mercerized

Dear users, dear authors,
what does “mercerized” mean?
Thank you for your informative answers.

Hello everyone,
Mercerization is a finishing process for cotton that uses caustic soda. This causes the cotton fibers to swell, becoming smoother and rounder, which makes them easier to process by machine, easier to dye, and results in more brilliant colors... and most notably, it gives them a beautiful sheen. High-quality cotton yarns are usually mercerized!

I really enjoy working with mercerized cotton. It has a wonderful feel and a very elegant look.
It’s also much less likely to shed fluff while you’re working with it. With non-mercerized cotton, I constantly get fluff in my nose and on my hands.