The Importace Of Cotton Fabric

Cotton is the world's most important apparel fiber, making up over 50% of the fabric sold throughout the world. This isn't by accident. With a long history, it has endured because of its unique properties that make it ideal for much of the clothing we wear. It is attractive, durable, comfortable, and proven.

Cotton is divided into various groups depending on its physical characteristics; we will focus on two of the most important, the length of the fiber and its fineness. Cotton fibers vary in length, from half an inch to 2 inches. Higher quality is associated with longer length, and achieving this is more expensive. Longer fibers make up only 3% of the worldwide output, and are reserved for high end shirt fabrics and other like uses. Shirt fabric varieties of this long fiber cotton include American Pima, Egyptian, and Sea Island Cottons. Cotton fineness (the fiber's diameter) is another quality characteristic; immature fibers tend to be 20% thinner than mature fibers, and therefore are less strong. Very high end fabric producers seek to separate the mature from the immature fibers, ensuring high durability.

Properties

Absorbency
This is what makes cotton so comfortable in hot weather. It absorbs the moisture from your skin allowing it to evaporate by passing through the fabric, thus allowing your body to regulate your temperature. This combined with the spun yarns ability to hold the fabric slightly off the skin allows greater comfort than other fabrics in hot conditions.

Heat Conduction
Heat passes freely through cotton; combining this property along with the absorbency characteristic above, you have an unbeatable fiber for making hot weather wearing fabric. However, in cold weather, this strength is a weakness. Cotton jackets are not good a retaining the body's heat, and only if very tightly woven and pressed using special techniques will you see an improvement here.

Resiliency

Cotton does not retain its shape well. Fabrics made from cotton tend to wrinkle and do not hold their shape well. This problem can be addressed by specially treating the fabric or blending it with a man made fiber, but you lose a bit of its other properties such as durability and heat conduction by doing so.

Durability
Cotton is tough. In fact, when wet it increases in strength by 30%; thus throwing 100% cotton shirts in the washing machine may mean a lot of ironing, but you can be sure the fabric will remain intact. It can be washed with strong detergents, and the only thing you may want to watch out for is it losing some of its color (thus the case for hand washing). Cotton molecular structure resists high heat, so ironing is a great way to get the fabric looking crisp; a quick tip though is that shirts respond best to ironing when they come immediately out of the dryer a bit damp still. And to top it all off, cotton is resistant to moths!

Cotton does have some durability issues. You should use bleach sparingly, as that it weakens the cellulosic fibers of cotton. It should be stored clean and dry to protect from mildew, which digests cellulose and can cause holes if too much time elapses. Cotton is also sensitive to acids, thus fruit and fruit juice stains should be treated immediately.

Environmental Impact

The Bad -
Mainstream farms use chemical pesticides and bioengineering to get the highest quality and highest yield per acre. The unintended consequences of chemical runoff and more resistant pest insects are well documented. Cotton is water intensive, and the tilling necessary can lead to soil erosion.

The Good
Cotton is a renewable resource that has successfully clothed man for centuries. In part to the Green movement, Organic Cotton has risen in importance and economic viability. Organic cotton uses no synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, and therefore leaves a smaller footprint on the environment. However, because of lower yield per acre and a lack of economies of scale in the industry, the cost to get this to the consumer often doubles the price. Another niche being filled is the re-emergence of naturally colored cottons. Cultivated for thousands of years, naturally colored cotton can be grown in red, brown, beige, and green with other colors in development.

E-tailor at www.mycustomtailor.com

Wool - A Luxury Fabric

Intruction

Although the importance of wool has diminished over the last century, the fiber still retains a strong place in the clothing world due to its unique characteristics. Wool is a generic term applied to the hair of animals, mostly sheep, but also including Angora and Cashmere goats, camels, and llamas. It is a natural protein fiber, and is considered a luxury fiber not only of its price but also because of the lengths an owner must go through to ensure proper care. Despite these drawbacks, wool has endured as a fabric because of its resiliency, physical attractiveness, insulating ability, comfort, and the stubborn quality position it has established in the minds of the fashion conscious. It is a staple fabric in Men's Suits and Sport's Jackets, and the reasons are -

Physical Characteristics
Quality of wool depends on the fiber fineness, length, scale structure, color, and cleanliness. The most sought after wools are very thin in diameter (10 to 20 micrometers), long in length (at least 2 to 5 inches), and the fibers themselves are free from defects. Here is where the term raw wool comes into play; oftentimes wool is recycled, and although this may lower the cost it also increases the likeliness of damage to the wool's structure. Raw wool is the industry's way of saying it has never been used before.

Properties

Appearance
Wool appears lofty, and even a small amount in a blend can give a fabric an appearance of body. Wool is the "look" other fibers are measured by and compared to. Drape, luster, and the fabrics hand depend on what type of wool we use and the percentage of that wool in the fabric, but it is safe to say that when it comes to looks, wool sets the standard.

Absorbency
Wool can absorb almost 20% of its weight in water before reaching saturation. In inclement moist weather it does an excellent job of keeping its wearer warm and dry, a great combination when it is raining and the temperature falls.

