in view of the uncertainties associated with the continued use of formaldehyde based resins by the american textile industry, practical methods of minimizing formaldehyde release from textile materials are of extreme importance. one such method of reducing formaldehyde release could be the incorporation of a chemical in the resin bath to scavenge or $left double quote$ tie up $right double quote$ formaldehyde in the fabric. such a formaldehyde scavenging technique can eliminate the need for afterwashing or after treatments. in this study, twelve compounds which have been reported in the literature to have the ability to combine with formaldehyde and to retard or inhibit its release from resin treated fabrics were evaluated. in this evaluation one compound, carbohydrazide, demonstrated superior performance in lowering formaldehyde while minimizing detrimental effects to the durable press performance of the treated fabrics. based on the laboratory evaluations full-scale plant trials were run on both cotton and blend fabrics incorporating a control resin formulation and a comparable formulation with carbohydrazide. test results again demonstrated the significant lowering of formaldehyde in the fabric by carbohydrazide with the use of three traditional glyoxal type resins. 40 refs