Abstract

A method of treating textiles with an antimicrobial agent over a plurality of wash cycles, each consisting of a wash cycle and a subsequent treatment cycle, by dispensing the textile with a solution of a predetermined concentration of an antimicrobial agent containing a metal ion such as silver ions. The concentration is not sufficiently high enough in the first wash cycle to achieve a predetermined antimicrobial efficacy for the textile, but sufficient to achieve the predetermined antimicrobial efficacy for the textile due to the combination of the first wash cycle and one or more subsequent wash cycles. This process can reduce the antimicrobial load of the entire laundry inventory by 50 to 90%.