Fabric Properties Related To Handle

 

The fabric properties related to handle, performance in garment manufacture, and garment appearance after manufacture and in use are, Physical properties (thickness and weight); dimensional stability (relaxation shrinkage and hygral expansion); mechanical properties (extensibility, bending properties, shear properties and in-lane compression); surface properties (compression, friction and surface irregularity); optical properties (luster); performance properties (pilling, wrinkling and surface abrasion).

Objective Measurement and Fabric Aesthetics

The idea of using the objective measurement of properties to predict fabric performance is not new. Measurements have been used to predict some aspects of fabric performance for many years. However, fabric objective measurement in the context of this report involves quite different objective measurements. The tests described in this report are designed to predict the success or failure of a fabric to 'make up well', to feel 'good', or for garments to look 'good' after manufacture and 'in wear'. This requires very subtle measurements that are much more accurate than those required to cause fabric to 'fart in the normally accepted sense. The difference between the testing referred to in this report and that previously required to predict functional performance, is that testing to assess aesthetic properties involves measurement at low deformations.

Recently, techniques have been developed to measure the mechanical properties of fabrics and use these measurements to quantify handle and quantitatively predict performance in both garment manufacture and the appearance of garments. However, mechanical properties are not the only properties that determine fabric aesthetics. Thermal properties, such as insulation and the warm-cool touch sensation, also play an important pan to determining fabric handle. The so-called dimensional stability of the fabric (perhaps more correctly called dimensional instability t12)) is also critical, not only in the manufacturing process but also to the subsequent appearance of the garment in wear. The need for tests to predict or assess subjective aspects of fabric aesthetics has increased in recent years for three main reasons:

1. The trend towards light-weight clothing has resulted m the increased use of fabrics that are difficult to make-up and require new handling skills,
2. The trend towards shorter seasons and the use of rapid systems (such as just-in-time manufacturing), have meant that the delivery of fabrics that are difficult to make-up will disrupt production schedules. For this reason it is even more important that garment makers are able to predict fabric performance.
3. The increased use of automation m garment manufacture removes the opportunity for skilled operators to correct for difficult or variable fabrics.

Instrumentation for Objective Measurement

Measurement of all the properties that determine important aesthetic characteristics of fabrics is not feasible for industrial users. However, fabric or garment makers require a system that measures only the necessary properties to achieve satisfactory quality control. Research workers to measure individual fabric properties, such as thickness and extensibility, have used simple instruments for many years. Until recently, the use of these separate instruments to predict fabric performance was not sufficiently coordinated to be widely used except by a small sector of the fabric and garment manufacturing industries.

Two developments have rinsed the status of fabric objective measurement from a research instrument to a tool suitable for use in industry:

• The availability of a set of instruments those are relatively inexpensive and simple to use.
• The coordination of background information needed to interpret the large amount of data produced by the instruments and uses it to predict fabric performance.

The first coherent set of instruments far this type of fabric objective measurement was developed by Kawabata in Japan. While these instruments are accurate, comprehensive and effective, they are also relatively complex, difficult to use and too expensive for all but the largest textile companies. The most recently developed set of instruments (SiroFAST - Fabric Assurance by Simple Tasting) was designed to meet the industrial need for a simple, robust system to predict fabric performance.