Heat Conduction
Wool is a poor conductor of heat, so it does an excellent job of keeping its wearer warm in cold weather. It traps still air, which when heated by the body amplifies the wools heat conduction qualities. A thin wool garment will often do a better job than a much thicker cotton one of keeping its owner warm on a brisk fall evening.


Resiliency
As mentioned earlier, wool does an excellent job retaining its shape. Fabrics made from wool tend to resist wrinkling and hold their shape well; this doesn't mean you can just wad your suit jacket into a ball and throw it in your suitcase, but you should ensure wool is in your wardrobe if you travel often.

Durability
Although wool fibers can be bent as many as 20 thousand times without breaking (7 times cottons ability), wool is overall fragile fabric. Here are the things to watch out for:

Heat - Be very careful with heat. The safest way to pull out wrinkles is with steam, not an iron. The hot steam breaks down the hydrogen bonds, allowing the wool to relax and take on the desired shape. Ironing introduces a heat source that is too strong, and can cause irrevocable damage by denaturing the proteins (think of cooking an egg, you can't un-cook it!)

Weak when wet - wool loses 1/3 of it fiber strength when soaked in water. Be very careful with wool when it is wet, and let it dry on a flat surface that does not create stress points that can leave permanent deformation.

A need for some moisture - Too much moisture is bad, but a wool garment needs at least some in the air will or it will become brittle. Not a problem if visiting the desert, but if you are moving to a very dry climate you may want to consider leaving your suits at your summer home up north.

Bleaches - Chlorine bleach is an oxidizing agent, and wool is very sensitive to it and alkalis such as strong detergents. Dry clean only or you may destroy the wool completely.

Insects - Moths and their larvae are just one of many insects that attack wool. It's imperative that you invest in proper storage for your wool garments, or your investment will be literally eaten over the period of one summer. Mothballs are toxic, but there are many effective natural alternatives such as lavender and cedar. Remember to have your wool items professionally cleaned before storing them, or you may seal them with the moth eggs still alive.

Environmental Impact
Overall wool leans towards being a green choice. Most modern facilities treat the animals humanely (longevity and a healthy coat is in their best interests), and the price commanded by it in turn encourages the consumer to take better care of the garment thus extending it's life. Although large farms may use substantial amounts of energy, water, and chemicals to bring the fiber to market, you have to weigh the alternatives.

E-tailor at www.mycustomtailor.com

Men Dress Shirts

Shirt fabrics or "Shirtings", as they are called by those in the industry, come in a wide variety of weave types. They are made from a range of fibers, with cotton being the most common. Most fabric names refer to the particular method in which it underlying fibers were woven. We won't go into it here, but be aware that the thickness and characteristics of the cotton fiber (shape, cleanliness, length) come into play when determining the quality and function of the total product.

Oxford Fabric

Oxford cloth is the coarsest shirting; it is nonetheless quite soft and comfortable. A casual fabric, it is naturally found on the button-down collar shirt, but in the US is perfectly acceptable for most business occasions. In colored and patterned Oxford shirts only the threads running in one direction are dyed, with the other threads being left white. This gives it a basket-weave, meaning the fabric's warp and weft threads cross each other in pairs. It has a characteristic textured appearance (which lends to its casual feel). Pinpoint oxford is woven likewise but of finer yarn and is smoother and more formal. Royal Oxford is finer still and can blend seamlessly with a fine wool suit and expensive tie.

Poplin Fabric

Poplin bears a smoother texture than oxford, but similar weight. This is the result of a fine yarn running one way with a thicker one interweaving it. Poplin shirt fabric is soft and comfortable and often used in casual shirts. Colors find themselves easily at home here, and it takes sporty patterns especially well.


Twill Fabric

Cotton twill has a shimmery diagonal weave and makes for richly textured shirts that can still be considered professional wear. In herringbone twill, the direction of the diagonals switches back and forth every quarter inch, giving the fabric more depth. When the occasion calls for a out of the ordinary solid shirt, twill plays the role with panache by creating texture and an up close display of detail.

Broadcloth Fabric

Broadcloth shirt fabric is a weave is very similar to broadcloth except more densely packed, is one of the most formal shirting for day-to-day wear. End-on-end broadcloth is that made by interweaving threads of alternating colors for a visual texture so subtle it appears solid from an arm's length away. Thanks to its tight weave, this cloth displays patterns with exquisite precision.

End-on-End Fabrics

A plain one-on-one weave, this fabric traditionally uses white with another color to create a subtle check effect and texture. Occasionally, two colors are used to create a "double shot" of color. The liberal use of pattern and the eye catching weave peg this fabric as casual wear, but with the right collar and tie this fabric weave could find itself in even the most conservative banker's closet.

Formal Shirt Fabrics

Formal shirts are made of white piqué cotton, which boasts a rich, woven texture. This is the only shirt proper for black tie or white tie, and it is not appropriate for anything else. You will know this fabric by the fineness of its weave, lack of visible pattern, and smoothness of its feel.

E-tailor at www.mycustomtailor.com