Development Of Textile Products Research Articles

Production of Natural Dyed Palm Yarns and Fabrics

Palm fibreis a waste product from the fruit crushing-extracting process in local communities. This study examined the characteristics of natural dyed palm yarns and fabrics producedfrom treated palm fibres. The results showed that fibre characteristics were improved by anaerobic fermentation, and following crushing and carding, were 3-5 times smaller, softer and more pliable.In the production of palm/cotton yarns of No. 7 (50/50), No.10(40/60), No.16(30/70)andNo.10(0/100),the 3-5 denier palm yarns and cotton yarns were spun in open-end spinning units. Regarding the physical properties, the blended yarns showed more unevenness and higher tensile strength and elongation at break than 100% cotton yarn. However, it was found that the coarser yarns were lower in strength than the finer yarns. Fibre sorting by denier leads to a decrease in unevenness caused by thin and thick patches and neps. When dyed with natural dyes, the palm yarns were found highly fast to light, but only moderately fast to washing.Dark dye spots distributed on the palm fibre yarns formed a natural pattern structure in the woven textiles. The tested woven textiles from the weft palm yarns are lighter in weight and higher in tensile force and tear strength than their cotton counterparts. The results suggest that palm fibre yarns should be promoted and introduced in Thai textile craft markets to provide diversity and added value to Thai textiles. Moreover, this study offers an opportunity to use palm waste to provide an alternative income source while preserving the environment in local communities. Such community-level industries may provide a sound basis for sufficiency community economies and green textile product development.

Total design for textile products

Product development is less than 20-30 years old and a relatively new area of research compared to the other classic academic disciplines. Integrated product development is a philosophy that systematically employs the teaming of functional disciplines to integrate and concurrently apple all the necessary processes to produce an effective and efficient product that satisfies customer needs. Product development might also be understood as a multidisciplinary field of research. The disciplines directly participating in product development include engineering design, innovation, manufacturing, marketing and management. A background contribution is also generated by disciplines such as psychology, social sciences and information technology. This article is an overview that introduces this philosophy to textile product development.