Patent ID: 8435908

Claim:
A fibrous article comprising at least one multicomponent fiber having a shaped cross section, wherein said multicomponent fiber comprises: A) a water dispersible sulfopolyester having a glass transition temperature (Tg) of at least 57° C., said sulfpolyester comprising: (i) residues of one or more dicarboxylic acids; (ii) about 4 to about 40 mole %, based on the total repeating units, of residues of at least one sulfomonomer having 2 functional groups and one or more sulfonate groups attached to an aromatic or cycloaliphatic ring wherein said functional groups are hydroxyl, carboxyl, or a combination thereof; (iii) one or more diol residues wherein at least 25 mole %, based on the total diol residues, is a poly(ethylene glycol) having a structure H—(OCH 2 —CH 2 ) n —OH wherein n is an integer in the range of 2 to about 500; and (iv) 0 to about 25 mole %, based on the total repeating units, of residues of a branching monomer having 3 or more functional groups wherein said functional groups are hydroxyl, carboxyl, or a combination thereof; and B) a plurality of segments comprising at least one water-nondispersable polymer immiscible with said sulfopolyester, wherein said segments are substantially isolated from each other by said sulfopolyester intervening between said segments; wherein said fibrous article is selected from the group consisting of papers, multifilament fibers, nonwoven webs, textile yarns, personal care products, health care products, medical and surgical care products, laminates, fiber-containing cleaning products, replacement inserts for personal hygiene and cleaning products, packaging materials, personal protection products, laminating adhesives, protective layers, and binders.