Lecture was presented at Techtextil North America Symposium 2009

On top of traditional functions of fabrics, newly developed performance fabrics have added attractive features such as super strength against abrasion, retro-reflectivity, high-visibility, breathability, water-, wind-, chemical-, and/or flame-resistant, plus more functions including anti-germ, anti-mosquitoes, and/or anti-UV. Some industrial fabrics are designed for industrial washes, quick dry, and soil-repellant. Some technical fabrics are geared towards consumers who pay attention to wearing comfort, wrinkle-free, non-toxic, and environmental-friendly recyclable clothing.

On the technical side, we see more powerful technologies have emerged from both manufacturing and processing. A 3-layers performance fabric becomes a single layer without losing much of its characteristics. Some coated fabrics could be replaced by nano-technology eventually. Although we still need to weave, to knit, and to add colors to our fabrics there are many alternatives techniques are now available. Is there a limit of adding multi-functionalities?

This paper developed a quantifiable model in evaluating and selecting adequate performance for anticipated uses of technical fabrics. In this spreadsheet model, individual scorers can assign special weights and express their preferences on each of the functions, including possible zero scores for seemingly unrelated uses. Cost factor could be entered as one of the selection criterions in the model or be considered separately after comparing with total score of each fabric. The final costs of fabrics are not necessarily proportional to their performance. The best fabric chosen by customers is not necessarily the most expensive one. The model is able to interact with live audience in this presentation.

Development of new fabrics stops when economic costs exceed expected returns or when technical functions fail to meet with individual preferences within acceptable monetary or time constraints.

The newly developed multi-functional performance fabrics which adopted practical processing technology are applicable to casual, active, military, medical, and sport wears. The implication of the new fabric shows that enhancement of multi-functionality not only helps an individual firm to gain market shares but also help the textile industry to create a bigger market for every one.

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