Prickle and handle properties of fabrics produced from specialty animal fibers

Abstract

Specialty animal fibers are commercially valuable since they significantly enhance the comfort properties of apparel products. As they help to create niche products, use of special animal fibers has increased significantly. There are many types of specialty fibers, such as cashmere, mohair, alpaca, and angora rabbit fibers, that are natural, ecological, and sustainable. Each of them has distinguishing properties and increases the added value of garments. In this work, five different specialty animal fibers and wool were sourced from four different countries. Yarns were spun using two different spinning systems. In the first method, to spin the yarns in a short staple spinning system, animal fibers were blended with viscose fibers. In the second method, to produce fabrics from 100% animal fibers, core yarn spinning system was used. Later, the yarns were knitted in a single jersey structure. After the production of all fabrics, handle properties such as surface friction, stiffness, and prickliness were tested by using both subjective and objective measurement techniques. To measure inherent fabric prickle, a new objective measurement technique was developed. Subjective and objective evaluation results highly correlate and it is pointed out that the new technique could be an alternative method to test fabric prickliness. Fabrics produced from silk, angora, and cashmere fibers are found to have the smoothest, softest, and least prickly surfaces among the other researched fibers.