In this research, we applied FT-IR spectroscopy to study the hydrolysis of the ester-crosslinking formed by various polycarboxylic acids on the cotton fabric. We observed the following; (1) the ester-crosslinking is less durable to hydrolysis than ether-crosslinking under all conditions; (2) the ester-crosslinking formed by polycarboxylic acids having more than three carboxyl groups, such as butanetetracarboxylic acid (BTCA), are substantially more durable to hydrolysis than the acids having two or three carboxyl groups, such as maleic and citric acid; (3) alkaline conditions drastically accelerate the hydrolysis of both urea- and ester-crosslinking; and (4) the ester-crosslinking formed by poly(maleic acid) is more resistant to hydrolysis at alkaline conditions than BTCA. (5) polycarboxylic acid molecules were removed from the fabric at same rate as the hydrolysis of the ester linkage. FT-IR spectroscopy has proved to be a useful analytical technique for evaluating the hydrolysis of the crosslinked cotton fabric.