Contemporary
Fabrics
(The importance of quantifying pilling on textile surface
& The science of sport materials )
PILLING IN TEXTILE
Australia produces the best quality wool. Merino wool and over 70% of the wool for apparel use comes from Australia. Wool fabrics have a relatively high tendency to pill which often causes a large decline in the share price of wool in the wool fibre market.
Pilling in the fabric is the formation of little balls or aggregates of fibres on the surface of the fabric, which is the results of the abrasion in the textile material. The balls that aggregate are called pills. This unpleasant appearance compromises the fabrics’ acceptability for apparel. Wool fabrics have very poor stability and have a high tendency to pill. Great care must be taken in handling wool fabrics through a sequence of wet finishing processes.
The key element to control and minimize fabric pilling is the evaluation of resistance to pilling by testing. This is normally tested in the laboratory through the process of stimulate accelerated wear. This is followed by a manual assessment of the degree of pilling by an expert based on a visual comparison of the sample to a set of test images, others use mathematical methods to examine pilling on fabric surfaces
SPORTSWEAR
Sportswear can be classified as performance wear, outdoor wear and sports-inspired wear. The crossover between sportswear and leisure apparel grows in importance. The significant increase in consumption of textile fibres and fabrics in sportswear over the past two decades can be related to the significantly growing rise in worldwide interest in active indoor and outdoor sports as well as in outdoor leisure pursuits.
The manufacturers of these products are often at the forefront of textile manufacturing technologies, and they use the latest advances in high-functional and high-performance materials to fulfil various types of consumer and market demands. Textile materials by themselves or in combination with other flexible materials are used to produce sportswear and sports footwear in all types of sport. Such as, athletic clothing (sweatshirts, shorts, jackets and pants), football clothing, gloves, swimwear, outdoor leisure wear, skiing clothing and protective helmets. Examples of sports footwear are: athletic shoes, football boots, gym shoes, tennis shoes and walking boots