The Permashrink Company Inc. is considered by most knowledgeable technical people in the textile industry, to be the only complete and reliable source for information and assistance with questions related to the compressive pre-shrinking of textile fabrics.

Although the original process by which cloth is mechanically pre-shrunk was patented in 1928 and the development of the Cluett rubber belt compressive shrinking machine was first patented in 1938, this process, frequently referred to as sanforizing, remains as one of the most important cloth finishing operations for cotton and other natural fibres, or blends of natural fibres with synthetic or man made fibres.

Over the past 80 years, this process has grown in importance and is actually used today, as much for hand and appearance improvement, as for dimensional stabilization (shrinkage control) of cloth. As the process is the very last finishing operation to which cloth is subjected, prior to leaving the textile mill and is carried out on goods to which much value has been added by prior processes, any defects in cloth appearance, hand, or shrinkage control are likely to be very costly.

The Permashrink Company's multi-lingual staff has very broad international experience. Permashrink personnel have been providing technical assistance and training to textile mills, technical organizations and universities in 82 countries around the world since 1959. Mr. C.D. Clickner, who began his career in textiles working under Mr. Sanford Cluett, the inventor of the compressive shrinking process, is the author of the only complete book written on the subject of "Pre-shrinking of Textile Fabrics". Mr. Clickner resigned as vice president from Cluett, Peabody & Company, owners of the Sanforized trademark, in 1985, after 27 years with the firm. He is the founder and president of Commercial Distributors Co. Inc., the predecessor of The Permashrink Company, and serves on the consulting board of Permashrink today.