Measuring handfeel of a fabric
emtec Electronic, based in Leipzig, Germany, is an innovative technology company known for its highly specialised test devices that support quality assurance and process optimisation. While the company has built a strong legacy in the pulp and paper sector since its founding in 1995, it has increasingly expanded its footprint in the nonwovens and textile industry since 2014—with notable success. With a growing portfolio of 13 cutting-edge testing instruments, emtec provides solutions that help textile and nonwoven manufacturers enhance product performance, streamline production processes, and ensure consistent quality. Its emphasis on customer-specific solutions, technical precision, and exceptional service has positioned emtec as a trusted partner for manufacturers seeking reliable, data-driven insights across over 80 countries through an extensive global sales network. As the demand for functional, high-performance fabrics and sustainable production rises, emtec continues to support the textile and nonwovens sector with tools that meet the evolving needs of the industry. In a conversation with Fibre2Fashion, emtec’s Textile Consultant for North America Harrie Schoots and Global Business Development Manager Alexander Grüner, share their insights on the growing importance of digitised haptics in textiles, and how emtec is helping shape the future of fabric evaluation.
Could you briefly introduce yourself and your journey within the textile industry?
Harrie Schoots: I jumped into a shift dyer job right out of the College of Textiles at NC State University a couple years after NAFTA was signed. As the US textile industry offshored, I shifted to working for large chemical companies. It was rare for multi-billion-dollar suppliers to have a ‘textile chemist’, so for the next two decades I thrived in an environment ripe for new application development. My ideas became new products and applications used globally. This is what allowed me to understand preparation, dyeing and finishing and the Tier 1 and 2 suppliers who did the manufacturing. My regular attendance at industry events, especially AATCC meetings, helped me to build a global network that helped me eventually to become an industry consultant today.
Alexander Grüner: My journey in the textile industry is not a long one yet. I studied economics and started to work for emtec Electronic – a company, which at that time was mainly focusing on the paper industry globally – after university at first in sales, focusing on the North American and Chinese paper industry. Over the years, I have been in different roles. Today – as emtec’s global business development manager – I am responsible to introduce emtec’s products and services to the textile industry, which is still new for the company and myself.
How do you define ‘haptics’ in the context of textiles?
Harrie: Defining haptics should begin by admitting, the second thing a consumer does (after looking at it, i.e., colour) with apparel is to touch it. Handfeel drives more sales than almost any other variable in a garment and yet, the industry does not have an objective test method to prove it! The variety of emotional and physical responses to touching fabric is what ‘haptics’ tries to capture in its name. Taking a step back from the consumer, haptics is how the fabric feels to the buyer when they touch it. The buyer’s touch will determine if a fabric is accepted or rejected as much as the entire garment tech pack result.
Why is digitising textile handfeel becoming essential in today’s textile market?
Harrie: Giving an opportunity to let every single person connected to a product sale a chance to ‘touch’ the fabric sample can mean a lead time of months just to physically ship a sample into the four directions of the earth. The carbon footprint of doing this is a nicely kept secret, as most would just have to admit “what else are we supposed to do?”. A brand used to fly shipments daily between cities just to send samples for touching. The number of FedEx/UPS packages was so high that it actually justified owning their own jet! We cannot continue to do this forever. Therefore, having an accurate and repeatable and reliable haptics measurement system is required. The good news is that it has already been accomplished in similar industries like paper and toilet paper business. So, I am excited to bring that trusted process to textiles as well.
Can you explain how emtec Electronic digitises handfeel? What specific technology or devices does emtec utilise?
Alex: Before digitising the hand feel, objective, reliable and accurate measurements need to be done. Similar to colour, the handfeel cannot be measured as a whole, because it is a very subjective value. With emtec’s TSA Tactile Sensation Analyzer, the individual components of the handfeel—such as surface softness, surface smoothness, stretch, recovery, but also friction and thermal properties of the fabric—can be combined to an overall handfeel value by the help of special algorithms. These calculated handfeel values correlate up to almost 100 per cent with the human perception. The test data can be digitised in emtec’s so-called virtual haptic library, which is a cloud-based platform, where haptic target values can be communicated along the supply chain for R&D, process optimisation, QA as well as sales and sourcing.
