The rules for evaluating antibacterial textiles are undergoing their most intensive update in nearly two decades. In June 2025, the revision task for the national standard "Textiles - Evaluation of Antibacterial Performance - Part 2: Absorption Method" was officially assigned (Plan No. 20251603-T-608), and shortly before that, the review meeting for this standard was held in Zhejiang, with participating units covering testing institutions, research institutes, brand enterprises, and new material companies. This signals that the evaluation system used for nearly 20 years is about to be systematically replaced, and the long-standing "antibacterial concept" competition will gradually give way to verifiable technical indicators.
Background
The current GB/T 20944 series consists of three parts: Part 1 (Agar Diffusion Method) and Part 2 (Absorption Method) were published in 2007, and Part 3 (Shake Flask Method) in 2008. Together, they form the basic framework for evaluating antibacterial textiles in China, all having been in effect for over 15 years. However, antibacterial materials have evolved from early inorganic zinc and silver ions to current organosilicon quaternary ammonium salts and photocatalytic materials, and the technical routes have undergone multiple iterations. The original methods have shown obvious lag in terms of bacterial strain selection, inoculation methods, and culture conditions.
The pace of revision also confirms this urgency: the revision task for Part 3 (Shake Flask Method) was assigned in June 2024, and the standard has now been revised and is in the approval stage, about to fully replace the 2008 version. Part 2 (Absorption Method) followed closely, with its task assigned in June 2025, and the review meeting indicates that the technical content is basically finalized. Notably, Part 1 has not yet announced a revision schedule, but a clear path for the overall upgrade of the series has been established.
Industry Impact
The impact of the standard revision extends far beyond the laboratory. For fabric and apparel companies, antibacterial functionality has long been used as a marketing premium, but results vary significantly under different test methods. Some companies have manipulated test conditions, leading to confusion in the market regarding antibacterial performance labeling. Once the new standard is implemented, test methods will more closely reflect actual wearing scenarios, and the differentiation of test results will improve significantly, making products that rely on "conceptual antibacterial" claims face elimination.
For major antibacterial textile production areas such as Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu, the standard upgrade will accelerate the concentration of production capacity toward technologically advanced enterprises. Especially in home textiles and sportswear, antibacterial functionality has shifted from being an "option" to a "standard feature." Buyers will rely much more heavily on test reports during factory audits and product inspections. It is foreseeable that in the next two years, companies with CNAS-accredited laboratories or deep cooperation with authoritative testing institutions will gain a clear advantage in bidding and order acquisition.
Moreover, the revised standard will place greater emphasis on the repeatability and comparability of test methods, which means that export enterprises can use data closer to ISO or AATCC systems when communicating with international buyers, reducing trade frictions caused by method differences. For companies long engaged in OEM manufacturing, the standard upgrade may bring short-term increases in testing costs, but in the medium term, a unified technical language can actually help reduce the hidden costs of customer inspections.