Natural fiber fabrics are increasingly used in sustainable fashion apparel because of their renewability and biodegradability, but hemp- and linen-containing fabrics often suffer from excessive stiffness, poor drape, and dimensional instability after laundering. This study developed an integrated framework for process optimization and apparel-oriented evaluation of natural-fiber fabrics. Three woven fabrics, namely organic cotton, hemp/organic cotton, and linen/organic cotton, were selected. An enzyme-assisted finishing process for hemp/organic cotton fabric was optimized using a Box-Behnken design with cellulase concentration, treatment temperature, and treatment time as variables. Flexural rigidity, tensile strength retention, air permeability, and residual shrinkage were used as response indicators. The optimum condition was 1.18% owf cellulase, 54 °C, and 42 min. Under this condition, flexural rigidity decreased by 28.6%, tensile strength retention remained 93.6%, air permeability improved, and residual shrinkage was reduced to 2.5%. Comparative evaluation showed that the optimized hemp/cotton fabric achieved the highest overall apparel suitability index among the tested materials. However, the improvement in softness and dimensional behavior was accompanied by a moderate loss in tensile strength retention, indicating a practical compromise rather than simultaneous optimization of all properties.

natural fibers, sustainable fashion, apparel design, enzyme finishing, material evaluation