Consumers purchasing textiles usually feel fabrics for its tactile properties indicating that they are interested in comfort properties rather than other properties. During daily activities, low-stress mechanical action like bending, shear, compression, tensile, and hysteresis occurs on clothing. These high sensitive low-stress mechanical properties have influence on movement comfort of the body. This study reports effect of cotton yarn parameters on tactile comfort and low-stress mechanical properties of four knitted fabrics. These fabrics were developed with cotton yarn having different yarn counts; twist, coefficient of mass variation, neps, hairiness, thin and thick places, and strength and elongation. Half-bleach treatment was carried out on the knitted fabrics and the effect of yarn parameters plus their correlation on tactile comfort and low-stress mechanical properties were evaluated. Results statistically analyzed showed that coefficient of friction, surface roughness, tensile, bending, shear, and compression of knitted fabrics were affected by yarn count. However, in wales direction, tensile resilience (RT%) of knitted fabrics had insignificant change with an F-value of 1.110 and p-value of .248. A correlation was also found between fabric smoothness and yarn count at adj. R² = 83.1%. A relationship between yarn parameters and tactile comfort properties was also modeled using equations.

The air permeability, thermal resistance, water vapor permeability, water absorption, and Stiffness were measured to determine the comfort property of the fabric. For this study, the plain, twill, and satin structures were produced from warp ring-spun yarn and weft open-end spinning yarns. Using ANOVA statistical analysis, the weave structures on the comfort properties of these fabrics were investigated. The finding of this study revealed that from plain to twill and satin structure the result leads to an increasing of Water Vapor Permeability, Water absorption rate, and air permeability. On the contrary, from plain to twill and satin the thermal resistance and stiffness of fabrics were reduced. Plain weave structure was superior thermal resistance and stiffness, whereas Satin weaves have higher air permeability, water vapor permeability, and water absorption rate.

Purpose: Fabrics’ thermal properties greatly influence human comfort during wear. For this reason, fabrics with optimum thermal properties need to be developed. This paper aims to investigate the effect of weft yarn twist levels on thermal and surface properties of 100 per cent cotton woven fabrics.Design/methodology/approach: Five types of plain woven cotton fabrics were manufactured using weft yarns with 900, 905, 910, 915 and 920 twists/meter (Tpm). The other parameters of the samples as count, thread density and fabric structures were kept constant. Fabric thermal properties were evaluated by measuring its thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, actual insulation, water permeability, air permeability and wicking ability. The fabric compression and surface properties were also evaluated because they contribute to the overall clothing comfort.Findings: The results showed that actual insulation and thermal resistance property decreased with an increase in twists/meter of the weft yarn. However, thermal conductivity does not significantly change while fabric compression reduced with an increase in twist as the surface roughness increased.Originality/value: Comfort is a fundamental requirement in human daily existence, and it is greatly influenced by clothing, which comes in close contact with the human skin. Fabrics’ thermal properties greatly influence human comfort during wear. For this reason, fabrics with optimum thermal properties need to be developed.

Fabric sensory properties are complex concepts which include dimensional changes at small forces such as tensile, shear, compression and bending, surface properties (friction and roughness) plus surface coolness or warmness. The aim of this study was to investigating the effect of weft yarn twist level on sensorial comfort of 100% woven cotton fabrics. Five cotton fabrics were woven with incremental weft yarn twist levels and their tensile and shear strength, pure bending, compression, surface friction and roughness were evaluated using Kawabata Evaluation System and compared. The other sample parameters such as count, thread density and fabric structure were kept constant. Fabric water permeability and its wicking ability were also evaluated. The results showed that as the twist level increased, the fabric tensile, shear and bending properties also increased. This was observed in both the warp and weft direction. At higher level of twist, lower surface friction, less compressibility, less slipperiness (0.264 warp and 0.199 weft direction), rougher surface (0.026 warp and 0.020 weft) and less even surface (2.643 warp and 1.998) were observed. The wicking ability also reduced with the increase in twist level while there was an improvement in water permeability.

An attempt has been made to develop shrink resistance cotton textile by making it hydrophobic. The cotton fabric was made hydrophobic by treating with fluorocarbon resin emulsion at varying concentrations along with catalyst. The hydrophobicity was measured by carrying out water repellency test and also determining the water contact angle. The air permeability of cotton fabric was also determined and was not adversely affected. The untreated and treated cotton fabric was subjected to repeated domestic laundry condition and shrinkage was measured. In order to determine the impact of fluorocarbon treatment on fabric, the physical properties of treated and untreated cotton fabrics were compared. No adverse impact was observed in colour fastness properties. The tensile and tear strength showed good retention even at higher concentration of water repellent chemicals. This work finds wide use in home textiles and hotel industry. This work is of industrial interest as value added shrink resistance cotton textiles can fetch more export earnings.

The physical properties of wool fiber considered as vital attribute to grade, classify and select a raw wool fiber for different textile applications. Limited works have been done in Ethiopia to address this subject. In this research, the physical properties (mainly the fineness, crimp and strength) of wool fiber of Ethiopian indigenous sheep breeds have been investigated. Four Ethiopian indigenous sheep breeds such as Menz, Wollo (no wool from its belly), Farta and Tikur (no wool from its belly) were considered. Fibers sampled from four body parts at four defined ages of each sheep breeds. All samples have been conditioned for 24 h at 20 ± 1 °C temperature and 65 ± 2% relative humidity. The results revealed that the fineness, crimps and strength of the four indigenous sheep breeds are significantly different from each other. The wool fiber from Ethiopian sheep breeds is suitable for textile production. Hence, these wool fibers are classified based on their breeds to use for different textile applications.