Owing to large hollow structure and waxy surface, kapok fiber shows the hydrophobic- oleophilic characteristics. The higher surface tension (7.2 x 10-4 N cm-1 at 20 °C against air) will drive out the water droplets, leading the surface of kapok fiber can­not get wet with the water droplets (Chung et al. 2008), making this fiber show poor affinity to hydrophilic coloring agents or dyes. For kapok fiber, the dyeing effi­ciency is relatively low, and the dyeing property of kapok fiber is worse than that of cotton fiber (Lou 2011). Pretreatment of kapok fiber is thus important to enhance the dyeing property of this fiber, but up to now, no mature processing or pretreat­ment techniques have been established except for the mercerization. Compared with cotton fiber, the alkali resistance of kapok fiber is rather poor, and accordingly, mild alkali treatment conditions are generally expected for kapok fiber in dyeing and finishing processes.