Textile Characteristics

It is crucial that a each sales team member has a good understanding of the laundering process. As part of your normal induction into the Sales Team you will experience some time working in the laundry and the guide on the next two tabs will give you some insight into the types and characteristics of the two main textiles used in our industry,  as well as into the “hows and whys” of the laundering process.

TYPES OF TEXTILE FIBRES:


Fibres used in textile products are either natural or man made. While natural fibres occur in nature in fibrous form, man-made fibres must be created from simple chemicals such as petroleum or chemically regenerated natural substances. Although many natural and man-made fibres are used in today’s various products, the two fibres most commonly encountered in industrial laundries are cotton and polyester.

COTTON


In nature, cotton is irregular in shape – porous and hydrophilic. In it’s finished format it is soft and absorbent. Cotton will shrink if exposed to high heat and can wrinkle easily. Because cotton has no memory, wrinkles can be removed by pressing. A desirable wrinkle such as a crease in pants, cannot be permanently set in cotton unless it is specially treated. Natural cotton fibre is composed of cellulose. Cotton and other forms of cellulose can be dissolved chemically and regenerated as a man made fibre such as rayon.


POLYESTER


Man made polyester fibres consist of a long chain synthetic polymer made from ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid. These fibres are durable, resilient, hydrophobic (water hating), and very strong. Polyester has memory and returns back to its normal straight, smooth fibre state when heated to recommended ranges. Polyester will melt under conditions of high heat. It is also oleophillic (has a strong attraction for oils). Polyester has high crease retention properties due to its reaction in the presence of heat. Therefore, proper care in laundering is needed to ensure that these same desirable crease retention properties do not result in undesirable wrinkles.

POLYESTER/COTTON BLENDED FABRICS


After much experimentation, blends of polyester and cotton were established as desirable for most wearing apparel. Polyester/cotton blends seek to utilise the strong points of each fibre – the softness and absorbency of cotton and the durability and memory of polyester to produce top performance characteristics. Most industrial uniform fabrics are polyester/cotton blends.

In order to improve the serviceability of polyester/cotton blends, resins are used to enhance their inherent wrinkle resistant properties. Resins chemically cross-link the cotton portion of the blend, immobilising the fibre to reduce shrinkage and wrinkling.

Two important properties of resin-treated, polyester cotton blends vs. 100% cotton are increased service life, and ease of finishing. From a laundering viewpoint polyester/cotton blends tend to be more difficult to process than 100% cotton due the thermoplastic or “memory” characteristic of polyester, and the fact that polyester attracts and holds oily and greasy soils more tenaciously than cotton. However proper laundries enable most operators to eliminate the pressing operation by taking advantage of the cross-linked cotton and thermoplastic nature of polyester.

PRE-CURE/POST CURE PROCESS


Resin treated polyester/cotton blends are termed either pre cured or post cured. In the pre-cured process, the resin is cured before the garment is cut and sewn. This process is used for shirt, jacket, and coverall fabric where “permanent” creases are not required. In the post cure process, the garment is manufactured, then pressed and cured to put the creases into place. This process is used mainly for pants with “permanent” creases.