Like colour, haptics has three main variables. What exactly are these, and how do they impact the textile’s performance?
Alex: That is correct. Just like colour, haptics—or handfeel—is determined by individual components that influence how a fabric is perceived by touch. The three main parameters are surface softness, surface smoothness, and stretch. Depending on the intended application, additional factors may also become important—for example, thermal insulation, thermos-haptics, friction, compressibility, and crumplability.
Surface softness is primarily influenced by the fibres used to make the fabric. Surface smoothness, on the other hand, is mainly determined by the fabric’s construction. Stretch also largely depends on the type of fibres used. All of these parameters can be further affected by chemical treatments, prints, and other finishing processes.
What specific benefits can suppliers expect from digitising handfeel?
Harrie: The immediate benefits will include asking suppliers to share the handfeel test results before shipping fabric/garment. This may not be a perfect solution, but it will certainly be a vast improvement over ‘hoping they will approve it’. Next, anytime a fabric quality is changed mechanically, be it a new yarn supply, texturing process, yarn count etc, the haptics test results can be shown compared to the long-standing production results that have been approved in the past. Just like a fabric quality has a colour history, now it will also have a hand history. The haptics data could also be used to make sure that any preparation, dyeing or finishing changes do not negatively affect hand. More long-term benefits can be for designers who want to add ‘haptics’ values to a fabric search. Cloud based fabric databases will, in the near future, include softness, stiffness, crumplability, just as they do ‘jersey knit’ and ‘basis weight’.
In what ways do retailers benefit from having handfeel digitised? How does it influence their sales and customer satisfaction?
Harrie: Reducing off-quality shipments due to handfeel mismatches lowers costs and increases profitability. Fewer haptic-related failures also reduce the overall carbon footprint per approved garment. Improvements in quality approval through digital haptics shorten the lead time from approval to retail, which in turn reduces total supply chain costs—including warehousing and inventory expenses.
In my opinion, the first retailers to recognise the value of digital haptics will gain a competitive edge by sourcing new fabric qualities more quickly and moving from design to prototype in hours rather than weeks. Their suppliers will also benefit, with greater confidence in introducing new fabric qualities and fewer rejections of existing ones.
Could you share a practical example or case study where digitising handfeel significantly improved a client’s textile product or process?
Alex: While we cannot disclose specific customer names or internal processes, I can share a general example of how the TSA and our cloud-based virtual haptic library can significantly impact the industry—much like the colour spectrometer has done in recent years.
Currently, developing a new garment is a lengthy process, often requiring multiple development cycles to achieve the desired handfeel. The key issue is the lack of objective haptic target data and an effective platform to communicate those values. Creating the right handfeel is often a guessing game, with outcomes that may fall short of expectations. This leads to large quantities of fabric samples being shipped back and forth between brands and suppliers—wasting time, increasing costs, and leaving a considerable carbon footprint.
This challenge can be solved by integrating the TSA as an objective testing device and the cloud-based haptic library as a communication platform within the development process. The TSA provides precise target values, allowing mills to work towards these benchmarks. Once the fabric meets the required haptic standards—such as surface softness, smoothness, stretch, and recovery— the mill can be confident it will be accepted by the brand. This approach can eliminate the need for the usual 15, 20, or even 25 weeks of development and significantly reduce the volume of physical samples sent.
We have seen from past implementations of colour spectrometers and cloud-based colour libraries that customers have saved millions of US dollars simply by cutting down on physical sample shipments and speeding up development timelines. The same transformative results are now achievable with TSA and the virtual haptic library.
Mr. Schoots, as a renowned expert and past AATCC president, how do you see emtec’s technology fulfilling the technical expectations of the industry?
