Soil release agents which comprise: an ester backbone comprising (1) units selected from dihydroxy or polyhydroxy sulfonate (e.g., a sulfoethyl ether of glycerin), a unit which is at least trifunctional whereby ester linkages are formed resulting in a branched oligomer backbone (e.g., glycerol), or mixtures thereof, (2) terephthaloyl unit, and (3) oxyalkyleneoxy unit; and one or more capping units (preferably anionic).