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100% cotton fabric has been treated with suitable combinations of chitosan and polycarboxylic acids (PCAs) to impart multiple functional properties. It is found that irrespective of the type of PCA added, samples treated with all combinations of chitosan and PCAs exhibit very good protection against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacterial strains. Zone of bacterial inhibition ranges from 21mm to 25mm and 24mm to 27mm for these strains respectively. Addition of PCAs to chitosan helps to improve other functional properties, like crease recovery behavior, soil release property and flame retardency in addition to the antimicrobial property. Samples treated with the mixture of chitosan and PCAs show good thermal resistance with Class I flammability. Maleic acid with chitosan shows higher values of flame propagation time as compared to that of other PCAs combination with chitosan. Soil release property is also improved from grade 3 for parent sample to grade 5 for all combinations of PCAs + chitosan treated samples. The crease recovery angle of samples treated with chitosan and PCAs combination has increased upto 261° compared to 215° for parent sample. Loss of tensile strength and tearing strength is found to be lower in chitosan and PCAs combination samples than in resin treated samples. From the results, it is evident that all the combinations of PCAs and chitosan can impart multiple functional properties on cotton materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]