Harrie: While the industry has seen several instruments and past attempts to quantify handfeel, the results have often been underwhelming. As I often tell my clients, in textiles, being ‘right’ 90 per cent of the time is not good enough—new technology must deliver consistent accuracy to be accepted.
emtec’s TSA is the first instrument that has truly met this standard. It has already proven itself in a comparable industry—paper—and has been successfully adopted by both retailers and suppliers over many years. One of the key reasons is the technology behind it: sound. Using sound waves to measure handfeel allows for the capture of microscale tactile data that would otherwise be impossible to quantify.
The TSA generates a ‘sonic curve’, much like a colour spectrometer produces a colour curve. This enables highly accurate measurements across three core haptic dimensions (akin to the colour L* a* b* dimensions): roughness/smoothness, hardness/ softness, and flexibility/stiffness. These dimensions form the basis of 27 Hand Groups (3x3x3), which can serve as signature handfeel targets—similar to how brands create colour palettes.
By digitising this data and integrating it with existing fabric data, the TSA can significantly accelerate the design process and has the potential to revolutionise how fabric haptics are assessed and approved for quality.
What gives the TSA a competitive edge over other handfeel testing devices?
Alex: The TSA stands out because, unlike many other test devices, it is not simply a modern version of older instruments that mechanically measure haptic parameters. Instead, the TSA simulates what actually happens on human skin when a fabric is touched or held. This innovative approach results in a strong correlation between the subjective perception of handfeel and the measured parameters and calculated TSA values—and ultimately, that is what truly matters.
In addition to its accuracy, the TSA offers practical advantages: it is compact, all functions are integrated into a single unit, the testing process is quick, and it requires only a minimal amount of material. These features make it highly efficient and user-friendly, adding real value for manufacturers and brands alike.
How do you see the role of digitised haptics evolving in the next five years?
Harrie: I believe the most important role of digitisation in the next five years will be for the suppliers and brands that actively embrace it. Our industry thrives on differentiation, and those who leverage the benefits of digital haptics will be the ones gaining in growth, margins, and brand recognition.
It is similar to the early days of colour digitisation—where some criticised spectrophotometers, while others achieved success by adopting them. I do not expect it to be much different with haptics. The real question is: do you want to be part of the story written by the haptics innovators, or will you be explaining why you did not adopt it?
What would be your advice to companies hesitant about adopting digitised handfeel technologies?
Harrie: As a consultant, I’d advise companies that are hesitant to start with the low-hanging fruit. For buyers, that means adding haptic requirements to your mill specifications; for fabric sellers, it means using the emtec TSA to quantify and communicate handfeel consistently. This small step can already begin to deliver measurable returns on quality assurance. Just imagine reducing approval times and increasing approval rates within 3 to 6 months once haptic parameters are clearly defined. There are very few other changes the industry can make that could cut costs by 5 to 10 per cent and reduce lead times by months.
Alex: Colour, design, and handfeel are the first three things a consumer notices in-store. Colour can already be measured objectively, and if we look back, we remember how textile development used to rely solely on visual evaluation. With the introduction of colour spectrometers and cloud-based systems, the industry became faster, more efficient, and significantly more sustainable—saving time, money, and resources.
Now, the same opportunity exists with handfeel. The tools are ready, and the first brands and fabric suppliers are already using the TSA and cloud-based platforms for exactly this purpose—with great success. The sooner the industry adopts digitised handfeel, the sooner it can reap similar benefits.
Any concluding thoughts or messages you would like to share with our readers?
Harrie: As someone who contributed to the development of the CIEL*a*b* colour measurement system, I want to encourage the industry to see digitised haptics as the next major leap forward. As a true textile enthusiast, it is incredibly exciting to be part of the digitisation of something as complex and subjective as handfeel. Just imagine the potential—how much time, energy, resources, and money could be saved through a standardised, data-driven approach to measuring comfort. It has the potential to be one of the most transformative changes our industry has seen in decades.
And who knows—perhaps one day, we will see handfeel parameters discussed at the consumer level. Until then, let us textile professionals continue turning comfort into measurable data.
