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The problem of textiles’ soiling is not a new one. Natural and synthetic textiles all get soiled during use by various mechanisms, including mechanical adhesion, adhesion by electrical forces or redeposition of soil during washing. However, the most important factor…
When I first started studying Fashion Design back in 2008, I thought it was all about self-expression, aesthetics and being desirable. While all this still applies, I learnt that it means nothing if you do it at any cost. Especially…
The textile finishing industry gives fabrics and garments their final appearance and properties. It employs traditional processes that are not environmentally friendly. These industrial activities have some environmental consequences, mainly related to the massive consumption of chemicals and intensive use of water and energy resources, waste-water treatments required, etc. Processes like desizing, bleaching, washing (roll-to-roll systems on fabrics) and dip-coating functionalization or dyeing (batch systems on garments) are currently developed by wet application systems and chemicals that require huge amounts of water and treatment of the waste-water released. The use of alternative chemistry like ozone for fabric treatment in a continuous way, and use of nanobubble technology for garment finishing is able to reduce the chemical consumption – also water consumption – in comparison with traditional systems.
Cotton and other cellulosic substrates comprise over 40% of world textile production. Of all the dyes used for the colouration of cellulosic fibres, reactive dyes find the greatest use with over 50% of world consumption. Reactive dyes are desirable because…
The use of chemicals is one of the key factors in the sustainability and has a particular relevance in the textile and clothing sector, due not only to the legislation related with chemicals used (specially REACH, CLP and BPR Regulations) but also to clients RSL (restricted substance list) and campaigns from non-governmental organizations, such as the Detox campaign and ZDHC programme.
Several chemical substances have always been used to make clothes, which through water discharges and household care can be harmful for the environment and toxic for human health. To protect fresh and sea water resources, in 2011 Greenpeace launched the…
Water is used extensively throughout textile processing operations. Almost all dyes, specialty chemicals, and finishing chemicals are applied to textile substrates from water baths. In addition, most fabric preparation steps, including desizing, scouring, bleaching, and mercerizing, use aqueous systems. The…
Flame lamination is a highly economical and widespread process in the textile industry for the production of textile composites consisting of e.g. textile webs, artificial leather or foils with a foam layer in between. Main application fields for these structures…
Short run production can allow for local sourcing closer to market needs but also presents a number of challenges that can be addressed through TCBL. Short production runs for textiles and clothing materials can be divided into segments, e.g. Short…
Technology related to yarn and fabric production and related to sewing is constantly improving. The textile and clothing sector benefits a lot from research in many disciplines (from chemistry to computer science and biology), but often in a not entirely…