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The Comparison of Utility Comfort of Sports Underwear Clothing Made of

Modern Chemical Fibres

Chapter · June 2008

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Renata Salerno-Kochan
Cracow University of Economics
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 THE COMPARISON OF UTILITY COMFORT OF
SPORTS UNDERWEAR CLOTHING
MADE OF MODERN CHEMICAL FIBRES
Renata Salerno-Kochan

Cracow University of Economics, Faculty of Commodity Science,

Poland, Cracow, Sienkiewicza 4, etsalern@cyf-kr.edu.pl

1. Introduction
Clothing industry development particularly strong within sport and recreation
clothing branch consists in introducing new types of fibres, fabric’s structures or
other technological innovations makes the market possible to offer consumers a
wide assortment of products, various not only in their appearance but also in
parameters responsible for the utility comfort. In spite of the obvious opinion
that consumers attach the biggest importance to the aesthetic features rather than
to other properties, more often, as was discussed in the previous author’s paper
[1], they also appreciate the utility comfort of clothes. The most often discussed
question is [2,3], which fibres: natural, as cotton; artificial as viscose, which are
characterised as hygroscopic fibres; or man-made fibres perceived as non-
hygroscopic such as polyester, polyamide or propylene are recommendable for
fabrics designed for underwear?

The purpose of this paper is to compare the parameters responsible for the utility
comfort of knitted fabrics made of modern chemical fibres and designed for
underwear clothing with a special emphasis on the physiological parameters, as
air permeability, capacity to sorption and transport water vapour; fastness of
drying and the skin sensorial comfort.

2. Materials and methods

The research was carried out on six samples of knitted fabrics designed for
underwear: five made of modern chemical fibres, as bamboo (viscose),
polyester, polyamide and polypropylene; and one sample of cotton knitted fabric
chosen as comparative sample, which represent the traditional approach to fibres
content in underwear clothing. Their basic characteristics were determined and
collected in Table 1.
To compare the utility comfort of the analysed fabrics, first the parameters
responsible for the physiological comfort were measured. For the purpose of this
research the measurements were performed both according to standards and
simulating real conditions of usage. The main concern was paid on fabrics’
water vapour absorption capacity under using conditions, so the kinetic and
isotherms of water vapour absorption at 350C (near skin temperature) were
established. The sorption weight Sartorius 4410 with vacuum chamber was
used. The next examined parameter was the water vapour resistance. It was
measured according to PN-EN 31092:1998/Ap1:2004. The fabric’s regain was
determined after digging the samples into the water and also after fabric
wringing (simulating real treatment of underclothes by users after washing or
becoming socked). Then the kinetic of drying was examined. In addition, the
skin sensorial sensation was analysed.

Table 1. Characteristic of tested samples

No. and symbol Fibre Tape of Mass Thickne Air

of the sample composition/ weave g/m2 ss mm permeability
trade names mm/s
1. CO Cotton 100% jersey 225 0.88 621
2. BAMBOO Bamboo 93% jersey 195 0.62 892
Lycra 7%
3. PES Polyester 100%, jersey 190 0.55 1145
Coolmax
4. PES2 Polyester 100%, fleece basic
Polartec Dry doubleknit 190 0.86 1620
5. PP Polypropylene honeycomb 170 1.10 1178
100%, Prolen doubleknit
6. PA Meryl Skin Life
50% honeycomb 225 0.86 436
Polyamide50% doubleknit
Source: own research

3. Results and discussion

The graphs presented in Figure 1 confirm the superiority of fabrics composed of
natural polymer fibres (cotton, bamboo) over fabrics made of synthetic fibres in
water vapour absorption capacity and show that regardless of the level of
relative humidity the fabric made of modern viscose fibres manufactured from
bamboo tree [4] displays the best capacity to water vapour absorption (11.5%).
When analysing the kinetic of water vapour absorption one may notice that
samples, which possess a high capacity to water vapour absorption have very
dynamic course in the first stage of process, and then it becomes slower. The
fabrics made of synthetic fibres reach their highest values within 3 minutes (PA)
or even earlier (PES, PP).
 0
A/11 ISOTHERMS OF WATER VAPOUR ABSORPTION AT 35 C
B/ KINETIC OF WATER VAPOUR SORPTION
12
10
BAMBOO
? BAMBOO/ VISCOSE

