor control and cannot gauge the importance of the functionality for their customers and consequently only have a limited willingness to pay for the somewhat intangible benefit.

Recommendations for textile manufacturers applying odor control technologies

To successfully differentiate their otherwise commoditized product offering and to provide a more strategic support to their customers, manufacturers and textile mills should consider various critical recommendations:

Act as a catalyst for innovation: Often-times mills are taking a passive role when it comes to selecting suitable odor control technologies and leave the nomination of technologies entirely to the brands that they supply to. Furthermore, at times manufacturers even actively discourage the application of innovative odor control solutions as they fear a negative impact on their margins due to brand’s requirements for cost neutrality and overall limited willingness to pay more for better technology. Given that the application of the technology happens through the textile mills, they should invest into understanding the various innovations in the industry and provide strategic advice and guidance on the most suited technology to their customers.

Leverage innovation in odor control to differentiate offering: The services and products of fabric manufacturers are often-times considered a commodity. Consequently, the key purchasing criteria for brand buyers is price which suppresses margins for manufacturers. With a powerful and suitable odor control treatment option and strong service offering, fabric manufacturers can go to market with a more differentiated product and gain share from their peers. Furthermore, they can credibly position themselves as innovation and technology leaders in the marketplace.

Optimize the impact on manufacturing operations and the environment: Various odor control technologies have vastly different implications on the operation of a textile mill. Hence, fabric manufacturers should consider factors such as line speed, drying and curing temperatures, compatibility with other finishings, ETP requirements and many others when evaluating suitable odor control technologies. Furthermore, they should consider the environmental impact from discharging the various chemistries into the wastewater as brands seek to advance their sustainability goals along their supply chain.

Provide on-site and speedy testing services: Fabric manufacturers should build capabilities in their laboratories to conduct basic functionality testing of the odor control treatment directly at the source to make the benefit trackable and tangible for brands along their value chain and build confidence around the proper application of the technology for all involved parties.

Disclosure of potential conflict of interest: Livinguard Technologies is a technology supplier to the textile industry and is marketing and selling a biocide-free and metal-free odor control solution (Livinguard AO).

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Disclaimer: The information contained in this report is based on the present state of our knowledge and represents a perspective that has been derived based on desk research and various conversations with industry and topic experts. No warranty is expressed or implied regarding the accuracy of the data and arguments presented in this report. It is not intended to be a basis for any decision-making or course of action. Livinguard Technologies does not accept any responsibility to any person or entity for any loss arising out of or in connection with this report. The use of any recommendations put forward in this report is at the sole discretion of the reader.