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Moisture Management Fabrics, 2007 Edition
Textiles Intelligence, May 2007, Pages: 32
One of the key performance criteria in modern sports and active outdoor wear is moisture management—the ability of a garment to transport moisture away from the skin to the garment’s outer surface.
The market is dominated by Invista’s portfolio of moisture management fabrics—which include CoolMax, Tactel Aquator, ThermaStat, Thermax, and Thermolite Base. However, the pace of development has accelerated over the past ten years, and a growing number of other companies have started to compete. Such companies include American Fibers and Yarn, Comfort Technologies, Hind, Honeywell, Intera, Intex, Lenzing, Marmot, Milliken, Mitsui, Nano-Tex, Nike, Patagonia, Pearl Izumi, Polartec, Reebok, Rhovyl, Schoeller, Tomen, USA-Pro, and Wellman.
For applications in which wicking is essential—such as base layer garments—the most commonly used material is polyester. This is often chemically modified to create a fabric in which the fibres encourage moisture to migrate through it. However, fabrics which are made from modified wool, cotton and polyamide (nylon) may provide similar or superior properties to polyester.
The number of moisture management fabrics on the market has increased dramatically in recent years. This trend is likely to continue over the next few years as manufactures strive to boost the comfort of their offerings.
As the number of fabrics and fibres with moisture management properties increases, so will the number of applications. In addition to sportswear and active wear, there is growing interest in the use of moisture management fabrics in the flame retardant apparel market.
The next generation of textiles is likely to incorporate nanotechnology, as it has already been proven that extremely fine fibre surfaces have beneficial properties. In addition, the near future could see the development of smart fabrics which are able to respond to changes in the environment by adjusting their pore size or thickness at a given moment to facilitate moisture transmission.
SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
ROLE OF MOISTURE MANAGEMENT IN TEXTILES AND APPAREL
Thermoregulation
Controlling weight build-up
Reducing skin damage
THE ART OF LAYERING
Base layer
Middle layer
Outer layer
MOISTURE TRANSPORT
Moisture transport mechanisms
Factors affecting moisture transport
Weight or thickness
Fibre fineness
Fibre types
FIBRES FOR MOISTURE MANAGEMENT
TEST METHODS FOR MOISTURE MANAGEMENT FABRICS
APPLICATIONS OF MOISTURE MANAGEMENT FABRICS
Sportswear
Active outdoor wear
Flame retardant apparel
KEY PLAYERS IN MOISTURE MANAGEMENT FABRICS AND THEIR PRODUCTS
American Fibers and Yarn Company: Innova
Comfort Technologies: Akwatek and Akwadyne
Hind: Drylete
Honeywell: Hydrofil
Intera: Intera
Intex: Xhale
Invista, and Advansa: spin-offs from DuPont
DuPont pioneered high performance fabrics
Invista: CoolMax
CoolMax is a lightweight hydrophilic fabric made from 4- or 6-channel fibres
Invista: thermolite
Lenzing: Tencel
Lenzing: Lenzing fr
Marmot: Driclime
Milliken: Dryline
Mitsui & Co: Pertex
Nano-Tex: NANO-Dry
Nike: Dri-FIT
Patagonia: Capilene
Pearl Izumi: Ultrasensor
Pearl Izumi: Microsensor
Polartec: Polartec
Reebok: Hydromove
Rhovyl: Rhovyl
Schoeller: Dryskin and Dryskin Extreme
Schoeller: 3XDRY
Schoeller: c_change
Tomen Corporation: Technofine
USA-Pro: MMT Contour
Wellman: Comfortrel
Wellman: EcoSpun
Wellman: Fortrel MicroSpun
Wellman: Sensura
OUTLOOK FOR MOISTURE MANAGEMENT FABRICS
List of tables
Table 1: CoolMax Performance Fabrics: types and physical properties
Table 2: CoolMax Performance Fabrics: performance requirements
Table 3: CoolMax Performance Fabrics: performance properties compared with selected other fabrics
List of figures
Figure 1: TetraChannel, or four-channel, fibre
Figure 2: HexaChannel, or six-channel, fibre
Figure 3: CoolMax fabric
Companies and Products Mentioned
- American Fibers and Yarn Company: Innova
- Comfort Technologies: Akwatek and Akwadyne
- Hind: Drylete
- Honeywell: Hydrofil
- Intera: Intera
- Intex: Xhale
- Invista: CoolMax
- Invista: thermolite
- Lenzing: Tencel
- Lenzing: Lenzing fr
- Marmot: Driclime
- Milliken: Dryline
- Mitsui & Co: Pertex
- Nano-Tex: NANODry
- Nike: Dri-FIT
- Patagonia: Capilene
- Pearl Izumi: Ultrasensor
- Pearl Izumi: Microsensor
- Polartec: Polartec
- Reebok: Hydromove
- Rhovyl: Rhovyl
- Schoeller: Dryskin and Dryskin Extreme
- Schoeller: 3XDRY
- Schoeller: c_change
- Tomen Corporation: Technofine
- USA-Pro: MMT Contour
- Wellman: Comfortrel
- Wellman: EcoSpun
- Wellman: Fortrel MicroSpun
- Wellman: Sensura
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