WATER VAPOUR ABSORPTION, %

WATER VAPOUR SORPTION, %

9 10

8
8
7
COTTON COTTON
6 6
3 min
5
4 4
POLYAMIDE
POLYAMIDE
3
2
2
POLYESTER
1 POLYESTER
0
POLYPROPYLEN POLYPROPYLENE
0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
P/P0 TIME, hours

Figure 1. The comparison of tested fabrics in relation to: A/ isotherms of water vapour
absorption at 350C, B/ kinetic of water vapour absorption at 350C and RH=60%

Figure 2 presents the kinetic of samples’ drying. For better presentation the
differences between fabrics, the logarithm of data obtained for water content was
found.

BAMBOO
CO
1 PES
PA
WATER CONTANT, g

PP
PES2

0.1

0.01

0 20 40 60 80 100
TIME, min

Figure 2. The kinetic of fabrics’ drying

The graph shows that the total time of fabric’s drying depends strongly on a type
of fibre, but speed of drying depends on initial content of water in samples, and
relates to their thickness or a type of fibre composition. As was expected, the
fabrics made of cellulose fibres demonstrate the longest time of drying,
especially bamboo (viscose) fabric in spite of its low thickness. A decrease in
water content during the first stage of drying is similar for all samples and may
testify about removing the free water kept between fibres and yarns, while
during the second stage the hygroscopic water is removed and its length depends
on water absorption capacity of the fibres.
In Figure 3 the water vapour resistance (Ret) of the fabrics and their softness are
compared. The Ret values of all tested samples testify that in general all of them
possess a very good capacity to transport water vapour, whereat some
differences between them occur.
 A/ 3,6 B/
3,4 7
3,2 6

SOFTNESS
3 5
4

Ret
2,8
2,6 3
2,4 2
2,2 1
2 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
SAMPLES SAMPLES

Figure 3. The comparison of tested fabrics in relation to:

A/ water vapour resistance, B/ fabrics softness

When analysing the skin sensorial sensation of the fabrics (Figure 3B) it was
noticed that cotton and polyamide fabrics demonstrate not sufficient softness,
while the Bamboo and Coolmax fabrics were estimated as the most pleasant to
the touch.

4. Conclusions
Test results and performed discussion proved that a type of fibre composition
strongly influence parameters determining physiological and sensorial comfort
of fabrics designed for underwear clothing. The results showed the strengths and
weakness of the tested fabrics and that the samples made of modern chemical
fibres demonstrate better properties in comparison to cotton fabric. The study
showed that a very interesting type among the analysed samples is the Bamboo
fabric, which with the exception of poor ability to drying, displays very good
properties. However, the obtained results do not give a definite answer, which
kind of material better fulfils requirements of individual user they could be very
useful to costumers for coming to a proper decision.

5. References
[1] Salerno-Kochan R., Consumer models of quality structure for clothes, Proceedings
15th Symposium of IGWT “Global safety of commodity and environment. Quality of
life”. Volume II, Kijev 12-17.09.2006, pp. 1020-1024.
[2] Bartels V.T., Physiological comfort of sportswear, In: Textiles in Sport, ed. R.
Shishoo, Woodhead Publishing Ltd., ISBN-13 978-1-84569-088-5, Cambridge
2005, pp. 177 - 202.
[3] Li Y., The Science of Clothing Comfort, Textile Progress, 2001, Vol. 31, No. 1-2,
pp. 64-80, ISSN 00405167.
[4] Bamboo by Gilleman, http://www.gilleman.be, 20.10.2007.

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