Functional and Cultural Value of Tea Polyphenol-Chitosan Finishing in Cotton Fabrics

The development of multifunctional textile materials with sustainable performance and enhanced environmental adaptability has attracted increasing attention for applications involving electromagnetic radiation protection, wearable systems, and intelligent fabric engineering. This study presents a green finishing strategy for cotton fabrics based on a tea polyphenol–chitosan (TP-CS) composite system to simultaneously improve functional performance and cultural value. The TP-CS finishing agent was fabricated through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions and applied using a pad–dry–cure process. Systematic characterization demonstrates that the treated cotton fabrics exhibit excellent antibacterial durability, maintaining antibacterial efficiencies above 93% against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus after 20 laundering cycles. The ultraviolet protection factor reaches 52.8 and remains 48.5 after repeated washing while moisture absorption is improved with only a slight reduction in air permeability, preserving wearing comfort. In addition to functional enhancement, the study integrates traditional tea culture and ecological design concepts into material selection and textile design, establishing a synergistic framework that combines sustainable performance with cultural expression. The proposed natural finishing strategy provides an environmentally friendly pathway for advanced functional textiles and offers valuable references for wearable materials requiring ultraviolet electromagnetic protection, intelligent sensing interfaces, and sustainable electromagnetic-compatible textile applications.