Ideally a fabric’s appearance should remain as new throughout its life. In reality this is rarely the case with wearing and cleaning creating temporary and sometimes permanent changes to the fabric surface and appearance.

There are many aspects of fabric appearance that can contribute to a garment’s overall value and consumer satisfaction but this paper will focus on four key factors:

1. Cockling/loop distortion in knits
2. Spirality
3. Facing-up
4. Wrinkling/surface smoothness

Fabric performance

Fabrics are normally delivered to the garment making factory in the form of rolls and, before being submitted for making up, they are assessed in terms of a variety of different performance criteria. These include durability performance (tensile strength, tear strength, abrasion resistance, pilling) and colour fastness, and these results are then checked against the test data sheets supplied by the finisher. Provided that the fabrics meet the relevant specifications, sample swatches are then taken from every fabric lot and assessed in terms of their suitability for making up. This requires that they are assessed for dimensional stability (relaxation shrinkage and hygral expansion), surface appearance (dyeing/finishing creases, bubbling and curling), tailoring performance through a water soaking test and SiroFAST.

This data is then distributed to the relevant production sections at the factory. FAST is a fabric testing system developed by CSIRO, based on simple equipment and measuring techniques, which predicts garment making performance.

Hygral expansion is a phenomenon that is peculiar to wool, and some cellulosic fabrics, and is a reversible change in dimensions that occurs as the moisture regain (content) of the fabrics changes. In effect, wool fabrics effectively expand as the moisture regain increases and contract as it is reduced, and these changes are inherently associated with the prevailing relative humidity. Excessive levels of hygral expansion can sometimes cause shape retention problems troubles such as seam pucker or flagging of garment fronts, lapels or vents, but optimum results are obtained by ensuring that the variation in the moisture regain of the wool fabrics is minimized throughout the making up process.

Fabric inspection

Prior to making up, the fabric dimensions are noted (width and length), and they are then visually assessed on a fabric inspection machine (perching).

The objective in this case is to identify possible defects due to yarn faults and weaving/finishing problems, such as colour irregularity, weft yarn bowing/slants and mismatching of checked patterns. If serious defects are detected then the fabrics in question may then be returned to the fabric supplier/finisher for remedial processing.