The concept of bleaching/whitening fabrics have been practiced for centuries; from the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, to the British. Before any chemical solutions were invented, the ancient Egyptians would exposed their fabrics to the the sun for a long period of time to bleach it. Even after the liquid cleaning agents were invented, the British textile industry would soak their linen fabrics in sour milk or buttermilk and then layed it on specially designated grasslands, exposing it in the sun for days to whiten/bleach the fabric. (Lerner & Lerner, 2004)
The chemical and chlorinated way to bleach was invented long after the concept of bleaching was discovered. Sodium Hypochlorite, an active ingredient of bleach was officially discovered in 1785 by an Italian-born French chemist named Claude Louis Berthollet. ("Lenntech", 1998) He developed liquid cleaning agents containing sodium hypochlorite that are able to bleach things at room temperature. (Makansi, 2008) It was created by passing chlorine gas through a solution of sodium carbonate. Bethollet began a small company near Paris in a town called Javel, to manufacture these liquid cleaning agents. Since then bleach/ sodium hypochlorite was known as "Eau De Javelle", and it is still referred to that today in France. ("Advameg", 2014) The result of processing "Eau De Javelle" was not effective so several alternatives were made. One method involved the withdrawal of chlorinated lime (also known as bleaching powder) with sodium carbonate to produce small concentrations of chlorine. The solution created from this method was commonly used for hospital antiseptic which was sold under the trade names like "Eusol". (Lerner & Lerner, 2004) "Near the end of the nineteenth century, E. S. Smith patented a method of hypochlorite production involving hydrolysis of brine to produce caustic soda and chlorine gas which then mix to form hypochlorite". (Lerner & Lerner, 2004, p.3686) As the years go by, the concept of bleaching evolved from exposing the materials to the sun to chemically bleaching it.