A process for producing a microfiber product stream, the process comprising: (A) contacting cut multicomponent fibers having a length of less than 25 millimeters with a treated aqueous stream in a fiber slurry zone to produce a cut multicomponent fiber slurry; (B) contacting the cut multicomponent fiber slurry with a heated aqueous stream in a mix zone to produce a heated multicomponent fiber slurry; (C) routing the heated multicomponent fiber slurry to a fiber opening zone to remove a portion of the water dispersible sulfopolyester to produce an opened microfiber slurry; and (D) routing the opened microfiber slurry to a primary solid liquid separation zone to produce the microfiber product stream and a first mother liquor stream.
